This paper aims to critically investigate the role of the British in the state of Kalat (Kalat Confederacy) and the merger of the later into the Pakistani federation. The paper has three sections. Firstly, it examines the establishment of Kalat Confederacy. Secondly, it investigates the arrival of the British to Kalat and its relationship with it (Kalat) until 1947. Thirdly, it critically discusses the fall of Kalat and its integration into the Pakistani federation. The merger of Kalat to Pakistan is interpreted differently by several historians and researchers. However, none of them examine the role of the British and the Baloch tribal chiefs vis-à-vis the merger of Kalat into the state of Pakistan. Therefore, this research is an attempt to investigate the role of the British in Kalat’s affairs and its final merger into the Pakistani federation. The paper argues that the clandestine role played by the Baloch sardars and the members of the ruling family is responsible for giving space to the British and its eventual fall and amalgamation into the Pakistani federation.

Although there are certainly many issues regarding the practices of spiritual healing in Islamic literature, very few studies concerning this topic have been carried out. Hence, the primary matter investigated in this article is the main relationship between spiritual healing and the primary source of Islam, the Qur’an. This research attempts to look at this topic from a sociological perspective and from an all-inclusive perspective. It attempts to shed light on the reality of this spiritual healing. The study demonstrates the social reality of belief in the spiritual ailments including magic and djinns and the religious sources that deals with the healings of such ailments. Moreover, this research paper also establishes an alignment between many world religions and their spiritual healing of such ailments.

Corona Virus (COVID-19) is one of the most furious viruses and belongs to the family of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome). After producing a drastic effect on China the disease has been spread all over the globe and killed around 87,000 people still than the disease is a bit different from other zoonoses and recently there is a debate regarding its acceptance is a global pandemic. Although its breakout is the point of severe tension for economies like Pakistan as it is producing drastic impacts on the economy as well as on social life. Therefore, provincial governments have taken several measures to control the virus, but residents are not paying due attention to the disease and its potential outcomes. Therefore, a study is required to understand the perception that way people are reluctant in taking required preventive measures and thus a public opinion based research is conducted from Karachi city to understand the viewpoint of the local public regarding the factors which resulted in the outbreak of COVID-19. Thus this study has been done specifically to understand the concept through public opinion and the sample size for the study was taken from Karachi city and the result indicated that COVID-19 is affecting social life although it is not perceived as pandemic which might affect people from different ages.

Language is human speech, either spoken or written and is the most common system of communication. The purpose of the study was to identify the ability of English reading skill of class five students at Government primary schools in District Kech. It also intended to identify the common errors committed by the students and the English teachers’ thinking about teaching their students’ reading skills. To achieve these purposes 125 students and 20 teachers were chosen from 5 Government primary schools at District Kech. A test containing a single subject paragraph was taken from the English course of Balochistan Textbook Board Quetta and a questionnaire was developed to find out the teachers’ thinking about teaching reading skills. While reading comprehension a key score list containing reading errors was applied to check students reading ability. The test score of student and item-wise score, as well as responses to the questionnaire, were analyzed using statistical devices like percentage and frequency. The students’ average score of marks is 8.95%. In the reading test, only 1 student got the full marks, 1 student made a single error and 1 student made two errors. The situation of independent reading is satisfactory, but the overall amount of errors indicates the students’ inefficiency of reading skills in English. Not known word errors occupied the highest position which is 73.88%. In this circumstance, the teachers are putting their effort into improving students’ reading skills, but they have barriers in most of the cases. Though the teachers are trying to develop their students’ reading skills but they are developing very slowly.

The history of the recent world has been dominated by a difficult and a volatile relationship between the U.S and Russia. With the end of Cold War and the age of the Global War on Terror, both U.S and Russia have started to build a relationship with each other. In an up-down trajectory, the relationship has gone through hurdles and has seen events such as the ‘Reset’ while the Obama Administration was in office and now is believed to be heading towards a ‘Cold War 2.0’ scenario. The U.S-Russia relationship does not solely rest on the U.S and Russia, but have moved over to NATO and SCO respectively. Both countries have forgone conventional means of struggle to adopt a great game scenario where two blocs are emerging again to roll back the years and perhaps put the world into another era of ‘Cold War’.

Despite the divergence in global governance, human rights, and rules-based international order, the Brussels-Beijing ties have switched from the natural, strategic partnership to strategic rivalry. In 2003, the EU initiated a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with an effort to bring their bilateral relations from the mutual enmity to mutual empathy. In connection to this, the CNBC reported a survey of the European Council of Foreign Relations, on September 20, 2019, in which it referred to China’s trade practices as aggressive and a threat to the EU’s economy. The report also showed that in Asia, China is among the EU’s competitive and cooperative partners. The EU and China are dubbed as second and third-largest economies at the global level in nominal terms. The former considers the latter as its second-biggest trading partner, whereas China puts the EU as its biggest trading partner. This article draws on the qualitative research in which the secondary sources of data are applied. It aims to explore a growing concern in the EU, about whether to contain or cooperate with China in the current geopolitical environment. This paper suggests that cooperation, not containment could be the wise strategy of the EU towards China.

Ties between Turkey and Pakistan are believed to be long before the establishment of Pakistan. Historically, in the sub-continent Muslims had shown a softness and sympathy towards the Sultanat-e-Usmania (Ottoman Empire). Since the independence of Pakistan both Turkey and Pakistan have been enjoying cordial relations politically and economically. This paper focuses on the historically deep rooted legacy of Pak-Turkish relationship and the strengthened diplomatic and economic linkages between the two. It also covers current development in the relations of the two countries, such as the role of both states on combating terrorism across globe in general and in the Muslim world in particular. This paper is a qualitative based approach and descriptive methods have been used to develop understanding about the given topic. The facts and figures of bilateral relations between Pakistan and Turkey are concrete and accurate for the readers’ information.

Indian Ocean is an important trade route and a key international sea –lanes of communication in the present century. The major objectives of this research paper are to analyze the security and other challenges in Indian Ocean. In this research paper the qualitative and descriptive research methodology will be applied. The geo-economic and political approach will be applied to gauge the challenges of Indian Ocean and their counter remedies. Indian Ocean is also important due to geo-strategic location. There is always issue of maritime security is always there due to the presence of various checkpoints of straits of Hormuz, the Bab-el-Mandeb and Indonesian straits etc. There are many challenges confronted in Indian Ocean such as piracy, environmental hazards and arms, human and drugs smuggling. There is a need to chalk out the joint strategy to provide security and counter terrorism and other maritime crimes in Indian Ocean.

The resistance to save Sindh from division had begun in 1947, when the newly founded federal government of Pakistan had declared to include Karachi, the mega city of the province into federal territory. It was also announced that Karachi would be given the status of capital of the country. Moreover, the capital of Sindh province would be shifted to Hyderabad, the second largest city of the province. On this decision, the people of Sindh outraged and considered it injustice and reacted non-violently against the decision. Gandhi called this public reaction on perceived un-justice as principled non-violence (Satyagraha). In this research paper, it is to see how principled non-violence influenced the movement leaders. Apart from this, the people of the province stood against the division of Sindh. They also declared to launch a peaceful resistance for the annulment of the government’s decision which was perceived as a Sindhi ethnic struggle in Pakistan. There is dearth of academic research on this subject as no scholar has connected theory and practice of non-violence with peaceful resistance to save the status of Karachi. This paper attempts to analyze Karachi Movement as non-violent action in the light of principled non-violence. The paper contributes a different approach to the knowledge regarding association of Satyagraha and Karachi Movement. As, the peace and non-violence theories are gaining much attention in the world. Thus, it is significant to investigate the first non-violent struggle of Pakistan.

The study is aimed at investigating the variables which might be related to the poor standard of education in public colleges of Karachi (Pakistan). The respondents of the study included students, teachers, and principals of the respective colleges. The data was collected through a closed-ended questionnaire. In order to test the validity of the hypotheses, the study adopted chi-square method of statistical analysis. The study revealed that, coaching centers have a negative effect on students’ attendance in public colleges; the system of examination was found to promote rote learning; no relationship was found between lack of teachers’ accountability by the principal and teachers not taking their classes regularly; and students’ low attendance in colleges was found to cause negative effects on the result of colleges. Some recommendations are: promotion of conceptual learning through modifications in the system of examination and teaching methodology; 75% attendance should be compulsory otherwise the examination admit card should not be issued; constructive role of non-governmental organizations, and replication of similar studies.

Pakistani society faces the scourge of religious extremism. It has turned into the most challenging issue. Though Islam is deeply rooted in Pakistani society, but power politics, militarization of extremist elements and the instrumental use of Islam led to its aggressive expression. It was Zia-ul-Haq who greatly radicalized the Pakistani society with the obvious aims to legitimatize his dictatorial rule. His rigid and dogmatic interpretation of Islam led to the birth of extremism, intellectual obscurantism and fundamentalism in Pakistani society. His religious policies have changed Pakistani society from a moderate into a society hijacked by the religious fanatics. Pakistan experiences the worst law and order situation, incongruity, instability and insecurity mainly, as a result of extremism initiated by Zia-ul-Haq’s regime. It gave birth to both violent and non-violent religious organizations in Pakistan. The main objective of this paper is to highlight the genesis of extremism in Pakistani Society; explore the role of Zia-ul-Haq’s policy of Islamization of state and society in the proliferation of religious extremism in Pakistan; and its implication for the Pakistani state and society.

It can be argued that no country is free from the menace of suicide incidents, committed with gunshot. The number of suicide incidents is increasing in day by day in our country. This paper investigates the major causes of such incidents. This paper is specifically focused only on the study of suicide incidents committed with gunshot in Sindh province of Pakistan. In fact the incidents of the suicide are more common among youth. Growing rate of suicide incidents indicate that it has become a serious social problem which is affecting wider communities. The paper also explains the issue of suicide in legal perspective. The Pakistan Penal Code, (1860) does not recognize or defines the term of suicide, as an offense punishable under the law. Thus, this study will also suggest measures to reduce the incidents of suicide. Communities in general and Government in particular will benefit from the ideas generated by this research study.

In this era of technology and industrialization Technical Education acquires great importance, particularly for developing countries like Pakistan. The first Polytechnic in Pakistan was established in Karachi in 1955, and a Diploma of Associate Engineer Programme was introduced. Initially technical education institutes were established in the Public sector, but with time the Private sector also came forward and established well-equipped technical institutes that started to produce skilled workforce. From 2011 onwards, a large number of private technical institutes were established in Sindh. The purpose of this comparative study was to investigate the difference of Public and Private sector institutes of Sindh in certain key areas. Public sector institutes face the problem of shortage of qualified staff, fewer financial resources and a poor infrastructure. Some private institutes have well-qualified staff and a solid infrastructure, including labs and workshops, but most private institutes do not have sufficient faculty or adequate lab, workshop and library resources. The student pass rate is increasing, reaching 88%, which creates doubts about the quality of examination system. It is recommended that the Government should take measures to check the assessment system and acts to stop the growth of mushroom institutes. It should also take steps towards recruitment of qualified staff and provision of financial resources.

Difficulties in the reconciliation of professional and personal lives are common. In parallel with the advancement of general work practices, the phenomenon of work-life conflict has been widely taken into account around the world. The conflict of work and life entails different individual, organizational and social issues. Finding the right solution to avoid and cope with conflict in two different aspects of working life and personal affairs, time management is one of the methods to balance these two distinct domains. The purpose of this research study is to ascertain the role of Time management behaviors in balancing the work and life demands among female employees in the Hyderabad banking sector. To reach the set objective, standardized questionnaires were distributed to 127 participants to assess independent and dependent variables. After data collection, the developed model was analyzed using Smart PLS 3.2.8. The findings of the study revealed a significant inverse relationship between time management behaviors and the size of the conflict in working life, i.e. the interference of work in personal life and that of personal life in the workplace. This means that by using time management techniques, conflict in working and personal life can be reduced. Therefore, it is suggested that organizations must recognize the significance of time management and develop policies and procedures to lessen work-life conflict.

This study estimates the leadership qualities of Benazir Bhutto, first female Prime Minister of Pakistan and the Islamic world. The life history of Benazir Bhutto also falls under the category of charismatic leadership as she displayed exceptional leadership qualities in the face of different personal and political challenges. Much has been written on the life, personality and political career of Benazir Bhutto but very few have made academic and in depth study of leadership qualities of Benazir Bhutto which were predominant and striking features of her political leadership during her second tenure as Prime Minister of Pakistan (1993-96). Therefore, this article navigates on diverse Socio-economic, Political and Geo-strategic challenges and responses of Benazir Bhutto as Prime Minister of Pakistan (1993-96). Further, it encapsulates her relationship with military, dwindling state of economy, revengeful role of opposition and various contradictions with President created a grave challenge not only for poor governance but also for the longevity of her premiership tenure. It was not smooth sailing for her as Prime Minister; however, it was a hard journey full of myriad challenges, inherited dwindling economy, overdeveloped state structure, strife torn society, volatile geo-political situation, regional disparities, vindictive politics of opposition and imbalance of power between Prime Minister and President required stupendous efforts from Benazir Bhutto as a Prime Minister. Further, this study presents a systematic and factual analysis of the socio-economic challenges and the arbitrary use of the Presidential power (58) (2B). Furthermore, theory of challenge and response has also been applied to have a better understanding of Benazir Bhutto’s leadership qualities and administrative abilities. It also throws light on the circumstances that led towards her ouster from premiership. Besides, this study attempts to find what were the diverse challenges faced by Benazir Bhutto as a Prime Minister (1993-96)? How did she respond to various challenges as Prime Minister?

This research paper focuses on socio-economic conditions of home-based working women in Hyderabad Division, of Sindh Pakistan. Main objectives of this research are (i) to analyze the Socio-economic condition of home-based working women (ii) to assess the poverty and home-based work (iii) to find out the illiteracy and home-based work (iv) to investigate the role of handicrafts and home-based work in cultural and economic development (v) to unearth the Sindhi culture of handicrafts in Hyderabad Division. To achieve research objectives qualitative research approach is adopted and data is collected by four case studies in Hyderabad division. All cases are selected randomly and analyzed by using thematic analysis method. Present study concluded that researched area is rich in handicrafts business. Women engaged themselves in home-based work due to poverty, unemployment and poor financial conditions of their families. This business has very low profit but female preferred this work due less skills and education required to carry handicrafts business. Home-based workers felt empowered due to having their own income and took part in decision making. In last it is recommended for policy makers and government agencies to give priority to this business because it has potential. It is necessary for economic development of families, culture and country.

It has been said that exogamous marriages tend to lead to language shift (Igboanus & Wolf, 2009 & Dumanig, David & Shanmuganathan, 2013). In an early study Gal (1978) found that Hungarian women marrying German men in the city of Oberwat had shifted to German to negate their peasant Hungarian ancestry and to move up the socio-economic ladder. Similarly, David and Dealwis (2011) found in their study of Malaysian Sindhi Hindus that exogamous marriages tend to lead to language shift but is not the only reason for the shift away from the heritage language. Therefore, before mixed marriages take place one should study perceptions of the speech community towards such marriages. In this exploratory study, the perceptions of Sindhi Muslims-men and women and from different socio-economic groups towards exogamous marriages are studied. With this objective, semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten Sindhi Muslim participants (four male adults and six female adults) who live in Karachi. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, coded and themes were generated after formal consent was obtained. The findings show that language choice in the home domain is shifting because of intercultural marriages. Also, such marriages are frequent among Sindhi community members with a high socio-economic status who live in cities. Gender plays an equal role too, as the women respondents showed mixed responses towards exogamous marriages while the male respondents had a more positive perception. Such views and perceptions may affect choice of marital partners and language choice in the home domain.

Afghanistan is in state of war for almost 40 long years but the political dynamics got changed after 9/11. Since the war on terror started facets of peace talks launched without meaningful end. The reconciliation process in Afghanistan had immediately started after establishment of Afghan interim government in 2001. Till 2016 mid, four different reconciliation /reintegration processes were launched by the USA and Hamid Karzai government with Afghan Taliban. The new elected president Ashraf Ghani ended all such processes in 2016 but showed willingness again in 2018 for direct peace talks between USA and Taliban clerics. In the current political scenario, Afghan reconciliation process is back on track with direct peace talks between USA, Taliban and Afghan Government along other international actors. However, Taliban were not ready to sit with the Afghan Government and this is where the Pakistan played as key to Afghan peace process. The focus of this research article is to find the challenges and opportunities of this peace process; Pakistan’s role as cardinal player can consolidate the peace process in Afghanistan. Furthermore, this research will give future recommendations for the peace process in Afghanistan.

In modern times, the conventional means of warfare are increasingly becoming less usable. However, the states are involved in waging hybrid warfare to the maximum to fulfill their foreign policy goals. In nuclearized South Asia, direct war between India and Pakistan seems unlikely given that both the states know that escalation could lead to nuclear catastrophe in the region. This compels both the states to find other means of warfare to undermine each other’s interests. India wants to weaken Pakistan so that it may abandon claim on Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir. For that, India is using all tools of hybrid warfare against Pakistan. In this context, this paper aims at to unearth India’s hybrid warfare in the region and its implications for Pakistan. The main focus of the paper is to explain tools and methods of India hybrid warfare. At the same time the research also tries to unravel few other case studies. It also notes how Pakistan can counter hybrid threats posed by its arch rival.

Pakistan is behind many other countries in the Asia region in reducing poverty. Dedicated poverty reduction Programmes so far were mainly done by NGOs using livelihood and microfinance approaches and since 2008 through the Benazir Income Support Programme’s cash transfer scheme. Recently, the office of the Prime Minister established Ehsaas Strategy which combines the various poverty reduction and social protection approaches in the country under one Programme. This paper argues that a stronger focus on effective income generating poverty reduction Programmes would be needed to make poverty reduction more successful.

Until recently, Gwadar has always been mentioned as a small insignificant fishing town. Very little was known about its history and potential to the outside world. However, at the turn of the 21st century Gwadar became the focus of attention globally. The development of a deep seaport with China’s assistance and prospects of connecting China and Central Asia through Pakistan to the North Arabian Sea has brought this small, insignificant fishing town to international recognition. But history reveals that this region has always played a vital role since primeval times due to its geostrategic and geographical location. From Alexander’s retreat to Pakistan’s reclaiming Gwadar, it has always reminded its significance at different times in diverse manners. This paper aims to bring into light the historical journey of Gwadar, which usually remained unknown or were either considered trivial by historians. Gwadar became an important chapter in the Belt and Road initiative proposed by the Chinese president. It will link China, South Asia, Middle East, Central Asia, Africa and Europe through a network of land and sea routes and ports will contribute significantly to the progress and prosperity of Gwadar in Pakistan, China and the entire region.

The global financial crises 2007 bring about the current banking regulations which stood inadequate to avoid banks from taking in unnecessary risk actions. Therefore, Bank for International Settlement (BIS) and G-20 leaders endorsed a new international standard of banking regulations by revising previous Basel II rule, introduced in 2004, into Basel III in late 2010, so as to enhance the quality including quantity of capital, leverage ratio and liquidity standards, which has become a challenge for nationals to implement these strict reforms under their existing banking system. Parallel with the conventional banking system, for which the Basel Committee formulated Basel framework, Islamic banking introduced in early 1977 to 1980 in Pakistan in response to the decision by the Shariat Bench of Supreme Court, necessitates that the financial system be transformed to operate in conformity with sharia. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and Bank Negara Malaysia are the regulator of Islamic banks and full member of IFSB. The Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) established in 2002 in Malaysia as an international standard-setting organization to enforce the international regulatory and supervisory guidelines for Islamic financial organizations along with other standard setting bodies such as AAOIFI and ISDB to achieve this objective. The IFSB promotes the stability and soundness of the Islamic financial institutions by issuing guiding standards and prudential regulations for the industry, The IFSB applied Basel standards in the context of Islamic banks and its operating models. This paper critically evaluates Islamic financial institution’s regulatory and supervisory structures particularly for Pakistan and Malaysia and examines financial position after implementing Basel Accord rules. Study suggests a positive impact in case of both countries.

Foreign direct investment plays a key role in economic development of all countries. Because of its enormous importance, a large number of empirical studies has focused on finding out the factors determining foreign direct investment. Level of human capital development is one of the major factors influencing foreign inflows. However, earlier studies examining impact of human capital on foreign investment inflows has majorly used literacy rate, school enrolment and government spending on education as its proxies. This paper also examines the impact of human capital as determinant of foreign direct investment. Contrary to earlier empirical studies, it uses cognitive skills as proxy for human capital. Cognitive skills measure the quality of education instead of literacy rate or government spending on education as proxy for human capital. Results indicate that human capital has significant positive effect on foreign direct investment for sample countries. This result is robust to disaggregated data for developed and developing countries. Other factors that determine foreign direct investment inflows are inflation, capital account openness, trade account openness and real income. Based on empirical results, it is recommended that the relevant authorities must make human capital as part and parcel of strategies aimed at augmenting economic growth in the country. There is also a lesson for a developing country like Pakistan to focus more on quality of education instead of school enrolment or education spending for attracting foreign direct investment to boost economic activity (J.E.L Classification Codes: O4, O15, P22).

This article reports the wash-back of formative assessment on what students learn, how they learn and the depth of their learning in Saudi higher education context. Previous research indicates that assessment methods affect different aspects of learning either positively or negatively depending on the nature of assessment tasks. Observations indicate a clear association between Saudi students’ learning and how their learning is assessed; so this research was needed to determine how exactly the correlation looked like—positive or negative. The data in this study were collected from Saudi undergraduates by employing a student survey and semi-structured interviews. The survey included Likert scale items of agreement regarding research assignments, quizzes and midterm examinations administered to 250 English-major students. To validate the survey results, sixteen students from different levels with GPA 3 and above were interviewed. The results showed that formative assessment narrowed down the scope of learning materials. The students mostly adopted surface level learning strategies to prepare for formative assessment tasks. Higher order thinking skills were not tested in any of the formative assessment methods. Therefore, it is suggested that assessments tasks should be subjected to thorough validation and moderation. Sound assessment practices should be put in place and practiced judiciously. To achieve these objectives, sustained institutional and departmental professional backing is a prerequisite.

Peace has always been a fundamental need of humanity and social beings. Despite of all the worldly, scientific and materialistic progress in almost every domain of life, eternal peace is missing. Peace education is a process of achieving peace, at personal, inter-personal, national and international levels, through education, focusing on promoting universal brotherhood, fraternity, global citizenship and the culture of peaceful co-existence. This article aims to institutionalize peace education and culture at secondary government schools of Lahore, Pakistan. A questionnaire focusing on peace education and inculcating of peace culture was used for data collection. The data revealed peace education is implicitly taught but it is not practiced in schools and hence, is not part of school curriculum. Also peace culture-related activities are missing in the school curriculum and there is a dire need of such activities.

This research is conducted, in order to analyze the students’ academic performance at secondary school level in Pakistan. This is a case study conducted in Hyderabad Division of Sindh Province in Pakistan. The study was focused to the students who have passed matriculation class (Class-X), equivalent to secondary level in Pakistan(10 years of education). Sample size of 1097 higher Secondary level students were randomly selected from various colleges and schools in a way that around 150 students should take part in the survey from each institute. The sample selection was further divided on gender (Male = 448, Female = 648) and locale (Urban=455, Rural=641) basis. A data collection questionnaire was developed by the researchers and implemented for data collection. After collection of the data from desired population, the statistical analysis based on Pearson’s Chi-square and Correlation models were carried out in SPSS. The conclusion inferred from the data analysis of the study, strongly revealed that the students’ academic achievement at high school secondary level was highly associated to their parent’s educational level and socio-economic background. Therefore, it is strongly recommended financial condition of the population must be enhanced by taking appropriate measures. In order to coup tough financial conditions at their homes, deprived students should be provided adequate scholarships. Free stationary and books should also be provided at schools.

Like many low-income countries, Pakistan is facing children’s health problems. The major health problems affecting children in the country are Pneumonia, Diarrhoea, Measles, Malaria and malnutrition. There is much research has already been conducted on biomedical and epidemiological aspects of these health problems, but little is known about the social and cultural dimensions of children’s health issues. This paper attempts to propose the sociological research on children’s health problems in Pakistan with the emic focus on local context. The proposed future research may mainly be situated in the interpretivist paradigm of qualitative inquiry. Thus, it will contribute in up-scaling the very basic understanding of the meaning formed by people about social determinants of prevailing children health problems and their potential hazardous consequences in Pakistan.

Horoscopes are considered as one of the important content items in the mass media. Many people perceive and believe that these Zodiac signs have an impact on their lives. That is why they check these signs on different media regularly. The purpose of this study was to determine the perception of Sindh University students about horoscope. A cross-sectional survey was conducted from 100 students of Sindh University through a close-ended questionnaire. The results concluded that girls are more interested in horoscope than boys. The sources for horoscope prediction were mainly newspapers among the Sindh University students. The students reported that they read horoscope daily to skip the pressure and try to satisfy their minds. This research is limited to the University of Sindh students. In the future, the researchers should conduct a large-scale study with a more significant population to determine the perception of the public about horoscopes.

Media in its various forms has become a significant part of everyday social life. It influences both how we see ourselves and the world around us to some extent. At different screens of media, images of men and women are presented in different ways and with different characteristics. Studies have been conducted at large regarding representation of gender in movies and television drama serials. This paper was meant to be an addition to this vast canvas of research through analysis of gender representation in the comedy dramas of Pakistan. According to West and Zimmerman’s theory of ‘doing gender’, gender is performed by the people in their everyday actions and interactions. Keeping in view the concept of doing gender this study analyzed roles of males and females and tried to find out how different characters maintain their gender identities in comedy dramas. Results suggested that the characters were, at many places, observed to be acting contrary to the roles associated to their genders by the society. They did or performed gender to maintain their identities.

This paper studies Ayisha Malik’s Sofia Khan is not obliged from postcolonial perspective. The paper studies the novel from the view of the discourse presented by Homi K. Bhabha. The novel was published in 2015. The story revolves around a girl of Muslim ethnicity from Pakistan named Sofia Khan. She is living in London and is working there in a publishing company. The story is about the adventures of protagonist; her experiences and views the London from her perspective. The paper analyzes the characters and the main events from the research method of textual analysis. The study finds that the concept proposed by Bhabha, very much plays an operative role (viable role) on the British-Muslim- characters in their attempt to assimilate into their Host/Home country. It concludes that how these Muslim characters locate agency in the “in between space” within the process of mimicry and negotiate their identity in their effort to assimilate in colonizer’s space.

This paper aims to critically investigate the role of the British in the state of Kalat (Kalat Confederacy) and the merger of the later into the Pakistani federation. The paper has three sections. Firstly, it examines the establishment of Kalat Confederacy. Secondly, it investigates the arrival of the British to Kalat and its relationship with it (Kalat) until 1947. Thirdly, it critically discusses the fall of Kalat and its integration into the Pakistani federation. The merger of Kalat to Pakistan is interpreted differently by several historians and researchers. However, none of them examine the role of the British and the Baloch tribal chiefs vis-à-vis the merger of Kalat into the state of Pakistan. Therefore, this research is an attempt to investigate the role of the British in Kalat’s affairs and its final merger into the Pakistani federation. The paper argues that the clandestine role played by the Baloch sardars and the members of the ruling family is responsible for giving space to the British and its eventual fall and amalgamation into the Pakistani federation.

This study estimates the leadership qualities of Benazir Bhutto, first female Prime Minister of Pakistan and the Islamic world. The life history of Benazir Bhutto also falls under the category of charismatic leadership as she displayed exceptional leadership qualities in the face of different personal and political challenges. Much has been written on the life, personality and political career of Benazir Bhutto but very few have made academic and in depth study of leadership qualities of Benazir Bhutto which were predominant and striking features of her political leadership during her second tenure as Prime Minister of Pakistan (1993-96). Therefore, this article navigates on diverse Socio-economic, Political and Geo-strategic challenges and responses of Benazir Bhutto as Prime Minister of Pakistan (1993-96). Further, it encapsulates her relationship with military, dwindling state of economy, revengeful role of opposition and various contradictions with President created a grave challenge not only for poor governance but also for the longevity of her premiership tenure. It was not smooth sailing for her as Prime Minister; however, it was a hard journey full of myriad challenges, inherited dwindling economy, overdeveloped state structure, strife torn society, volatile geo-political situation, regional disparities, vindictive politics of opposition and imbalance of power between Prime Minister and President required stupendous efforts from Benazir Bhutto as a Prime Minister. Further, this study presents a systematic and factual analysis of the socio-economic challenges and the arbitrary use of the Presidential power (58) (2B). Furthermore, theory of challenge and response has also been applied to have a better understanding of Benazir Bhutto’s leadership qualities and administrative abilities. It also throws light on the circumstances that led towards her ouster from premiership. Besides, this study attempts to find what were the diverse challenges faced by Benazir Bhutto as a Prime Minister (1993-96)? How did she respond to various challenges as Prime Minister?

This research endeavored to expose dividend policy and its impact on market price in perspective of fuel and energy sectors of Pakistan and Dividend policy is a very strong concern for all nature of corporation for getting accomplishment the goals of an enterprise. Dividends (cost of equity) are allocated from profit after tax and retained earnings that facilitates a chance to the pecuniary administrator for raising the price of shares, so it replicates the importance of meaningful effect of bonus policy on the company and its earnings as well. The conclusions of this guiding principle have been analyzed from all possible way of approaches by scholars. Literature characterizes differing observations of all type of probable investigating work and various assumptions that explain how proxies of dividend policy momentously effect with stock prices such as dividend irrelevance, bird in hand, signaling, tax preference, transaction cost, and agency cost. Data of seventeen firms out of twenty seven firms of fuel and energy sectors of Pakistan from time period of 10 years have been gathered through organized sample. Fixed effect model (types of panel model) has been analyzed in panel data. All selected tools have been run through Eviews and SPSS software in this research work. Many techniques have been used such as Levin li chu , Hauseman ,Wald, VIF, Tolerance, Durbon Watson. All explanatory variables are found significant except PAT. It signifies that proxies of dividend policy have significance in all types of decisions in area of finance because it affects on market price of shares. The decisive justification in support of suggestion to the shareholders of fuel and energy sectors is that the operating firms need to work out a dividend policy on the basis of market price. This study signifies stock buyers’ pre nature towards price or price consciousness. It is clearly shows that the theory of dividend relevance is fully accepted an empirical study of these sectors in Pakistan.