Modern Theories and Islamic Concept of Jihad Impacting Pakistan Security Dilemma

Pakistan National Security is directly related to a mix of Islamic precepts and the implications of contemporary real politics. Initially modern theories were a philosophical response to priesthood of the time hedging Christianity for their own predominance. With the advent of Islam the West applied the same antipathy to the faith of Islam and later it impacted Muslim states and Regions. The West however, circumvented religion as historical legacy representing Christianity. Pakistan being part of wider Muslim world is prone to historically prejudiced; direct and indirect threats based on Modern political theories. Modern theories are Euro-centric owing to their war prone regional history. Islamic Security concepts characterize trans-border implication. Modern political and security perspective are based on; personal experience of the people gone through wars and civil chaos whereas Islamic concept of just war is based on faith absolutes and Meta narratives1. Modern theories imply human nature as a pivot to craft response in anticipation of a predetermined threat to justify pre-emption. Modern theories have become the seed of modern state policies. Islam makes it obligatory to prepare and built power to first deter and retaliate only under tyranny, oppression and under the threat of expulsion and extermination. Pakistan military initiative are deemed inspired by Islamic concept of Jihad and have become cause of her Security Dilemma due to prejudiced Western view. Islam emphasis on mankind as one whole universal community called ‘Ummah’. The modern theories divide the world on National identifies and globalizes only trade and transactions. National Interest in modern theories is pivotal to the state policies. This marked difference is sometime purposely confused as a strategy to dub even a legitimate resistance or movement as Terrorism depending on National Interest expediency. The major cause of conflict is embedded in Islamic and modern political connotations of a just war. These polemical perspectives explain Pakistan Security Dilemma as part of the Muslim world and a need for negotiated understanding for peace and stability and interfaith harmony

A Sectoral Analysis of Poverty in Pakistan

Since independence, the problem of mass poverty in Pakistan has been substantial. The number of the destitute has continued to soar. The problem of poverty now looks to be beyond control. The vast masses of the people, particularly in rural areas, are indeed, miserably below the poverty line. Moreover, the socioeconomic and demographic indicators are dismal. Official planning and the market economy system have failed to lessen poverty. The policies formulated to eradicate it have failed to achieve their objectives. The issue of poverty in Pakistan has its significance for sustainable development. Long run development is not possible without protecting the rights of the vulnerable groups and the participation of the entire population in the development process. Although Pakistan’s economic growth has been quite respectable for much of the last four decades but it has failed to trickle down to the masses. The country has experienced poverty and stagnation in 1950s, increasing poverty and growth in the 1960s, stagnation of growth but declining poverty in the 1970s, increasing growth and declining poverty in the 1980s and finally, increasing poverty and falling growth in the 1990s [MHCHD/UNDP (1999)]. The mainstream approach to identifying the poor specifies a cut-off point ‘poverty line’, defining the level of income/expenditure below which people are diagnosed as poor. The conventional measure of poverty, head-count index, has been widely used in Pakistan. However, in practice this absolute threshold usually cannot stand the pressures of changing circumstances and is not as absolute as the term would appear to imply [Zaidi and de Vos (1993)]. To show the true face of poverty this study uses Foster, Greer and Thorbecke (1984) class of additively decomposable measure to estimate the variation in the incidence, intensity and severity of poverty across sectors of employment. This study also determines the relative contribution of the various sectors to aggregate poverty. Location index is also used to measure the concentration of poor in each sector. To evaluate the sources of observed changes in sectoral poverty at the micro level ‘HIES’ data sets are used.

Price Integration in Wholesale Maize Markets in Pakistan

Continuing debate concerning the appropriate role of the government in the marketplace and the necessity to some how estimate the effects of agricultural policies on agricultural markets have forced researchers to develop various methods, which would enable them to analyse market efficiency. Government intervention in setting prices, incomes and markets is always controversial. For economists, government intervention may be justified if it does not enhance distortions into the market and, moreover, remedies the existing market imperfections. But how can one observe whether the policy proves to improve market functioning or results in even more inefficiency? One way to throw some light on this long-standing issue is to analyse market performance by studying market integration. Three types of market integration are identified in the literature, which are intertemporal, vertical and spatial. Inter-temporal market integration relates to the arbitrage process across periods. Vertical market integration is concerned with stages in marketing and processing channels. Spatial integration is concerned with the integration of spatially distinct markets i.e. if price changes in one market are fully reflected in alternative market then these markets are said to be spatially integrated. The concept of market integration has normally been applied in studies involving spatial market interrelatedness

Competitiveness among Asian Exporters in the World Rice Market.

With the gradual reduction in trade barriers led by the process of globalisation, more emphasis is now being placed on promoting export competitiveness. Asia is the home of many of the world’s top rice exporters. The food-price crisis has divided Asia into “rice haves” and “rice have-nots”. In order to describe the processes involved in securing and maintaining international competitiveness in rice exports, the present study has used the Balassa and White indices of revealed comparative advantage and revealed competitive advantage respectively. Results have revealed that Pakistan is the most competitive country in rice trade and ranks first in both agricultural product trade and total merchandise exports. JEL classification: C12, C43, Q17 Keywords: Asian Countries, Competitiveness, Revealed Comparative Advantage, Revealed Competitive Advantage

Does Supplier And Customer Involvement In New Product Development Enhance The Performance Of Product? Evidence from Pakistani Banking Sector

The objective of this research is to find the impact of supplier and customer involvement on new product development. This study aims to explore what factors affect supplier and customer involvement altogether and how such involvement affects new product performance. The study is about the empirical survey data from 190 questionnaires distributed in three private banks of Pakistan. The study found that modular design, product innovation, and internal coordination are positively correlated with the supplier and customer involvement. Such involvement and product innovation leads to better new product performance. The study is limited to the use of cross-sectional data The study not only provides new empirical evidence to support the importance of supply chain management in product development, but also extends existing literature to identify new contextual factors for such involvement. Keywords: Product development, Supplier involvement, Customer involvement, Modularity, Innovativenes

A study on tuberculosis in buffaloes: some epidemiological aspects, along with haematological and serum protein changes

The study was conducted to ascertain the epidemiology, together with effects of bovine tuberculosis, on certain haematological parameters and serum proteins at two Livestock Experiment Stations in Pakistan. The results on prevalence of tuberculosis in buffaloes on the basis of comparative intradermal tuberculin test revealed it to be from as high as 8.48% (14/165) to as low as 2.45% (4/163) on the basis of positive reaction to bovine PPD. However, a doubtful reaction was observed in 8.58% (14/163) of buffaloes at farm 2 with low prevalence. It was also observed that the reaction to bovine or avian PPD was much stronger in buffaloes compared with indigenous cattle. The result on certain epidemiological factors studies revealed higher positive reactors of greater than 6 years of age and the majority were between 6-8 years old (P = 0.03). Results also revealed that a significantly higher number of animals had a body mass of less than 550 kg (P = 0.005), had less than three parturitions (P = 0.001) and milk production of 5-7 litres. The number of animals present at the farm, number of species, the nearby village, etc., played a significant role in the prevalence of the disease, rather than the condition of the farm. The results on haematological studies revealed a considerable decrease in RBC, while the decrease in ESR in a significantly (P = 0.05) greater number of buffaloes showed a positive or doubtful reaction to mammalian PPD. Total leukocyte count and lymphocyte percentages were higher in a considerably greater number of buffaloes. However, while changes in monocyte and eosinophil count were less significant, combined monocyte count in both positive and doubtful reactors was higher in a considerable number of buffaloes. While the results on serum proteins revealed an increase in serum total proteins and globulins in a significantly greater number of buffaloes, they had a positive reaction to mammalian PPD. A significant, positive relationship of serum total proteins with globulins in positive (r = 0.918; P = 0.0001) and doubtful reactors (r = 0.691; P = 0.0015)

Does Organizational Support Enhance the Organizational Citizenship Behavior in Service Industry with Moderating Role of Service Climate?

This study shows that the organizational support and altruism play vital role in increasing the organizational citizenship behavior. In the service industry, service climate play moderator role where the individuals of the organization feel the high intensity of obligation to perform their duties. Employees contact directly with their customers and it is necessary for employees to perform the supportive and helping behavior to achieve the effectiveness of organization while delivering services. Results of this study are based on the conceptual theory. It indicates that the organizational support and altruism have positive impact on the citizenship behavior. In other words perceived organizational support and altruism increases the OCB in the moderating effect of service climate. This study also indicates that the intensity of the OCB depends on the service climate if it will be weak the OCB will be low and if it is high the OCB will be high. Its importance has increased in the service industries. Managerial implications are also discussed in this study. Keywords: Organizational support, altruism, organizational citizenship behavior, service climate