PATRONAGE POLITICS: THE CASE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN PAKISTAN

This descriptive and analytical study aims to expose the real intensions behind launching of different models of local government in Pakistan. Among liberals, local government is considered the nursery of democracy. Paradoxically, in Pakistan this nursery is flourished under the period of authoritarian rules. The three models of local governments are introduced in the era of Martial laws. The Basic democracy of Ayub, the local government of president Zia and the devolution plan of Musharraf are presented under the military rule. Throughout the political and constitutional history of Pakistan, the civilian regimes seem reluctant to introduce the local government. This article highlights the reasons behind the reluctance of civilians and the compulsions of military dictators to support the system of local government. The apparent reason is lack of parliamentary culture in Pakistan. Parliament is the exclusive channel to reflect the people’s empowerment. The representatives are elected by the people to present their demands in parliament. All policies, whether internal or external, should be originated within the parliament. There is also the need of checking the civil dictatorship in the form of leading political parties and their chairmen. Thus the role of parliament is very important to introduce the local self-government in Pakistan. The governing elites, particularly the military regimes introduced he local government systems just to get political support for seemingly democratic legitimacy. The article investigates the intentions behind the scheme of local government in Pakistan. Both civilian and military have introduced the local government, but it could not produce the desired results

The value of open-source clinical science in pandemic response: lessons from ISARIC

International audienc

ISARIC-COVID-19 dataset: A Prospective, Standardized, Global Dataset of Patients Hospitalized with COVID-19

The International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium (ISARIC) COVID-19 dataset is one of the largest international databases of prospectively collected clinical data on people hospitalized with COVID-19. This dataset was compiled during the COVID-19 pandemic by a network of hospitals that collect data using the ISARIC-World Health Organization Clinical Characterization Protocol and data tools. The database includes data from more than 705,000 patients, collected in more than 60 countries and 1,500 centres worldwide. Patient data are available from acute hospital admissions with COVID-19 and outpatient follow-ups. The data include signs and symptoms, pre-existing comorbidities, vital signs, chronic and acute treatments, complications, dates of hospitalization and discharge, mortality, viral strains, vaccination status, and other data. Here, we present the dataset characteristics, explain its architecture and how to gain access, and provide tools to facilitate its use