N E W S P A P E R  C L I P P I N GS MAY 2016

Agriculture

Zaigham Khan , Let them eat cake , The News, 30 May 2016, P.06

Biography/interviews

Nayeed Hasan Khan, Man of substance, Dawn, 08 May 2016, P.09

Saad Rasool, A Pakistani Sadiq Khan, The Nation, 08 May 2016, P.07

Harris Khalique, Mirza Zahirdaar Baig, The News, 18 May 2016, P.07

Culture / Society / Women / Human Rights

Haleema Hasan, Prints on pristine glass, The Nation, 07 May 2016, P.07

Hassan Javid, Jirgas, honour, and justice, The Nation, 08 May 2016, P.06

Mina Malik-Hussain, On the Anti-Feminist, The Nation, 09 May 2016, P.06

Kunwar Khuldune Shahid, The lollipop fallacy, The Nation, 12 May 2016, P.07

Hassan Javid , Gentle beatings and soft minds, The Nation, 29 May 2016,P.06

Saad Rasool , The gentle wife beater, The Nation, 29 May 2016, P.07

Anees Jillani, A question of honour, The News, 13 May 2016, P.06

Ayaz Ahmed, Rethinking jirgas, The News, 14 May 2016, P.06

Zaigham Khan, Women and their tormentors, The News, 16 May 2016, P.06

Helle Nielsen, The battle for equality, The News, 16 May 2016, P.06

Adiah Afraz, How to beat your wife in six easy steps, The News, 29 May 2016, P.06

Economics

F.S.Aijazuddin, Dollars and sense, Dawn, 19 May  2016, P.09

Dr Ahmad Rashid Malik, Mutually beneficial CPEC, The Nation, 02 May2016, P.06

Dr Kamal Monnoo, Budget – looming challenges, The Nation, 11 May 2016, P.06

Mian Fazal Ahmad, A ‘Kashkol’ free federal budget, The Nation, 13 May2016, P.06

Dr Ahmad Rashid Malik, CPEC: Transforming Pakistan’s economy, The Nation, 17 May 2016, P.06

Dr Kamal Monnoo, Pakistan’s defense budget, The Nation, 25 May 2016, P.06

Malik Muhammad Ashraf, CPEC: Epitome of infallible bonds, The Nation, 27 May 2016, P.07

Atta-ur-Rahman, Innovation driving economies, The News, 18 May 2016, P.06

Abid Hasan, New shoes on budget day, The News, 21 May 2016, P.06

Raashid Wali Janjua, Elite capture, The News, 24 May 2016, P.06

Energy

Engr Mushtaq Ahmed, Energy-starved Pakistan, The Nation, 06 May 2016, P.07

Education / Language & Literature

Sana Chaudhry, Who has 100 years?, The Nation, 03 May 2016, P.07

Atle Hetland, Learning from others in new times, The Nation, 05 May2016, P.07

Faiza Abdur Rab, Teachers left behind , The Nation, 27 May 2016, P.06

Shahid Siddiqui, Linguistic imperialism, The News, 02 May 2016, P.06

Dr Javaid Laghari, Higher education reforms, The News, 24 May 2016, P.06

Adel Abdel Ghafar and Fraus Masri, The lost generation , The News, 31 May 2016, P.6

Environmental Issues / Health Issues

Sikander Ahmed Shah, Right to water, Dawn, 02 May 2016, P.09

Zarrar Khuro, Weather wars, Dawn, 16 May 2016, P.09

Commander Sohail Ahmad Azmie, Why oceans are important, The Nation,06 May 2016, P.06

Chauburji, Hot weather, The Nation, 22 May 2016, P.06

Sana Chaudhry, Climate migration, The Nation, 25 May 2016, P.07

Adnan Adil, Cleaning Sutlej, The News, 23 May 2016, P.06

Imaan Mazari Hazir, The reality of climate change, The News, 25 May2016, P.06

Kashmir

Sikander Ahmed Shah, Mapping Kashmir, Dawn, 26 May 2016, P.09

K. Iqbal, No sidelining the Kashmir issue, The Nation, 09 May 2016, P.07

Afzal Hussain, Indian policy in occupied Kashmir, The Nation, 17 May2016, P.07

Law

Niaz Murtaza, Middle-class ethos, Dawn, 24 May 2016, P.09

Nadeem Janjua, Deliverance of justice, The Nation, 18 May 2016, P.07

International Relations

A.G.Noorani, China & South Asia, Dawn, 07 May 2016, P.09

Farhan Bokhari, After the F-16 saga, Dawn, 13 May 2016, P.09

A . G . Noorani, LoC trade, Dawn, 21 May 2016, P.09 Najma Minhas, Magic in the Saudi-US 

Marriage?, The Nation, 01 May 2016, P.07

Jalees Hazir, Welcoming President Putin to Pakistan, The Nation, 05 May2016, P.06

Afrasiab Khattak, Geostrategic vs. Geoeconomic, The Nation, 14 May 2016, P.07

K. Iqbal, F-16’s impact on Pak-US relations, The Nation, 16 May 2016, P.07

Jalees Hazir, A new bamboo-iron curtain, The Nation, 19 May 2016, P.06

Reema Shaukat, 65 years of friendship , The Nation, 21 May 2016, P.07

Baber Aly, Deeper than seas, higher than mountains, The Nation, 23 May2016, P.06

Jalees Hazir, Time to divorce the US, The Nation, 26 May 2016, P.06

Afrasiab Khattak, The dangerous duality , The Nation, 28 May 2016, P.06

K.Iqbal, American and the spirit of Yum-e-Takbir , The Nation, 30 May 2016, P.07

Iftikhar Ahmad, Violation of sovereignty, The Nation, 31 May 2016, P.07

Raashid Wali Janjua, Walking the razor’s edge, The News, 14 May 2016, P.06

Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, Sixty-five years later, The News, 21 May 2016, P.06

Imtiaz Alam , Crossing redlines , The News, 26 May 2016, P.06

Miscellaneous

Dr Noman Ahmed, Project Karachi, Dawn, 17 May 2016, P.09

Hajrah Mumtaz , Media power, Dawn, 23 May 2016, P.09

Sahar Bandial , Pemra policing, Dawn, 31 May 2016, P.09

Zainab Zeeshan Malik, No Justice for Juveniles, The Nation, 04 May 2016, P.06

Agha Baqir, My name is Khan, The Nation, 09 May 2016, P.06

Hassan Javid, More offshore hypocrisy, The Nation, 15 May 2016, P.06

Mina Malik-Hussain, The problem with PEMRA, The Nation, 16 May 2016, P.06

Junaid Sadiq Masood, Safety and the future, The Nation, 20 May 2016, P.06

Zain Haider, Less human , The Nation, 30 May 2016, P.06

Adnan Adil, Saving our heritage, The News, 11 May 2016, P.06

Iftekhar A Khan, Death of merit, The News, 20 May 2016, P.07

Azhar Abbas, Media in the age of disruption, The News, 25 May 2016, P.06

Ashraf Ali , Are we not in the state of war , The News, 26 May 2016, P.06

Science / Technology

Mina Malik-Hussain, On trolls, The Nation, 02 May 2016, P.06

Hafsa Khaled, Regulation in the new cyber age, The Nation, 03 May 2016, P.07

Samson Simon Sharaf, Cold tests and cold start, The Nation, 07 May 2016, P.06

Samson Simon Sharaf, Pakistan’s diabolic contrasts, The Nation, 14 May2016, P.06

Ali Sarwar Naqvi, A nuclearised Indian Ocean, The News, 20 May 2016, P.06

Shamshad Ahmad, An uneasy nuclear equation , The News, 28 May 2016,P.06

Dr A Q Khan , The 28th May tests, The News, 30 May 2016, P.06

Politics / International Politics

Shahab Usto , MQM or PSP?, Dawn, 03 May 2016, P.09

Bina Shah , Unequal spaces, Dawn, 04 May 2016, P.09

A . Rauf K. Khattak, More democracy, Dawn, 05 May 2016, P.09

Huma Yusuf, Identity politics?, Dawn, 09 May 2016, P.09

Moeed Yusuf, Two Pakistans, Dawn, 10 May 2016, P.09

Owen Bennett -J ones , Believing in Khan, Dawn, 12 May 2016, P.09

A.G.Noorani, Two years of Modi, Dawn, 14 May 2016, P.09

Ahmer Bilal Soofi, Bangladesh on trial, Dawn, 18 May 2016, P.09

S. Mudassir Ali Shah, Smooth succession, Dawn, 29 May 2016, P.09

K. Iqbal, Afghan peace process, The Nation, 02 May 2016, P.07

Marvi Sirmed, Project Democracy Vs. Accountability, The Nation, 03 May2016, P.06

Saria Benazir, The unapologetic syndrome of truth, The Nation, 04 May2016, P.07

Javid Husain, Crosscurrents in Pakistan, The Nation, 10 May 2016, P.07

Iftikhar Ahmad, Society and public administration, The Nation, 10 May2016, P.07

Atle Hetland, Populist or thinking politicians?, The Nation, 12 May 2016, P.07

M A Niazi, Coming up Trumps, The Nation, 13 May 2016, P.06

Muhammad Umar, Zardari, not Musharraf, The Nation, 13 May 2016, P.07

Dr Farid A Malik, Kaptaan is back?, The Nation, 18 May 2016, P.06

S Tariq, Held by the future!, The Nation, 19 May 2016, P.06

Taj M Khattak, China’s strategy in the Indian Ocean, The Nation, 19 May2016, P.07

M S Khan, Development against all odds, The Nation, 20 May 2016, P.07

Saad Rasool, Politics, not truth, The Nation, 22 May 2016, P.07

K. Iqbal, Witchhunt in Bangladesh, The Nation, 23 May 2016, P.07

Saria Benazir , Circle of political debt , The Nation, 30 May 2016, P.07

Zaigham Khan, The fall of the PPP, the rise of the PTI, The News, 02 May2016, P.06

Religion

Muhammad Ali Musofer, Cosmopolitan ethics, Dawn, 06 May 2016, P.09

Hassan Javid, Pakistan’s image problem?, The Nation, 01 May 2016, P.06

Shafkat Saeed, The sectarian drift, The Nation, 14 May 2016, P.07

Dr A Q Khan, Rights of women in Islam, The News, 02 May 2016, P.06

Topic of the Month—Opposition ‘s TOR against Government after Panama Leaks

The flip side of Panama Leaks, The flip side of Panama Leaks, The Nation,01 May 2016, P.07

Mohsin Raza Malik, Panama conundrum, The Nation, 04 May 2016, P.07

S Tariq, Hunger Games, The Nation, 05 May 2016, P.06

Malik Muhammad Ashraf, Ferreting out the truth, The Nation, 06 May 2016, P.07

Afrasiab Khattak, Ordeal of democracy, The Nation, 07 May 2016, P.07

Marvi Sirmed, Politics of accountability, The Nation, 10 May 2016, P.06

Mohsin Raza Malik, Our accountability dilemmas, The Nation, 11 May 2016, P.07

Jalees Hazir, Corruption beyond Panama dollars, The Nation, 12 May 2016, P.06

Saad Rasool, CJ’s resisting of the forbidden fruit, The Nation, 15 May2016, P.07

Gul Bukhari, The charlatan saviour, The Nation, 15 May 2016, P.07

Zain Haider, Democracy, hemorrhaging, The Nation, 16 May 2016, P.07

Shahzad Atta, Leaks and the mockery, The Nation, 18 May 2016, P.06

Iftikhar Ahmad, The Prime Minister speaks, The Nation, 23 May 2016, P.07

Mohsin Raza Malik, Playing ‘Panama politics’, The Nation, 25 May 2016,P.07

Azam Khalil, Who will break the impasse?, The News, 11 May 2016, P.06

Ayaz Amir, Net tightens…sadly, no escaping Panama leaks, The News, 13May 2016, P.06

Ayaz Amir, Daring…missing link in the Pakistani character, The News, 17May 2016, P.06

Mosharraf Zaidi, The Panamanian road to nowhere, The News, 17 May2016, P.07

Nasim Zehra, The opposition’s ‘brilliant’ strategy, The News, 18 May 2016, P.06

Ayaz Amir, When did committees solve anything?, The News, 20 May2016, P.06

M Saeed Khalid, Panama and beyond, The News, 21 May 2016, P.06

War / Terrorism

Asim Sajjad Akhtar, Security circus, Dawn, 20 May 2016, P.09

Irfan Hysain, Death by drone, Dawn, 28 May 2016, P.09

Mohammad Ali BabaKhel, Extremism in books, Dawn, 30 May 2016, P.09

Iftikhar Ahmad, Miscreants in Punjab, The Nation, 17 May 2016, P.06

M A Niazi, Ways of going missing, The Nation, 20 May 2016, P.06

Ahsan Kureshi, Symbolic terrorism, The Nation, 21 May 2016, P.06

Samson Simon Sharaf, Irrelevent nuclear jargon, The Nation, 21 May2016, P.06

Kunwar Khuldune Shahid, US drones 3-0 zarb-e-azab, The Nation, 26 May 2016, P.07

Ali Rauf Jaswal, At the brink of transnational war , The Nation, 31 May 2016, P.07

Franklin Chuck Spinney, Gong show, The News, 12 May 2016, P.07

Jonathan Marshall, The new cold war, The News, 17 May 2016, P.06

Raashid Wali Janjua, Whither National Action Plan?, The News, 19 May2016, P.06

Nasim Zehra, From unworkable reconciliation to deadly war, The News, 25 May 2016, P.06

Saleem Safi, The question of competency , The News, 28 May 2016, P.06

Babar Sattar , Questions post Mansour, The News, 28 May 2016, P.07

S Brain Willson, Remembering all war victims , The News, 30 May 2016,P.06

This Robot Librarian Locates Haphazardly Placed Books

It's the next best thing since the Dewey Decimal System

By Danny Lewis

Organization rules in the library stacks, but patrons can easily thwart the system by haphazardly returning books to the shelves. Librarians spend many hours searching for these wandering tomes, but robots could soon help them out. A new librarian robot locates misplaced books, helping to return them to their rightful place, Coby McDonald writes for Popular Science.

Over the years, automation has slowly crept into libraries around the world. Digital databases replaced card catalogs, and some libraries use robots to file, sort and retrieve books for patrons. But most local libraries lack the space and resources for such complex systems.

Enter AuRoSS, the robot librarian

A group of researchers at Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) have developed a robot that can wander among the stacks at night, scanning shelves for misplaced books. When the Autonomous Robotic Shelf Scanning system (AuRoSS) finds one, it flags it so a librarian can go back later to grab the book and return it to where it belongs.

In order to identify and keep track of the books, AuRoSS relies on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags. These little chips are used in everything from office key cards to passports. In recent years, libraries have begun using them to help keep track of books, scanning the spines with hand-held devices. But AuRoSS can trundle around the stacks all on its own, continually scanning the little tags, according to McDonald.

The stacks, however, can become complex labyrinth, challenging for human navigation, let alone robotic. In order for AuRoSS to successfully scan RFID tags, it has to stay at just the right distance away from the shelves. “Too far and we lose the RFID signals, but too close and the antenna hits the shelf,” project leader Renjun Li says in a statement.

At the same time, library maps are often too low-resolution to be useful for robots. While basic maps direct patrons to sci-fi/fantasy books from the history section, robots require extremely precise detail and directions for everything they do.

So Li’s team programmed AuRoSS to detect the surface of the bookshelves when planning out its route. By attaching the RFID-detecting antenna and a set of ultrasonic scanners to a robotic arm, AuRoSS can keep its sensors close enough to detect the books and know when it needs to change direction to continue scanning shelves.

During a recent demonstration at Singapore’s Pasir Ris Public Library, Li’s team found that AuRoSS could navigate the library and detect misfiled books with 99 percent accuracy. While AuRoSS still requires some refining, it has the potential to take on some of a librarian's most tedious tasks.

Link: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/robot-librarian-locates-haphazardly-placed-books-180959381/?utm_source=facebook.com&no-ist

Newspapers Clipping April 2016

Agriculture
Dr Kamal Monnoo, Agriculture: Learning from India, The Nation, 13 April 2016, P.06
Hassan Javid, Fighting peasants while fuelling bigots, The Nation, 24  April 2016, P.06
Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, Towards agri-led growth, The News, 02 April 2016, P.06

Biography/interviews

Sharif Al Mujhaid, A role model, Dawn, 27  April 2016, P.09
Jalees Hazir, President Putin’s media trial, The Nation, 14 April 2016, P.06
M A Niazi, The Bard of Avon, The Nation, 29 April 2016, P.06

Culture/Society/Women/Human Rights

Asma Humayun, Violence at home, Dawn, 04  April 2016, P.09
Asfiya Aziz, Media Ethics, Dawn, 29  April 2016, P.09
Sana Chaudhry, For your daughters, The Nation, 05 April 2016, P.07
Afrasiab Khattak, Human rights challenges, The Nation, 09 April 2016, P.07
Mina Malik-Hussain, On sons, The Nation, 11 April 2016, P.06
Asfandyar Waraich, The end of collectivism?, The Nation, 19 April 2016, P.07
Dr Zamurrad Awan, Appraisal of Women Protection Bill, The Nation, 26 April 2016, P.06
Anjum Altaf, A toothless tiger?, The News, 02 April 2016, P.06
Imaan Mazari Hazir, A constitutional violation, The News, 11 April 2016, P.06
Dr A Q Khan, Women’s rights in Islam, The News, 25 April 2016, P.06
Syed Muhammad Abubakar, Women and climate change, The News, 30  April 2016, P.06

Economics

Farhan Bokhari , Dodging the taxman, Dawn, 18  April 2016, P.09
Malik Muhammad Ashraf, Quest for export-led growth, The Nation, 01 April 2016, P.07
Samson Simon Sharaf, Pakistan’s multilayed perspectives Part 4, The Nation, 09 April 2016, P.06
Malik Muhammad Ashraf, CPEC an epoch making initiative, The Nation, 15 April 2016, P.07
Zubair Khaliq, The possible irrelevance of oil, The Nation, 20  April 2016, P.07
Tashfeen Jamal, CPEC: A game changer, The Nation, 20  April 2016, P.07
Dr Song Jong-hwan, Behind the Korean economic miracle, The Nation, 21  April 2016, P.06
Muhammad Umar, The importance of CPEC, The Nation, 25 April 2016, P.07
Sehar Kamran, SCO: A game changer, The Nation, 27 April 2016, P.06
Dr Kamal Monnoo, CPEC – latest commentary, The Nation, 27 April 2016, P.07
S Akbar Zaidi, The economy: better, but what’s your next trick?, The News, 13 April 2016, P.06
Shahzad Chaudhry, Living with crooks, The News, 15 April 2016, P.06

Education/Language & Literature

Atle Hetland, Lessons in education, The Nation, 21  April 2016, P.07
Dr Shahid Siddiqui, Education in pre-British Punjab, The News, 04 April 2016, P.06


Energy

Nadeem  Hussain, Going solar, Dawn, 14  April 2016, P.09

Environmental Issues and Health Issues

Rukhsana   Shah, Poor diagnosis, Dawn, 01  April 2016, P.09
Arif  Azad, Census & health, Dawn, 05  April 2016, P.09
Asad  Ali, Measles in Sindh, Dawn, 15  April 2016, P.09
Chauburji, Myths and mindsets, The Nation, 10 April 2016, P.06
Azal Zahir, Dendrology, The Nation, 17 April 2016, P.07
Kifayat Ullah, Half-realised goals, The Nation, 18 April 2016, P.07
Azal Zahir , The legal implications of COP 21, The Nation, 21  April 2016, P.07
Dr Ahmad Saeed Bhatti, Earth Day 2016, The Nation, 22  April 2016, P.06
Dr Arshad Rehan, Implementing healthcare reform, The News, 04 April 2016, P.06
Naeem Sadiq, Our travel footprint, The News, 05 April 2016, P.06
Dr Atta-ur-Rahman, Young again, The News, 06 April 2016, P.06
Grant A Mincy, Earth Day, The News, 06 April 2016, P.07
Adnan Adil, Unsafe water, The News, 07 April 2016, P.06
Pete Dolack, Coastal flooding, The News, 11 April 2016, P.07
Dr A Q Khan, Medical humanitarianism, The News, 18 April 2016, P.06
Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq, The road to zero, The News, 26 April 2016, P.06
Silvio Carrillo & Jeff Conant, Earth’s defenders, The News, 27 April 2016, P.07

International Relations

M A Niazi, A matter of timing, The Nation, 01 April 2016, P.06
K. Iqbal, RAW’s raw hand, The Nation, 04 April 2016, P.07
M A Niazi, Upsetting the balance, The Nation, 08 April 2016, P.06
Dr.S.Farooq Hasnat, Pakistan - Iran strategic obligation, The Nation, 16 April 2016, P.07
K. Iqbal, India’s denial and despair, The Nation, 25 April 2016, P.07
Jalees Hazir, Sending the US back home, The Nation, 28 April 2016, P.06
Samson Simon Sharaf, International layer of instability, The Nation, 30  April 2016, P.06
Syed Talat Hussain, Strategic blunders, The News, 04 April 2016, P.07
Malik Muhammad Ashraf, Pak-Iran relations, The News, 05 April 2016, P.06
Hussain H Zaidi, Ties with Tehran, The News, 06 April 2016, P.06
Shahzad Chaudhry, War through other means, The News, 08 April 2016, P.06
Saleem Safi, Asking for a neutral Iran, The News, 09 April 2016, P.06
Muhammad Umer, The hot reality of cold start, The News, 19 April 2016, P.06

Kashmir

Sikander Ahmed Shah, Another solution?, Dawn, 07  April 2016, P.09
Sameer Bhat, Kashmir discontent, Dawn, 24  April 2016, P.09
Afzal Hussain, Half-widows of occupied Kashmir, The Nation, 06 April 2016, P.06
Awais Bin Wasi, Kashmir: 10 options for Pakistan, The Nation, 13 April 2016, P.07
Engr Mushtaq Ahmed, Macro Hydropower of Kashmir, The Nation, 19 April 2016, P.06
 M Saeed Khalid, Mehbooba and the BJP, The News, 08 April 2016, P.06
Awais Bin Wasi, Options on Kashmir, The News, 12 April 2016, P.06
Aijaz Zaka Syed, The killing fields of Kashmir, The News, 15 April 2016, P.07

Law

Maria Taimur, Implementing JJSO, Dawn, 17  April 2016, P.09
Hassan Javid, Revisiting the Cybercrime Bill, The Nation, 17 April 2016, P.06 

Miscellaneous

Mohammad Ali Baba Khel, Policing Sindh, Dawn, 10  April 2016, P.09
Parvez  Rahim, Accidents at work, Dawn, 13 April 2016, P.09
Moazzam  Hussain, The right way, Dawn, 20  April 2016, P.09
Aasim  Sajjad  Akhtar, Steady retreat, Dawn, 22  April 2016, P.09
Irfan Husain, Pity the police, Dawn, 23  April 2016, P.09
Tariq Mushtaq , Kalabagh Dam: The facts, The Nation, 01 April 2016, P.06
Atle Hetland, Accepting difference, The Nation, 07 April 2016, P.07
Agha Baqir, From the Common to the Commoner, The Nation, 19 April 2016, P.07
Imaan Mazari Hazir, Misogyny and the law, The News, 23  April 2016, P.06

Politics/International Politics

Idress  Khwaja, Politics of census, Dawn, 03 April 2016, P.09
A.G.Noorani, Identity crisis, Dawn, 08  April 2016, P.09
Niaz  Murtaza, Elusive liberalism, Dawn, 12  April 2016, P.09
Irfan  Husain , The moral maze, Dawn, 16  April 2016, P.09
Huma Yusuf, Accountability moves, Dawn, 25  April 2016, P.09
Kaleem Dean, Most Americans support torture, The Nation, 03 April 2016, P.07
Munir Ahmed Khan, The need for a new Bhutto, The Nation, 04 April 2016, P.07
Dr Farooq Hassan, Trump still ahead, The Nation, 05 April 2016, P.06
Dr Farid A Malik, Politics of Patronage, The Nation, 06 April 2016, P.06
K. Iqbal, Beyond Kulbhushan Yadav, The Nation, 11 April 2016, P.07
Javid Husain, System and the man, The Nation, 12 April 2016, P.07
Dr Farid A Malik, Defenders of the constitution?, The Nation, 13 April 2016, P.06
Abdul Majeed Abid, The Anti-National Manifesto, The Nation, 18 April 2016, P.06
Dr Farid A Malik, The Chief Minister of Punjab, The Nation, 20  April 2016, P.06
Ahsan Kureshi, The good paparazzi, The Nation, 23  April 2016, P.07
Marvi Sirmed, Keyword: Across-the-board, The Nation, 26 April 2016, P.06
Dr Farid A Malik, Carriage without coachman, The Nation, 27 April 2016, P.06
Mohsin Raza Malik, Mainstreaming the Mohajirs, The Nation, 27 April 2016, P.07
Nazia Jabeen, Imran’s tragic flaw, The Nation, 29 April 2016, P.06
Imaan Mazari Hazir, A dismal state of affairs, The News, 04 April 2016, P.06
Ayaz Amir, Legends of the mandate, The News, 05 April 2016, P.06
Adnan Randhawa, Progressive Pakistan, The News, 05 April 2016, P.06
Talat Farooq, Reality check, The News, 06 April 2016, P.06
Mosharraf Zaidi, Consistently living up to low expectations, The News, 12 April 2016, P.07
Hussain H Zaidi, No surprises, The News, 14 April 2016, P.06
Ayaz Amir, Sharif evasions inviting intervention, The News, 22  April 2016, P.06
 Azam Khalil, We need Nawabzada Nasrullah, The News, 23  April 2016, P.06
Raashid Wali Janjua, Institutional stability, The News, 28 April 2016, P.06
Zaigham Khan, Twenty years of the PTI: the road to glory, The News, 25 April 2016, P.06
Imtiaz Alam, Keeping the transition on track, The News, 28 April 2016, P.06
Iftekhar A Khan, The show goes on, The News, 30  April 2016, P.07

Religion

Tabinda  M . K han, The middle path, Dawn, 06  April 2016, P.09
Owen Bennet T Jones, Deoband variations, Dawn, 21  April 2016, P.09
Mina Malik-Hussain, Under siege, again, The Nation, 04 April 2016, P.06
Harris Bin Munawar, Diary of a former Islamic extremist, The Nation, 05 April 2016, P.06
Shahzad Chaudhry, Turmoil in the world of Islam, The News, 01 April 2016, P.06
Nasim Zehra, Government under self-siege, The News, 01 April 2016, P.06
Ayaz Amir, ‘Soft’ Islam flexes its muscles…sort of, The News, 01 April 2016, P.06
Danish Khan, Making a new social contract, The News, 02 April 2016, P.07

Science & Information TechnologY

Muhammad Umar, Fareed Zakaria’s nuclear allegations, The Nation, 08 April 2016, P.06
Nasir Hafeez, Sharing of sensitive nuclear information, The Nation, 09 April 2016, P.07
Abdul Majeed Abid, Science in the age of nationalism, The Nation, 11 April 2016, P.06
Kunwar Khuldune Shahid, We’re all cyber-terrorists, The Nation, 14 April 2016, P.07
Ali Sarwar Naqvi, India’s nuclear arsenal, The News, 09 April 2016, P.06
Raashid Wali Janjua, True deterrence, The News, 11 April 2016, P.06
Janette D Sherman & Joseph Mangano, Fukushima: five years later, The News, 14 April 2016, P.06
Dr Atta-ur-Rahman, Reaping the IT fruits, The News, 20  April 2016, P.06
Raashid Wali Janjua, Ending nuclear inequality, The News, 21  April 2016, P.06

Topic of the Month - Panama Leaks Corruption Scandal

Niaz Murtaza, Pondering Panama, Dawn, 26  April 2016, P.09
Jalees Hazir, Kosher corruption and media spins, The Nation, 07 April 2016, P.06
S Tariq, Thoughts on ‘Panama Leaks’, The Nation, 07 April 2016, P.06
Malik Muhammad Ashraf, Burning witches with relish, The Nation, 08 April 2016, P.07
Ahsan Kureshi, The P-leaks and the Sharifs, The Nation, 09 April 2016, P.06
Hassan Javid, Offshore hypocrisy, The Nation, 10 April 2016, P.06
Saad Rasool, (Non)-Judicial Commission, The Nation, 10 April 2016, P.07
 Najma Minhas, Pakistani Panama Papers, The Nation, 12 April 2016, P.07
Mohsin Raza Malik, Panama probe, The Nation, 13 April 2016, P.07
S Tariq, For the sake of future generations, The Nation, 14 April 2016, P.06
Atle Hetland, Beyond the Panama Papers, The Nation, 14 April 2016, P.07
M A Niazi, The leaks that swept Pakistan too, The Nation, 15 April 2016, P.06
Maiza Hameed, Nothing lethal about the leaks, The Nation, 16 April 2016, P.06
Afrasiab Khattak, Agony of the Federation, The Nation, 16 April 2016, P.07
Saad Rasool, What moral responsibility?, The Nation, 17 April 2016, P.07
M A Niazi, Leaking in London, The Nation, 22  April 2016, P.06
Samson Simon Sharaf, Pakistan’s multilayered perspectives, The Nation, 23  April 2016, P.07
Saad Rasool, Boiling Pot of Issues, The Nation, 24  April 2016, P.07
Mian Fazal Ahmad, Panama leaks and international audits, The Nation, 24  April 2016, P.07
Mina Malik-Hussain, On Trojan Horses, The Nation, 25 April 2016, P.06
Iftikhar Ahmad, Panama Leaks and politics, The Nation, 26 April 2016, P.07
Agha Baqir, Wealth mines, The Nation, 30  April 2016, P.07
Joe Brewer, Systemic corruption, The News, 06 April 2016, P.06
Dr Ikramul Haq, Offshore, onshore, The News, 07 April 2016, P.06
C J Polychroniou, Why care about the leak?, The News, 07 April 2016, P.06
Mosharraf Zaidi, Consistently living up to low expectations, The News, 07 April 2016, P.07
Ayaz Amir, Panama Leaks…Pakistan’s opportunity, The News, 08 April 2016, P.06
Shahid Mehmood, What’s wrong with offshore companies?, The News, 09 April 2016, P.07
Zaigham Khan, The train to Panama, The News, 11 April 2016, P.06
 Ayaz Amir, Samson Agonistes…or Nooras in agony, The News, 12 April 2016, P.06
Nasim Zehra, Panama Papers: the toll on Pakistan    , The News, 13 April 2016, P.06
Dr Akmal Hussain, The human cost of corruption, The News, 14 April 2016, P.06
Imtiaz Alam, The PM can’t escape scrutiny, The News, 14 April 2016, P.06
Dr Ikramul Haq, Innocent unless proven guilty, The News, 15 April 2016, P.06
Shamshad Ahmad, Our ‘offshore’ rulers, The News, 20  April 2016, P.06
Mosharraf Zaidi, Who is PM Sharif’s worst enemy?, The News, 20  April 2016, P.07
Nasim Zehra, A counter-productive response, The News, 21  April 2016, P.06
Shahzad Chaudhry, The post-Panama fallout, The News, 22  April 2016, P.06
Dr M Zeb Khan, Trivialising the leaks, The News, 22  April 2016, P.06
Idrees Khawaja, Light rays from the leaks, The News, 23  April 2016, P.06
Dr Ikramul Haq, Our curious paradox, The News, 25 April 2016, P.06
Ayaz Amir, Truth and the mandate: uneasy companions, The News, 26 April 2016, P.06
Mosharraf Zaidi, Harvesting the civ-mil imbalance, The News, 26 April 2016, P.07
Shireen M Mazari, An incomprehensible silence, The News, 28 April 2016, P.07
Raoof Hasan, The non-commission, The News, 30  April 2016, P.06

War/Terrorism

 Irfan Husain, Spineless in Lahore, Dawn, 02  April 2016, P.09
Moeed Yusuf, The lowest point, Dawn, 19  April 2016, P.09
Ahsan Kureshi, They overwhelmed us, The Nation, 02 April 2016, P.06
Zain Haider, At the Heart of this Carnage, The Nation, 02 April 2016, P.07
Afrasiab Khattak, The deepening divide, The Nation, 02 April 2016, P.07
 Hassan Javid, The same old story, The Nation, 03 April 2016, P.06
Saad Rasool, Military Operation in Punjab, The Nation, 03 April 2016, P.07
Iftikhar Ahmad, Romanticism and humanism, The Nation, 06 April 2016, P.07
Mohsin Raza Malik, Pre-empting nuclear terrorism, The Nation, 06 April 2016, P.07
Kunwar Khuldune Shahid, Raw illusions, The Nation, 07 April 2016, P.07
Sehar Kamran, The curious case of the Indian spy, The Nation, 10 April 2016, P.07
Marvi Sirmed , Spy on the wall, The Nation, 12 April 2016, P.06
Amal Shakeb, When your home ground is attacked, The Nation, 15 April 2016, P.06
K. Iqbal, Spring offensive & peace process, The Nation, 18 April 2016, P.07
Malik Muhammad Ashraf, Terrorism on the mane, The Nation, 22  April 2016, P.07
Athar Ali Mazari, The bitter truth about Chotu’s gang, The Nation, 22  April 2016, P.07
S Tariq, Now or Never, The Nation, 23  April 2016, P.06
Kunwar Khuldune Shahid, Facilitating terrorism in Kabul, The Nation, 28 April 2016, P.07
Afrasiab Khattak, Project Taliban, The Nation, 30  April 2016, P.07
Dr Adil Sultan, The NSS process, The News, 01 April 2016, P.06
M Saeed Khalid, The amateur republic and its deadly enemies, The News, 02 April 2016, P.06
Conn Hallinan, Terrorism: then and now, The News, 02 April 2016, P.06
Sheikh Waqqas Akram, Owning Isis, The News, 09 April 2016, P.06
Staff Reporter , The Punjab operation, The News, 13 April 2016, P.07
Olivier Guitta, How to cooperate against terrorism, The News, 18 April 2016, P.06
Zaigham Khan, The challenge of Chotus and Chotulands, The News, 18 April 2016, P.06
 Naeem Sadiq, The tragedy at Rajanpur, The News, 19 April 2016, P.06
Abdul Basit, The fighting season, The News, 20  April 2016, P.06
Imtiaz Alam, From war on terror to war against corruption?, The News, 21  April 2016, P.06
Nasim Zehra, How to handle the Taliban, The News, 27 April 2016, P.06

Adnan Adil, Cutting ‘Chotus’down to size, The News, 27 April 2016, P.06

Good News for Readers

The British Council launched a new network of libraries across Pakistan, purpose-built library in Lahore.The libraries project is intended to foster creative expression and building greater cultural links between the UK and Pakistan. Rana said the library will provide a convening space for the youth of city.

A handout quoted the minister as saying: "We are extremely delegated to strengthen our exciting relationship with the British Council in Pakistan by finding synergies within its library offer to support the Government of Punjab in its digital library ambitions across the province. "

Devane stated: "The British  Council is a global organization with a local approach; our library in Lahore is  testament to our commitment to creating best of UK content, our libraries will  position themselves as culture hubs where an exchange of creativity, connectivity and ideas can take place. The British Council is dedicated to providing long term impact in the communities it serves."

Thomas Drew said: "British Council Libraries have a fabulous legacy in Pakistan. The new libraries in Lahore and Karachi, and the national digital library, will not just offer English language books and material in print and online, but will also strengthen the human relationship between our two countries and offer a space for cultural debate."

http://nation.com.pk/E-Paper/lahore/2016-06-04/page-13

Approaches to Socio-Cultural Barriers to Information Seeking

A conceptual analysis derived from the literature on sociocultural barriers to information seeking focuses on the features of such barriers and their impact on information seeking in diverse contexts. A typology is presented that identifies six main types of socio-cultural barriers: barriers due to language problems, barriers related to social stigma and cultural taboo, small-world related barriers, institutional arriers, organizational barriers, and barriers due to the lack of social and economic capital. Socio-cultural barriers are man-made constructs originating from social norms and cultural values. They have mainly an adverse impact on information seeking by restricting access to information sources and giving rise to negative emotions.

1.     Barriers due to language problems

Socio-cultural barriers of this type appear as insufficient proficiency in the dominant language in a country, resulting in the lack of common vocabulary. Most studies reviewing such barriers concentrate on difficulties faced by ethnic and cultural minorities, for example, immigrants (Caidi et al., 2010). A study examining information-seeking behavior among Hispanic migrant farm workers exemplifies well the features of barriers of this kind (Fisher, Marcoux, Miller, Sánchez, & Ramirez Cunningham, 2004). The lack of a common language was a major barrier for immigrant families, because most important documents are written in English and because the cost of hiring an interpreter often outweighs the benefits of their information-seeking behavior (Fisher et al., 2004) factors.

More recently, problems represented the biggest obstacle for ethnic minorities among the Asian residents. When Korean members of the community could not get satisfactory information because of a language barrier, they would assign more weight to other Koreans' experiences than any other indicators. Therefore, barriers due to language problems had a negative impact on information seeking in that they excluded people from novel information sources and compelled them to resort to customary sources available within their linguistic enclave. As shown by Jeong (2004), dependence on ethnolinguistic gatekeepers can limit information that is made available to immigrants, thus resulting in poor information choices. Similar barriers may be faced if immigrant children act as information mediators for their families. Children may acculturate and develop English language skills more quickly than their parents (Chu, 1999). However, as children tend to have less sophisticated information seeking skills than adults, they may fail to provide accurate information for family use.

2.     Barriers related to social stigma and cultural taboo

Barriers of this type can concern people across social strata, independent of their linguistic group. Common to barriers of this kind are the sense of being an outsider, lack of social support, and mistrust of others. People being classified this way carry social stigma. It is a label that associates a person with a set of unwanted characteristics that form a stereotype. A person may be stigmatized on the basis of deviations in personal traits, for example, excessive obesity. In addition, social stigma can result from one's low social status, for example, refugee (Caidi et al., 2010). Cultural taboo can be referred to as strong prohibitions relating to an area of human activity or custom that is sacred or forbidden based on moral judgment and religious beliefs.

So far, barriers of this type have primarily been conceptualized in studies focusing on health information seeking. Veinot (2009) examined barriers faced by a stigmatized group, in this case individuals with HIV/AIDS. The barriers manifested themselves in that the participants disclosed their problems selectively to others, avoided the topic in conversation, and tried to seek information without disclosing their HIV status. Oyserman, Fryberg, and Yoder (2007) found that when individuals from stigmatized groups are placed in medical encounters where they perceive that they are denied access to information because of negative social stereotypes, this may adversely impact their confidence to obtain the information they need, and reduce engagement with seeking health information. Further examples of the barriers related to social stigma can be found in studies reviewing information behavior of people belonging to sexual minorities, for example, gay males. Hamer (2003) showed that among these people the fear of being judged was reflected in the concealment of information-seeking behavior: hiding gay print materials, clearing their family computer's memory so their Internet use could not be tracked, and not disclosing their whereabouts when going to gay enclaves.

3.     Small-world related barriers

Socio-cultural barriers can also appear at the level of local communities whose members orient their behavior according to community-specific norms and cultural values. Drawing on the ideas of Chatman, 1991, Chatman, 1996 and Chatman, 1999, such constraints are referred to as small-world related barriers. Different from constraints related to social stigma and cultural taboo, small-world related barriers are confined to certain local communities that are relatively closed to outsiders. Retirement houses (Chatman, 1992) and prisons (Chatman, 1999) exemplify well small-world communities of this kind.

It is a major characteristic of small-world communities that social norms define the boundary of acceptable and unacceptable behavior; therefore, such norms are also constitutive of the socio-cultural barriers to information seeking. Chatman characterized the origins and features of socio-cultural barriers of this type in a series of ethnographic studies focusing on janitors (Chatman, 1991), elderly women in a retirement house (Chatman, 1992) and female prisoners (Chatman, 1999). These investigations showed that small-world related barriers draw on two main criteria stemming from community-specific norms. First, the criterion of situational relevance erects a barrier by drawing the borderline between the types of useful and useless sources of information. The latter should be avoided because they neither make sense to an individual nor are legitimized by other insiders sharing similar conditions of everyday life.

4.     Institutional barriers

Information seeking can also be hampered by institutional barriers. In general, the term institution is commonly applied to customs and behavior patterns important to a society, as well as to particular formal and established organizations of the government and public services. Institutional barriers to information seeking come into existence when organizations such as government offices and libraries consciously or unconsciously prevent individuals from obtaining the information that is needed. Institutional barriers can manifest themselves in excessive bureaucracy (for example, Dervin, 1976). In a study of information seeking among socially and economically disadvantaged people, Hayter (2006) found that bureaucratic complex language hampered information seeking from local authorities. Institutional barriers may also manifest in the form of authoritarian control (Houston & Westbrook, 2013). This refers to any situation in which individuals, agencies, or society at large deliberately or inadvertently restrict an individual's information seeking. Authoritarian control consists of diverse subtypes, for instance, censorship (including restrictive information systems) and bureaucratic inertia. Therefore, institutional barriers can slow down the information-seeking process remarkably and often restrict access to legal and financial information in particular. Harris and Dewdney (1994) (see also Harris et al., 2001) examined the impact of institutional barriers on information seeking among abused women. The women's least helpful experiences were encounters with institutional service providers such as police officials whom they perceived to have a negative attitude toward them or who denied or minimized the severity of the abuse. Such responses may have a chilling effect on help-seeking efforts, exacerbating a woman's sense of isolation, and potentially exposing her to more risk.

Institutional barriers to information seeking can often be traced to the insufficient resources allocated to libraries and archives. The barriers manifest themselves in the unavailability of certain information resources such as printed books and the lack of access to databases. Liew and Ng (2006, p. 66) showed that the lack of relevant materials held in academic libraries was one of the most common barriers encountered by information seekers. Swigon (2011a) found that 41% of the users of a Polish university library had faced barriers related to the lack of materials. Similar constraints were identified by Shenton (2008) in a study reviewing information seeking among high school students. A common barrier was that the material located in the library did not contain the desired content. Information seeking may also be rendered more difficult if information available in a public library is outdated or scattered (Pettigrew, Durrance, & Unruh, 2002, p. 898).

In addition to unavailability of relevant information resources, institutional barriers may manifest themselves in inadequate classification systems used in libraries and archives. Joseph (2010) identified such barriers among the users of electronic document and records management systems (EDMRS). One of the barriers was the lack of meaningful titling of documents or records registered into the EDRMS by colleagues or the Records Section. The negative impacts on information seeking included the waste of time and energy. Nineteen percent of the respondents reported their search was difficult because they eventually realized that the information they spent their time and effort searching for was never registered in the EDRMS in the first place. In the absence of registering these metadata, users' searches were incomplete, thus requiring more time and effort to search for the information using alternative metadata or search methods. Institutional barriers can affect negatively the effort to seek information from human sources, too. Researchers have identified two major consequences of these barriers: failure of access to an information source, and slow down of the information-seeking process. For example, Harris et al. (2001) found that abused women often failed to obtain help because police departments did not have interpreters to respond to calls from non-English-speaking people.

5.     Organizational barriers

Socio-cultural barriers can be organization-specific as well. An organization may be generally understood as the planned, coordinated, and purposeful action of human beings working through collective action to reach a common goal or construct a tangible product. From this perspective, organizational barriers to information seeking primarily hamper the ways in which the employees work and communicate together. Different from institutional obstacles that erect barriers between help seekers or clients and service providers, organizational barriers hamper information seeking among employees within individual organizations such as business enterprises, university departments, and government offices. Researchers have identified a host of organizational barriers appearing in the form of strong hierarchies, internal competition between work teams, lack of trust among colleagues, restricted access to information classified as confidential and narrow specialization of tasks. Organizational barriers may appear, for instance, in the difficulty of getting access to information created by competing teams. In addition, employees may refrain from seeking additional information about the possible consequences of a risky decision in order to avoid conflict within a department or to save the face of the decision maker. Barriers can also appear between organizations in cases in which decision makers ignore or discount external sources of information because of the not-invented-here syndrome, that is, unwillingness to value the work of others (Johnson, 1996).

6.   Barriers due to the lack of social and economic capital

Finally, socio-cultural barriers can appear at the level of an individual person due to the shortage of social and economic capital. Since economic resources are not distributed equally across the population, disadvantaged people are more likely to face economic barriers to information seeking. Although economic barriers could be examined as a separate category, for the sake of simplicity, they will be discussed under the umbrella concept of “lack of social and economic capital” because economy is not an area isolated from society and culture.

Traditionally, barriers of this kind are associated with socially and economically disadvantaged people labeled as “information poor” (Dervin, 1999, p. 744). Since the 1970s, researchers have identified a variety of attributes characteristic of such people. As summarized by Yu (2010,), the information poor tend to engage in a limited variety of information practices in local, confined social settings, which involve limited literacy, numeracy, information, and analytical skills. In the present study, the constraints traditionally associated with information poverty are approached in terms of barriers due to the lack of social and economic capital. Although constraints of this type often intersect with small-world related barriers, the former can be seen as a distinct category because barriers due to the lack of social and economic capital do not necessarily originate from the membership of a norm-bound community which dislikes communication with outsiders.

In general, social capital can be understood “as resources to which individuals have access through their social relationships” (Johnson, 2007, p. 884). From this perspective, poor contact networks restrict one's opportunities to access useful information. According to Houston and Westbrook (2013), lack of social capital occurs when individuals cannot obtain information from another person because of an apparent disparity in social or economic status (SES). This disparity manifests as behavior ranging from shyness to mistrust to fear by the person of inferior SES and behavior ranging from ignoring to condescending to overt attacking by the person of superior SES. C. A. Johnson (2007) demonstrated empirically that the lack of social capital limited the range of information sources available to information seekers, thus relegating them to using sources that were not likely to result in positive outcomes. The empirical study of the information practices among informationally poor people in China provided further support for these findings (Yu, 2010).

Lack of economic capital can appear in the stringency of household budgets making it impossible for an individual to buy computing equipment or pay for access to networked sources (e.g., Chowdhury and Gibb, 2009 and Yu, 2010). Since the 1990s, barriers due to the lack of economic capital have often been discussed in terms of the digital divide, suggesting that unequal access to the Internet erects a barrier to digital information (Salinas, 2008). Williamson, Schauder, and Bow (2000) forecasted that lack of access to the Internet due to lack of income could have social consequences for particular groups of people such as sight impaired citizens. As the Internet has become integral to the way in which people access information, those who cannot afford Internet connections will be doubly disadvantaged. Despite the growing number of people using the Internet for information seeking, there continue to be socio-economic gaps in use of networked information between majority and minority populations, such as lower income African Americans (Warren et al., 2010). Even though people not owning computers may access the Internet in public libraries free of charge, information seeking can be hampered by long wait times and restrictions on maximum time allotted to computer use per person (Connolly & Crosby, 2014). Houston and Westbrook (2013) showed that when abused individuals lack economic resources such as money or bank cards, they cannot buy relief from intimate partner violence in the form of, for example, bus fares or assistance in escape. Lack of economic capital can keep an abused person from visiting a friend or the public library or accessing the Internet, any of which could provide information about escaping abuse. The above examples suggest that economic barriers combined with physical disabilities or spatial barriers can be particularly compelling because they effectively block access to sources of information.

Link: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0740818816300330