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The global drive towards datafication of knowledge and decision-making is not simply an outcome of advancement in measurement techniques and new technology. It is rather embedded in new forms of global governance, which emphasizes the regimes of accountability, and evidence based policy. In this new mode of governance, information plays a key role. But not all forms of information are useful. It is only the information contained in a numerical form, presented in a simple and accessible format, collected through scientific indicators, which is acceptable. It is this form of data, which can claim to be objective, free from political bias and untainted by political opinion. However, behind these claims of scientific objectivity lie complex social processes and political power involved, and is very much susceptible to human fallibility and error. The paper will explore the ways in which the process of democracy is being defined and understood in Pakistan through quantitative approaches and will highlight how it undermines the genuine democratic process in the country.

Why do some militaries retain high authoritarian prerogatives during transitions from militarized authoritarian rule? The Pakistan military's 2007 extrication shows that an important part of the answer lies in the level of structural differentiation between the 'military government' and the 'military institution'. Despite sustained contentious opposition to military rule, the high level of separation between these two military dimensions of the state allowed the institutional military to delink itself from the discredited dictatorship and exit on its own terms. In the post-authoritarian context, the military has preserved its expansive prerogatives by using a variety of adaptive contestation mechanisms - including the mobilization of the media and the judiciary - that act as a continuing source of political instability and uncertainty. Adapted from the source document.

While poverty and its causes have long been studied by
economists, the link between chronic disease and food poverty has been a
neglected area of research. This article investigates the impact of
chronic disease on food poverty by using two rounds of panel data of
Pakistan and linear probability regression framework. Chronic disease is
defined to include diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, AIDS, cancer and
asthma. The regression results show that on average the effect of
chronic disease on food poverty is statistically equal to zero, but this
effect significantly varies by income groups categorised by three
non-income based classifications. We note that the incidence of chronic
disease is significantly higher among non-poor when permanent income of
the household is incorporated into the model, most notably among
individuals coming from low- and middle-income backgrounds. Thus public
health policies that seek awareness, prevention and treatment of chronic
diseases have the potential to alleviate poverty in a high poverty
environment.

In studying the processes which bring about changes in the
size and composi¬tion of a population, an appraisal of marriage patterns
is of special significance because the age and rate of marriage
formation relate directly'to changes in popu¬lation composition. In a
society like Pakistan where fertility takes place pre¬dominantly through
the formation of families by marriages, the frequency of mar¬riages at
different ages has direct bearing on the effective length of
reproductive period. Thus, for getting a proper insight into the
demographic phenomena, statistics on marriages are also of great
interest to demographers along with infor¬mation on fertility, mortality
and migration. Studies on frequencies of marriages by age, referred to
in the demographic terminology as nuptiality studies, are rather limited
in demographic literature, particularly in comparison with studies on
fertility and mortality. There are two obvious reasons for relatively
low priority given to this subject in spite of due re¬cognition of its
importance. Firstly, because of the rapid growth of population since the
turn of the century the role of fertility and mortality as direct
determinants of growth patterns has been much more significant. As a
result, the major interest of researchers has remained focused on the
vital events contributing to the natural increase, viz. births and
deaths. Secondly, a regular system of marriage registra¬tion is limited
to a few countries in the world, and in most of the other countries,
such information is either not available or if in some cases it is
available, no regular statistics are compiled out of them. The limited
availability of statistics on in¬cidence of marriage through vital
registration does not imply that information on marriage patterns is not
available from other sources. In fact much work has been done on the
basis of data on age distribution of population by marital status
provided by censuses or surveys.