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The issue of Taiwan has become a major point of contention between the US and China, with visits by US officials resulting in strong criticism from China and military escalation in the region. Experts are concerned that a conflict between these two powers in the Asia-Pacific region could endanger global peace and stability, especially given the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. China maintains its claim over Taiwan under the 'One China Policy,' considering it a lost province and advocating for its unification with the mainland. While recognising Taiwan as part of China under this policy, the US engages in diplomatic and military activities with Taiwan, which China considers interference in its internal affairs. In the post-Cold War era, the US adopted an ambiguous policy towards Taiwan as part of its containment strategy against China. Therefore, the US seeks to slow China's perpetual growth by promising enhanced defence for Taiwan. Recent US official visits to Taiwan reflect provocative measures in line with this strategy. This paper analyses the US' Taiwan policy as a containment instrument against China, recent measures adopted by the US administration to provoke China, Taiwan's strategic significance, and the US' long-standing commitment to Taiwan's security as essential for maintaining its leadership role in international affairs.

Bibliography Entry
Farooq, Muhammad. 2023. "US' Taiwan Strategy: An Instrument to Contain China." Margalla Papers 27 (1): 96-108.

Establishing a liberal government in post-Taliban Afghanistan allowed India to fulfil its foreign policy goal, i.e., investment in Afghanistan to acquire leverage for its anti-Pakistan agenda. However, the twenty-year war ended with the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, resulting in the Taliban's rise to power, diminishing Indian influence and reversion of its interests. India halted its investment and diplomatic engagement with the Taliban government due to its previous position, which led India to compromise on its strategic interests outlined in the presence of US forces. To safeguard its strategic interests, India has resumed its diplomatic and economic engagement with the Taliban government at a critical time when other regional states are analysing the US' future course of action towards the war-torn country. Therefore, this paper examines how India evaluates the newly structured regional environment while finding a new role in Afghanistan. It also analyses the implications of India-Afghanistan re-engagement for Pakistan.

Bibliography Entry
Farooq, Muhammad. 2022. "Indian Engagement with Taliban-Led Afghanistan and Implications for Pakistan." Margalla Papers 26 (2): 87-95.

Islamic Research Institute (IRI) is first constitutional Institute of Pakistan for the provision of Islamic research in any realm of Islam. Even the Objective Resolution emphasized the need to establish Islamic Research Institute to adopt further constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The basic objectives of IRI is to interpret and legislate for the constitution of the state with Islamic Tradition. Hence this paper explores the steps taken by IRI to Islamize the Pakistani Constitution. The direct role of IRI for the Islamization of Law in Pakistan to keep legislation in original Islamic Research. It will answer if there are any legislative thought provoking suggestions by IRI to the Government Institutions for Islamization of Law. It will also explore if there is any indirect material of the Institute to facilitate legislators and lawyers for Islamization of Law in Pakistan. By highlighting the role of IRI this article tries to find the answers of these questions. What material was published by IRI to Islamize the Law in Pakistan? Is there competitive research for contemporary issue of the society? What did IRI support to other legislative institutes in Pakistan?

"The overall objectivesof this book is to provide an overview of the Australian trade and investment relationship with South Asian Countries and identify the trends and developments of bilateral trade relationship of Australia with South Asian countries in strategic areas of trade, tourism, investment, education, prior and post Covid-19."

Purpose
This study aims to examine the moderating effect of intellectual capital (IC) in the relationship between board characteristics and firm performance of non-financial firms listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) from 2010 to 2019.


Design/methodology/approach
The modified value-added intellectual capital (MVAIC) was used to assess the efficiency of sample firms' IC, which is a modified version of Pulic's (2000) model VAIC that includes an additional component, rational capital efficiency. Board size, independence, board meetings, chief executive officier duality and board gender diversity are all measures of board characteristics. Firm performance is measured through return on assets, return on equity and earnings per share. The Hausman test was used to select the best model for the study.


Findings
Based on the regression results, the board's gender diversity and duality have a significant inverse relationship with profitability. In terms of the impact of board characteristics on IC, it is discovered that board independence and diversity are significantly inversely related to IC. Furthermore, IC is significantly related to profitability by all means. In terms of the moderating effect of IC, the findings show that IC significantly moderates the negative relationship between duality and profitability, as well as board gender diversity and profitability.


Practical implications
This study made some policy recommendations to policymakers. Duality should be avoided in PSX firms because it is significantly inversely related to profitability and IC. Second, female board participation should be subjective. Third, because the findings indicate that Pakistani firms lack true board independence, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan should take additional steps to ensure that the board is truly independent.


Originality/value
To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study of its kind to study the moderating effect of IC between corporate governance and firm performance.

Media shape public opinion. As a powerful tool of communication, it prioritizes issues and gives them coverage according through editorial judgment. Agendasetting theory explains how media influences the topics in public agenda. In 1968, McCombs and Donald Shaw studied presidential elections of the United States and established a strong relationship between election issue and media coverage. This study has used their theory of agenda setting to explain how two daily newspapers of Pakistan, Dawn and Jang has covered unemployment and energy crisis on their front and back pages during a time period of one year. Content analysis method is applied to investigate the treatment of news in both papers. Findings explain that Jang gave more coverage to these social issues as compared to Dawn. This study recommends more attention to social issues.

The world witnessed a major historical event in 1947 when subcontinent, which was governed as a one unit from Khyber to Burma since almost last one thousand years, partitioned by the ruling British Empire resulting into two states namely India and Pakistan. The major reason behind partition of the subcontinent was the religious and cultural differences between the Hindus and Muslims. This difference made them hostile towards each other and India having superiority in all aspects, compelled Pakistan to become a security state right after its inception. To expand its superiority over the whole region, the Indian nuclear program started in 1944, even before its independence. India conducted first nuclear tests in 1974 and continued expanding its nuclear program. This forced Pakistan to work seriously on its nuclear program with a fast pace. India announced its formal entry to the nuclear weapons club in May 1998 with 5 nuclear tests at Pokhran, Pakistan, having nuclear capability at that time, replied back in merely two weeks with 6 nuclear tests and became the 7th nation in the world and first Islamic country to join the nuclear countries club. The lives of over a billion people are at mercy of the two nuclear powers state heads, especially India having an extremist government poses a serious threat to the peace of subcontinent which needs great attention especially from the global community otherwise a nuclear Armageddon could be expected.

This study aimed at the development and validation of a research instrument for students learning experiences (SLE) at the higher education level in the public sector universities of Punjab, Pakistan. Data were collected on three constructs as students learning experiences inside the classroom,outside the classroom and on-campus. The factors in students learning experiences inside the classroom factors like teacher interaction, assessment and feedback, and peer group discussion were measured. The factors of outside classroom learning experiences as cultural diversity, library and learning resources and conferences, seminars and webinars were measured. The simple random sampling technique was applied in the department of education,psychology and sociology in six public universities in Punjab to collect data.The tryout of the instrument was conducted on 200 students' samples to measure the content validity and reliability. The expert opinion was sought from the University of Sargodha and the University of Punjab Lahore. The Cronbach alpha reliability was .95, which showed the instrument is reliable.Having pilot tested the instrument. Data were collected from 1024 male and female students. The questionnaire comprised 42 items. Structure Equation Model (SEM) was used to validate the instrument using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). The Cronbach alpha and SEM results indicated that students learning experiences resulted in fit indices as an acceptable model.

The material consequences of the US-led "war on terror" in Pakistan are always counted in statistical terms, that is, the number of casualties in drone strikes or suicide bombings. Little attention, however, is paid to the local public imagination to know how the ordinary people consume this everyday destruction and what kind of cultural production it ensures that shapes and inspires their imagination. In this study, therefore, we discuss the way systemic violence and cultural expression reinforce each other and how such an uneasy configuration depicts the pain and injury of people affected by this global war. We examine a purposive sample of Pashto tapey--anonymous couplets attributed to Pashtun women and conventionally reflecting war, valour, grief, longing, and love--to gain an insight into how this folk literature engages militarized violence, embraces the political and ideological challenges of the war, and reveals the hidden power contestation between actual militarization and symbolic representation. A close reading of these tapey depicts that Pashtun life is not only subjected to a rule of death, what Mbembe calls, "necropolitics" but these tapey create its own necrospace in local enunciative and cultural practices, thus reinforcing militarised violence in a cultural sphere.

AbstractThe use of collaborative learning technologies is a stimulating element of collaborative learning process, where social interaction and collaboration are key factors. This research examines the impact of sociability quality on the usage of web-based collaborative learning information system (WBCLIS) and user satisfaction. We propose a theoretical model by integrating the construct of 'sociability quality' in the DeLone and McLean's (Journal of Management Information Systems 19:9–30, 2003) updated information system success model. Proposed theoretical model was empirically validated, in a service-learning course with undergraduate students, where data was collected using an online questionnaire and evaluated through partial least square, structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) statistical approach. Results suggest that, sociability quality has a direct positive impact on the system use and overall user satisfaction, along with a strong indirect impact on the net benefits of the WBCLIS. Findings also confirmed that, system use and user satisfaction are strong predictors of the net benefits. These results about sociability quality, contribute significantly in the domain of IS success literature, by identifying a novel and critical IS success dimension. Further, theoretical contribution in the context of sociability quality for IS success, and practical implications entailing the use of WBCLIS in the domain of service learning are also discussed.