Effect of terrorism on pakistans economy Essay Example for Free

Effect of terrorism on pakistans economy Essay Terrorism is not a new phenomenon and the roots of Terrorism in Pakistan are too deep to date back into her evolution since 1947. It simply changed its forms and the terrorists simply replicated their faces. At present the gravest problem that Pakistan is facing is terrorism. It has become a headache for federation and a nightmare for public. Though, it is a global issue but Pakistan has to bear the brunt of it. Pakistan’s involvement in the War on Terror has further fuelled the fire. We are facing war like situation against the terrorists. This daunting situation is caused due to several factors. These factors include social injustice, economic disparity, political instability, religious intolerance and also external hands or international conspiracies. A handful of people who have their vicious interests to fulfill have not only taken countless innocent lives but also distorted the real image of Islam before the world through their heinous acts. Terrorist acts like suicide bombings have become a norm of the day. On account of these attacks Pakistan is suffering from ineffaceable loss ranging from civilian to economic. People have become numerical figures, blown up in numbers every now and then. Terrorists have not spared any place. Bazars, mosques, educational institutes, offices, hotels, no place is safe anymore. Defining Terrorism Defining the meaning of Terrorism is not as simple today as this word appears to be. Once it was defined as â€Å"an organized system of intimidation or the practice of using violence to obtain political demands.† OR â€Å"the use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aim or the calculated use of violence or threat of violence against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature, this is done through intimidation or coercion or inciting fear.† According to FBI, â€Å"Terrorism is the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objective.† Barack Obama, commenting on the Boston Marathon bombings of April, 2013, declared Anytime bombs are used to target innocent civilians, it is an act of terror. Since 1994, the United Nations General Assembly has repeatedly condemned terrorist acts using the following political description of terrorism, Criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public, a group of persons or particular persons for political purposes are in any circumstance unjustifiable, whatever the considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or any other nature that may be invoked to justify them. Walter Laqueur, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, noted that the only general characteristic of terrorism generally agreed upon is that terrorism involves violence and the threat of violence. Classifications of Terrorism In early 1975, the Law Enforcement Assistant Administration in the United States formed the National Advisory Committee on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals. One of the five volumes that the committee wrote was entitled â€Å"Disorders and Terrorism† produced by the Task Force on Disorders and Terrorism under the direction of H.H.A. Cooper, Director of the Task Force staff. The Task Force classified terrorism into six categories. 1. Civil disorder – A form of collective violence interfering with the peace, security, and normal functioning of the community. 2. Political terrorism – Violent criminal behavior designed primarily to generate fear in the community, or substantial segment of it, for political purposes. 3. Non-Political terrorism – Terrorism that is not aimed at political purposes but which exhibits â€Å"conscious design to create and maintain a high degree of fear for coercive purposes, but the end is individual or collective gain rather than the achievement of a political objective.† 4. Quasi-terrorism – The activities incidental to the commission of crimes of violence that are similar in form and method to genuine terrorism but which nevertheless lack its essential ingredient. It is not the main purpose of the quasi-terrorists to induce terror in the immediate victim as in the case of genuine terrorism, but the quasi-terrorist uses the modalities and techniques of the genuine terrorist and produces similar consequences and reaction. For example, the fleeing felon who takes hostages is a quasi-terrorist, whose methods are similar to those of the genuine terrorist but whose purposes are quite different. 5. Limited Political terrorism – Genuine political terrorism is characterized by a revolutionary approach; limited political terrorism refers to â€Å"acts of terrorism which are committed for ideological or political motives but which are not part of a concerted campaign to capture control of the state. 6. Official or State terrorism –referring to nations whose rule is based upon fear and oppression that reach similar to terrorism or such proportions.† It may also be referred to as Structural Terrorism defined broadly as terrorist acts carried out by governments in pursuit of political objectives, often as part of their foreign policy. Tactics of Terrorism In this present world terrorism has become a complex phenomenon where terrorists are using different tactics of terrorism and different types of terrorist activities like suicide bombing, mass murders, burglaries, arson, kidnapping or hijacking and torture of the worst order. And there are always some limited causes behind all such kinds of terrorism which encompass Religious imposition, Social imbalances, political denials, ethnic emotions and economic dispossessions and deprivations. Such are certain major reasons of Terrorism in any part or country of this universe and likewise is in Pakistan. Islam’s Response to Terrorism The religion of Islam (Submission), advocates freedom, peace and mutual agreement and admonishes aggression. The following verses make it very clear. â€Å"And do not aggress; GOD dislikes the aggressors†. (Quran 5:87) â€Å"You shall resort to pardon, advocate tolerance, and disregard the ignorant†. (Quran: 7:199) The relations of Muslims (Submitters) with others are based primarily on peace, mutual respect and trust. The theme in the Quran is peace, unless there is oppression or injustice that cannot be resolved by all the peaceful means available. The true religion of Islam forbids the killing of innocent people, irrespective of the cause, religious, political or social beliefs. â€Å"You shall not kill * GOD has made life sacred * except in the course of justice. These are His commandments to you that you may understand.† (Quran 6:151) â€Å"You shall not kill any person * for GOD has made life sacred — except in the course of justice.† (Quran17:33) In Islam, an amazingly powerful emphasis is laid on developing love for mankind and on the vital importance of showing mercy and sympathy towards every creature of Allah Almighty, including human beings and animals. For indeed, love and true sympathy is the very antidote of terrorism. Causes of Terrorism in Pakistan Pakistan has been afflicted by this worse form of social malice for more than 65 years. It changed its forms and with the passage of time became more lethal and frightening. The religious intolerance, political mistrust and instability, military interventions, partial economic policies, myopic visionary policies, ethnic, regional and lingual prejudices let the flame of terrorism flared up in full swing which resulted in economic instability, trust deficit among different social factions and sense of instability among the masses of Pakistan. Terrorism in Pakistan has assumed a frightening behavior and terribly affecting the social fabric of our country. Today it has become indispensable to avoid or ignore it lest it would distort the social, political and economic structure of Pakistan. For the purpose it necessary to know and discuss the core reasons behind this social Frankenstein. I. External Causes The external causes include following major events in the history: i. Afghan War: 1979 The soviet Afghanistan war was the most critical event responsible for spreading militancy and intolerance in Pakistan. A fundamental change that altered the very character of Pakistani society occurred after establishment of the soviet backed communist regime in Afghanistan. The aftermath of the soviet withdrawal exposed the damage, transformation of violence and Weaponisation into Pakistani society. It ultimately plagued Pakistan with a new trend commonly referred as â€Å"Kalashnikov Culture† and â€Å"Talbanisation†. This was perhaps an end to our long established pluralistic culture and values. Result was a wave of vicious cycle of Sectarian and Inter-sect and Interfaith violence/terrorism. ii. Iranian Revolution Religious extremism that took its roots in Pakistan after the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979 is proving venomous for Pakistan. The increased danger of sectarian motivated acts of violence, have gained in power and influence over the recent past. External as well as internal influences have impacted the sectarian issues and have served to further intensify the magnitude and seriousness of the problem. Sectarian violence, therefore, was an extremely rare and unheard of phenomenon in Pakistan with sectarian disputes being very localized and confined rather than being frequent and widespread. iii. Incident of 9/11

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Gay Marriage is an issue that our society deals with on a day to day basic. It is an issue that has been brought up in many states. It has even had issues brought before the Supreme Court. In the United States gay marriages are frowned upon in some states and in others gay marriages are supported. There are people who would argue that there is nothing wrong with gay marriages. They would further argue and believe is that gays should have the same rights as a heterosexual marriage. There are some stereotypes and issues that gay couple faces some are: What makes them different from any other marriage, why (in some states that gay marriage is supported) their spouses do not have the same rights as those with a heterosexual marriage, and why society frown upon this issue. Over the years people have come to accept that there is not anything wrong with gay marriages. But there are some people who fight the idea that it should be legal. If marriage is defined as the union between two people, why is it considered morally wrong for two people of the same sex to get married? That’s when the question is proposed, what makes gay marriage different from heterosexual marriages? Why can’t they have the rights to love, honor and commit like heterosexual couples? Some may argue in the bible it states it is wrong to be involved in a gay marriage. If two people love each other why can they not get married? There are so many arguments that can be brought up to justify marriage and for couples to receive benefits like any other couple. In this society understand why some people like myself I feel like people have the right to be with who they want to be with and just because you don’t believe in it doesn’t make it bad. A gay person is no diffe... ...y should someone be denied the right to get married just because they are gay? Why shouldn’t someone marry who they want just because some has a personal or moral issue with it from their beliefs. To me that is not morally fair to judge someone, how can someone preach about morals and say god don’t judge but that what they are doing to others judging. Gay people need love too, they cannot help the fact that they fell in love with a person of the same sex as they are love is uncontrollable. From a Christian point of view you know that God has planned out your life before you even started your life. I believe that know matter race, religion or sexual preference anyone should be able to marry. Also if gay marriages are morally wrong why did God allow some people to fall in love with someone of the opposite sex? Gay marriage will be an ethical issue for years to come.

Ethics and Corruption

What is corruption? Corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. It is damaging to a country because decisions are taken not for the public benefit but to serve private interests. Corruption undermines good governance, fundamentally distorts public policy, leads to misallocation of resources, and particularly hurts the poor. There is a case in 29th July 1995, where the collapse of the Sampoong Superstore in Seoul, South Korea, represents an example of a structural collapse attributed in large part to corruption. The collapse of this structure left 937 people injured and had a death toll of over 500 innocent lives. Due to that, Engineer’s integrity and ethical standard will be put to test when involving project worth millions dollars. As the saying goes, â€Å"money is the root of all evil,† it is not unusual to find engineers who are tempted by the amount of money that they are entrusted with; whether to fully utilize the money in the project or to fulfill their individual greed. Hence, engineers need to be truthful. The level of truthfulness in engineering is very high, much higher in everyday life. It imposes what many consider an absolute prohibition on deception, and in addition it establishes a high ideal of seeking and speaking the truth (Martin & Schinzinger, 2005). Being truthful keep the engineers away from corruption and cutting corner. One of many ways to prevent corruption and unethical practice of cutting corner in engineering field is the development of honest and ethical engineering culture by creating or increase awareness of ethical practice among engineers since large amount of money or projects are often being handled by engineers. This is important in a sense that engineers must aware of the types of corruption as well as the punishments and consequences for involving in corruption. Punishments such as retracting the title of engineer and blacklisting the particular individual in the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM) and more severe punishments such as imprisonment, confiscating of properties and summonses. When engineers aware of the punishments subjected, then corruption can be prevented. Besides, awareness among engineers towards corruption can be created by implementing subjects or courses concerning engineer’s ethical issues into engineering course in university. Students that vow to become an engineer must first be taught of the ways to become an ethical engineer. Furthermore, BEM can include seminars or talks about ethical issues into Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programs for local engineers. Seniors engineers are compulsory to participate to gain points in CDP. By doing so, senior engineers that left university for long could still be educated on ethical issues. Therefore, self-awareness is a long term strategy in curbing corruption and unethical practices. When corruption is involved, competitions are not fair anymore. People will find various methods to undercut competition. Instead of using a well-organized process for contracting based on technical criteria to judge bids and firms, it is decentralized and is subject to monopoly power plus discretion minus accountability. Some political appointees have the discretion to let contracts without competition or technical reviews. Therefore, tendering process must be more transparent and have strict control over project variation. Handling of tenders should be fair and just where the project should only be awarded to the bidder who offers lowest price on the project without ignoring the quality of materials and services as well as the customers’ requirements. Any conflict of interest or bribes should be notified by the engineer to the corresponding company during the process of evaluating all the offers made by the bidders in order to ensure an outcome of decision which are fair, just and also the best for the company. By doing so, the opportunity of the engineer to work together with the bidders in falsifying the receipts or offers to gain profit without alerting or the knowledge of the company can be decreased or at some point, being completely eliminated, to avoid putting the lives of workers, employees and publics at risk due to corruption. Advantage or authority given to the engineers must not be misused in unlawful deeds, engineers should report to their company for how they handle or use the given authority to complete the project in order to prevent falsification and exaggeration of the project funds. Corruption usually occurs because a certain individual or organization has too much power and authority. Engineers themselves should always alert toward orders they get from company or requirement from customers. Any conflicts of the order or requirement with the codes of ethics should be advised by the engineers to the customer or company. If the advice failed to change their mind, then the engineers have the responsibility to carried forth the case to corresponding authority. Besides, in order to eliminate the unnecessary power and authorities, the administration approval process should be optimized. A complete supervising system should be implemented to prevent any corruption and this supervising system should allow the officials to work without administrative interference at the same time protecting the innocent public. Besides, institution of regular and random checks is important to review the conduct of the officials involved in engineering, project or construction industry. These checks include detailed review of the entire procurement process on selected projects. It must be fair and done by an anti-corruption body. The checks should not single out any individual official or company. Consequently, officials are less likely to participate in corrupt conduct or deliberate maladministration as they cannot be confident that their conduct will not be detected by detailed scrutiny of supervisory officials. As a consequence of these random and regular reviews or checks, may be a pattern of misconduct can be identified at one or more specific stages during the construction process. Furthermore, hot lines or whistle-blowers protection is another measure in curbing corruption and unethical practices of cutting corners. Hot lines improve accountability by enlisting workers and public to report corrupt acts. The government office responsible for investigating such acts often operates a hot line. For example, in Hong Kong, the Independent Commission Against Corruption runs a hot line and guarantees that every allegation is investigated. It also protects those who make reports by granting file access to officers on a â€Å"need to know† basis only. However, in cases where anonymity cannot be guaranteed, those who protest corruption often place themselves at risk. In many countries, whistle blowers are often fired or punished, subjected to administrative harassment, and exposed to violence. For this reason, anti- corruption efforts need legislation to protect whistle blowers from official sanctions or even to reward them. Although whistle-blowing is not desirable in a company as it will affect the reputation of the company, but it is an essential way in combating corruption. With every engineer practicing whistle-blow, others will not even consider unethical practices such as corruption and cutting corners. Thus, effectively preventing misbehavior among engineers and subsequently safeguarding the good image of the engineering profession. Professional engineers should aware that it is important to conduct the duty assigned to them responsibly and professionally especially when it involves he confidential information about certain project because bribery and cutting corner can also occur in such way that the information is used by other company to compete in an unfair condition. The professional engineers will never disclose the confidential information of their client or companies to others in order to maintain their professionalism and they must also knows that the consequences of revealing those info rmation can be a great risk for themselves and companies, such act is punishable and will affects their reputation as an professional engineer. Furthermore, transparency of a project progress can reduces as well as avoids corruption to occur as the activities of the project are visible to all and the engineer can hardly alter it for cutting corner purpose. The transparency of a tender progress or engineering project can be made clear or enhanced by doing the publication of the procurement procedures. Procedures involved in the projects shall be clearly defined and stated so that the publications are understandable and clear to public, details such as stating how and where the supplies originated from shall be included. Through this step, the procedures made in the projects are transparent to the public and the chance for the engineers to corrupt would be greatly reduced. The publication can be made through media such as newspaper, internet, and magazine at which these media are easily reached by the public. According to the BEM code of ethics, a registered engineer shall conduct himself honorably, responsibly, ethically and lawfully so as to enhance the honors, reputation and usefulness of the profession. This code should always be abided by the engineer and keep in mind that one should be avoiding from corruption, bribery and also cutting corner and have to be very well aware that these are the actions punishable by the Board of Engineers or court of law and also might risk the safety and health of the public. Every engineer should aware of their own responsibility toward the company, client and public which includes preserving the reputations of company and themselves. They should do everything lawfully to increase the reputations of their company and engineers. Reputation of an engineer is very important in order for them to be employed and keep their professions as an engineer. Engineers also should uphold their professionalism in order to honor and enhance their usefulness in the field. Failing to abide the codes might result in drop in reputation, being fired, the license of engineer being revoked or the worst is, might end up in jail. Based on the first principle of BEM Codes of ethics, a registered engineer holds paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public. The engineer should always make the public as his first priority because in the profession of engineering, the whole community is the ultimate client rather than the individual client. Corruption and cutting corner always put the safety of public at the edge of risk as the bidders always tend to make more profits from the project, hence they might altered the materials for the project to lower quality materials in order to save cost and this might lead to disastrous consequences such as collapse of buildings and dangerous behaviors of machines due to malfunction or system breakdown. Engineers have the responsibility to report to corresponding authority if their client or company failed to fulfill the instructions of the engineer that abide the code. Even though engineers have their own responsibility toward their client, but the first code of ethics erases this responsibility if their clients or company fail to follow what have been set by the engineers which did not against the codes of ethics. Failing to abide the first code might result in disciplinary action to be taken or the license as an engineer to be revoked because they put the lives of public in danger, even though at the end no harm or loss of life occur. The first code of ethics is also applicable to the case with other professions at which the general public’s safety is the main consideration to be made before others. In conclusion, engineers should always take consideration and action according to the codes of ethics. Any action that might lead to bribery, corruption or cutting corner should be avoided. Prevention methods for unethical practice have to be carried out by engineers and the importance of upholding the professionalism in engineering field has to be kept in mind in order to create an honorable, responsible, ethical and lawful profession. The impression or reputation of engineers can be improved through actual practice of the codes of ethics and avoiding corruptions. Engineers should always remind themselves that not only the project, reputation, and wealth are in their hands, but also the safety and life of public, therefore, it is important for them to make safety issues as the main priority of making consideration. In addition, the integrity of the country also can be improved through such practice as the corruptions, briberies, and cutting corners are reduced.

The Brave New World By Aldous Huxley - 1761 Words

Social class as a result of differences in wealth or individuality are something that is a fundamental part in civilization. The book Brave New World by Aldous Huxley focuses on a futuristic dystopian society in which these things are magnified in order to create a rift in society. Each person is crafted specifically in order to perform their job well, and from birth they are divided into castes that dictate their way of living. By establishing a strict regime in Brave New World where the social classes are so well-defined that they are biological, Huxley makes a point about the world we live in by exploring the thought that our widely divided society will be one of our civilization’s greatest weaknesses and potentially downfalls due to†¦show more content†¦Foster very justly, ‘we don’t need human intelligence.’ Didn’t need and didn’t get it. But though the Epsilon mind was mature at ten, the Epsilon body was not fit to work till eig hteen. Long years of superfluous and wasted immaturity. If the physical development could be speeded up till it was quick†¦ what an enormous saving to the community! (1, 14-15)† The tone used by the Director here is somewhat sterile and unfeeling towards the Epsilons; thinking of them through a scientific standpoint, as though they were not people but scientific experiments, and his word choice of â€Å"triumph† and â€Å"benefaction to Society† makes it clear that in that society, the community is valued way more than the individual, who is often seen as â€Å"disposable†. The sentence structure here is made up of long sentences often with exclamation marks, giving the impression of someone speaking rapidly with excitement. This all contributes to the tone of the passage, which is overall positive; brimming with the excitement of scientific discoveries â€Å"beneficial† to society. However, the mood is entirely different. Having been conditioned differently, readers today find the aspect of engineering