Political Science

Scott C. Levi in this book has explained the growth and decline of Indo-Turanian trade of the Indian merchants. The popular belief is that Europeans caused the decline of Indian trading networks but the author has tried to give a counter argument. Further, he has shown the emergence and configuration of the Indian migrant community in the Central Asia. Focus then shifts on explaining how the Indian diaspora remained aloof from the natives of the region and reserved their ethnic and racial distinction for centuries. Moving forward, author details how the Russian expansion in Central Asia, Industrial Revolution in Russia subsequently led to the erosion of Indian merchant networks from Central Asia. This book provides us with South Asian economic history, indigenous forms of capitalism, the wide reach of South Asian economy. Author has made use of Russian and Central Asian sources.

Xuanzang is regarded as an important Indophile of medieval China  and is believed to be as famous in Asia (especially South East Asia) as Marcopolo is in the West . He was a Buddhist scholar, monk, traveler and a translator, who spent around seventeen years of his life in traveling from China on Silk Road to India through Central Asia. The purpose for this was mainly a religious one; he wanted to expand his knowledge of Buddhism by means of obtaining original sutras and by learning directly from the teachers of India, the place where Buddha lived . But there are other important aspects of his travels as well; along with the propagation of the Buddhist sutras, he popularized India as a holy land by his writings and played a significant role in promotion of diplomatic ties among China and India by persuading Tang emperors, his chief benefactors, Taizong (reigned 626–49) and Gaozong (reigned 649–683). Indeed, his magnum opus, The Records of the Western Regions Visited during the Great Tang Dynasty , served the dual-purpose of serving as a guide for the coeval Chinese clergy on one hand and served the expansionist purposes of Tang rulers on the other hand.  As a result, Xuanzang’s contribution becomes momentous for two reasons; firstly, it chronicles him as a pilgrim and contributing heavily to the expansion of Buddhism in China and secondly, it provides historical information of numerous kingdoms and polities adjacent to the Tang China and portrays Xuanzang as an envoy of China .

For all the radical Islamists, the world is divided into two adobes, Darul Islam and Darul Harb, and their aim is to expand Darul Islam to the level where there is no place left for Darul Harb in the world. Only then would the jihad stop in this world. This makes the peaceful co-existence of Muslim countries and societies along with Muslim countries a difficult task. It is mostly, about the fact that, for the Islamists the concept of nation-states is not acceptable. They believe in establishment of a Muslim state where there is no need of borders. In short, it is almost impossible for radical Islamists to live peacefully in the nation-states. To argue in favor of the question, firstly the ideologies of Maududi, Qutb, Abdul Wahab and Khomeini are briefly defined in the context of jihad, then the relationship between the ideologues of Khomeini and Iran’s policy of exporting its revolution is explained, which then is followed by the explanation of connection between the three ideologues of Sunni jurisprudence and Afghan Taliban and Al-Qaeda, in the context of Afghan-Soviet war.

This paper will explore the reasons why the formula was not accepted by major political powers in Pakistan, why the formula might have been a success if not for the fall of Musharraf from power, how the formula can be transformed to achieve a pragmatic solution to the core issue, followed by conclusion.

The words `Public Interest' mean "the common well-being” and the word 'Litigation' means "a legal action including all proceedings therein, initiated in a court of law with the purpose of enforcing a right or seeking a remedy." Thus, the expression `Public Interest Litigation' means "some litigation conducted for the benefit of public or for removal of some public grievance." In the Indian context, PIL means litigation for the protection of public interest. The amount of literature available on the subject is very extensive and diverse, with the most common thing in almost all of them being the tracing of origins of PIL in United States and then in India, lengthy discussions on separation of powers theory, debate on which sort of PIL cases should the court accept for hearings and so on. Therefore, it would be of no use to discuss those same overlapping themes. The purpose of this essay is to provide evidence in favour of PIL to prove that it lies at the root of judicial activism in India. The structure of the essay is such that, initially an attempt would be made to give few different positions taken by authors on the matter, then the evolution of the PIL will be described briefly, after that, judicial overreach in the legislative matters would be described and then at the end issues surrounding the implementation of the judicial orders will be briefly described and then the essay will end on the conclusion.

Khilafat Movement was the major organization of Muslims of South Asia in the early 20th century. It was after the rebellion of 1857 and “formal loss of sovereignty”, that the Muslims lost their symbol of unity and power and felt threatened about their future and identity. As a consequence, they found refuge under the Caliphate of the Turkish Sultan. But soon this symbol of Muslims was under threat as the Turkey got actively involved in the World War I against the Allied powers, which included Britain, the legal sovereign of India. This concern of Muslims over the future of Ottoman Caliphate was visible in the writings of many Muslim intelligentsias; Muhammad Iqbal was one of such poets who expressed his feeling about Muslims, being under threat from every nook and corner, others included Maulana Zafar Ali Khan, Abul Kalam Azad, Ali Brothers and so on. Although the idea of Khilafat implied a sense of loyalty from its adherents which extended the defined borders of a nation-state, it was in reality a movement for the preservation of a symbol which represented the much wider category of global Islam. Interestingly, this movement was not religious in entirety as for its leaders, religion and nationalism were two sides of the same coin, as the antagonist of both movements was the imperial Britain. For this reason, one can observe the amalgamation of the notions of Indian nationalism and Islamic survival under the symbol of the caliphate.

This paper aims to assess the outcomes of Chinese actions, primarily the assertive actions in the region and its effect on the integration process in the region. For this, we will first state the historical background of the topic; then, we will review the neorealist approach, mostly Mearsheimer’s, towards sovereignty in the region through the analysis of three components, security dilemma, power, and interdependence. We will also attempt to elaborate upon the limitations of neo-realism briefly and whether alternative theories of classical realism, neoliberalism, and constructivism can contribute.
By following this approach, we will try to answer the question, whether the increased Chinese assertiveness in the SCS leads to further integration of the East Asian states through the neorealist paradigm. What are the limitations of this theory in this context, if any, and can alternative theories bridge this gap? The hypothesis of this paper is yes; aggressive Chinese actions in the SCS can trigger the East Asian states to integrate further. Furthermore, the conclusion is that this hypothesis is partially correct.

The purpose of this paper is to probe the origins of the Chinese diaspora in Pakistan and its association with various professions and businesses, the patterns of migrations, the patterns of migrations along with the reasons of its causation and then subsequent reverse migration back to China and towards other western countries. However, owing to lack of literary sources available for the topic the paper has mostly moved forward by tracing the aspects mentioned above of the Chinese diaspora in Pakistan culled out from various newspaper and magazine articles along with a few academic resources. For the most part, exact figures about the Chinese living in Pakistan are not available, so there are very few statistics mentioned. For such reasons, it is difficult to move forward with a critical approach, therefore, for the most part, the paper is descriptive in nature and does not specifically addresses a single thesis question throughout, except at few occasions. Although the emphasis is mostly on the Chinese people that came to Pakistan in the twentieth century, the current influx of Chinese in Pakistan as a result of improving economic relations under the auspices of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is also briefly defined. Some aspects of people-to-people contact between China and Pakistan and increasing Chinese cultural, political, and media footprint is also looked upon followed by the conclusion.