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Strategic Stability Paradigm in South Asia

Tauqeer Hussain Sargana

International Islamic University Islamabad

Mujahid Hussain

Bahria University Islamabad

Abstract

The advent of nuclear weapons has brought into discussion the strands of strategic stability that initially occupied the Cold War rivals and later the neighboring states of South Asia. Both the Soviet Union and the United States due to distanced geography with that of settled strategic language have almost brought a positive tendency in crisis management and strategic stability. Contrary to Cold War rivals, the South Asian nuclear opponents have gone through a vulnerability of strategic miscalculation and crisis instability. That is why at most of their direct military stalemates, the US and Soviets had to jump in to defuse the crises. Moreover, Indian military modernization, deliberate maintenance of conventional asymmetry, application of sub-conventional warfare, state-sponsored terrorism, regional dominance and global aspirations interlinked with the containment of China under Indo-US strategic partnership has altogether shaped the contemporary discourse of strategic stability in South Asia. This study makes the point that the strands of strategic stability between the two regional powers of South Asia are tied to the complex web of the bilateral, regional and global framework. It is in this larger construct that strategic stability in South Asia can be best described. This study is deductive in nature and theoretically evaluates the notion of strategic stability paradigm to deconstruct the prevailing fault lines.

Effects of Social Network Sites (SNS) on the Psychological Health of College Students

in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan

Rooh ul Amin

International Islamic University Islamabad

Dr. Khalid Sultan

National University of Modern Languages Islamabad

Abid Zafar

International Islamic University Islamabad

Abstract

The increasing trend of technological development and its acceptance by the users is a hallmark of this age. The proliferation of the most innovative technologies and its consequent convenience of information and communication via the internet have malformed the center and the fringe almost in the same manner. The social network sites (SNSs) are also attracting individuals because of their affordance and reach. The SNSs helped to connect people, groups and communities, with shared interest on Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter and Snap chat, etc. Heavy exposure to the SNS among the youth has now become ‘virtual addiction’ that at times brings about psychological health issues. Researchers have observed a correlation between stress, depression, low self- esteem, loneliness, and social network addiction and emphasized that such dependence affects the health and psychological status of a person. This paper is also an attempt to identify such correlations by conducting a study examining varying degrees of effects on heavy and light users both male and female in academic institutes of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan. The result showed a significant difference between heavy and light users for the stress levels. Females also experienced more stress than their male counterparts .it was found that female respondents were feeling more loneliness and their self-esteem got more affected as compared to males by their online activity.

Human Values in Textbooks: A Case Study of General Zia and Post-2010 Democratic Regimes

Qamar Abbas

International Islamic University Islamabad

Abstract

The study is qualitative in nature using the content analysis method of research. The core objective of the study has been to gauge and compare the values in the textbooks during two eras; viz, General Zia-ul-Haq (1978-1988) and Post-2010 democratic regimes. For this purpose, the textbooks of two different time periods have been selected – primary level (grade I to V) English (as a subject) textbooks published by the Punjab Textbook Board during General Zia-ul-Haq regime and the same level English textbooks published by the Punjab Textbook Board during post-2010 democratic regimes. The human values such as tolerance, patience, empathy, honesty, justice, equity, and humanism have been divided into some categories with further subcategories as indicators to match with the content of textbooks. The collected data revealed that neither the textbooks during the Zia-ul-Haq period nor the textbooks of post-2010 regimes promoted these values in the students, as they ought to be. A minor percentage of human values have been found in the textbooks of both eras.

Discovering human rights journalism in Pakistani English dailies reporting Baluchistan conflict

Tariq Mehmood

Baluchistan University of Information Technology,

Engineering and Management Sciences, Quetta

Abstract

Human rights journalism (HRJ) model has been applied in this study investigating the contents of two leading English dailies of Pakistan reporting on the Baluchistan conflict which has caused massive human rights loss and violation in the last several decades. The selected dailies, The News International and Dawn, found both with human rights journalism (HRJ) and human wrong journalism (HWJ) in the year 2016. The Dawn has reported many such stories with less HRJ whereas The News International has reported comparatively few stories but with more HRJ,solution-oriented news.