Civil-military relations in Pakistan are always in search of common ground. Historically, military forces and civilian leadership in Pakistan struggle to find the right balance and the civilian leadership has hardly commanded the gun. This study is intended to analyze that how the two selected daily English newspapers of Pakistan, i.e. Dawn and The News covered the major developments in civil-military relations, particularly during the regime of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif, followed by the most sensitive event i.e., Zarb-e-Azb. The study employed the method of discourse analysis and has used the theoretical notion of agenda-setting and framing. The results of the study revealed that the slant, style, themes, and discourses used in the news stories of both the newspapers almost remained the same, appreciating the military institutions positively. Whereas condemning the civilian leadership for their lack of concern towards implementing the already approved Nation Action Plan.

The key aim of current research is to investigate the influence of CG on financial performance (FP) and capital structure (CS) of cement companies listed on Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). To accomplish this purpose, twenty cement firms listed on the PSX was deployed from 2005 to 2014. Auto-correlation and heteroscedasticity were tested and Regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses. SPSS 21 is conducted to perform the analyses.CG is analyzed via board size, board independence, and institutional ownership while, return on assets and return on equity are employed to analyze FP, whereas CS is calculated via debt to equity. The outcomes document that CG positively affects FP, however, negatively impact CS. This research not only contributes to examining the impact and association between CG, FP, and CS but also prove the outcomes of previous studies that have presented a significant influence and association between CG, FP, and CS.

Political polarization remains central to the political behavior scholarship. In this study, political polarization patterns among the youth of Pakistan with reference to selective exposure approaches of media were examined. Survey from 420 students of Pakistan public sector universities was conducted. It was found that selective exposure to media is still strong in Pakistan, however diverse exposure is also being witnessed in Pakistan. Now the people are also diverting towards diverse exposure. Consequently, political polarization among the university students of Pakistan is still strong. Findings imply that media in Pakistan is playing an important role in strengthening the democracy in Pakistan. Furthermore, it is also concluded that media played a key role to determine voters’ choice during Elections-2013 in Pakistan.

Merger and acquisition is the strategy used by banks to expand its development process. In the current study operating and market performance has been assessed of the Banks exercised the M&A by taking the data from 2005-17. The main focus of the study is to evaluate the Banks performance using data collected from nine banks gone through the merger and acquisition strategy with the help of ordinary least square model. The results show significant relationship operating performance but insignificant relation with market performance. Findings provided an opportunity for the Banks to study and utilize the M&A strategy for capturing market share and further development in the competitive market. Furthermore, a glimpse for potential investors has been provided who want to create a profitable portfolio according to market concentration. The implications demands that proper improvement should be considered for the mechanism and regulatory policies to ensure the security of Banks.

This paper investigates listed firm efficiency on Pakistan Stock Exchange by using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The reason for application and calculation of the DEA score is to know how much the firms are efficient in utilizing their resources to be converted into output (sales/Net Income). An optimization technique (DEA) that helps calculate efficiencies of firm’s decision making Units (DMU’s) by taking different inputs and outputs variables. This paper uses DEA in measuring efficiency of 136 Pakistani firms listed on Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). Using secondary data set of 136 firms for the period 2008-2017, efficiency measurements are calculated by using financial ratios and financial indicators as input and output variables. Results show that some of the firms are efficient in utilizing their available resources in an efficient way to convert it into output, while some are inconsistent in efficiently utilizing their resources (inputs) to get the desired outputs.

Firm's business activities are focused on profit making. The cultural, technological, organizational, financial and operational challenges followed by different risks like market or credit risks make it difficult for firms to focus on their sole aim of earning profit. Previous studies have highlighted that market risk and credit risks have a significant influence on firm's performance. However, prediction of credit risk from market risk has not been explored in Pakistan which this paper attempts by investigating the impact of market risk on credit risk of the following period. For this study, a panel data of 30 manufacturing firms was collected through random sampling technique from period 2005 to 2016. A regression model was estimated in Generalized Method of Momments and used a Hausman test to select fixed or random effects. Results of this study show that firms have 30% more current liabilities as compared to current assets and experience volatility in stock prices which increases the credit risks. However, research findings shows that firms have reasonable growth opportunities and profitability they can be used to reduce stock volatility and attain confidence of creditors in firms. The increase in leverage due to creditor's confidence in firm indicates a decrease in credit risk. Overall the study shows the significantly negative impact of market risk on credit risk of the subsequent time period which specifies market risk may foresee credit risk of the following period and gives a new understanding for investors and policymakers to curb risks in investment decisions.

This paper attempts to analyze Pakistani policy positions through interviews from academic experts and officials of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Islamabad, and secondary sources including media reports, research journals and onlire resources. Since India's bid for the membership of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in June 2016, an intense debate has started over its impact on the stability of South Asia and its effects on Pakistan's nuclear strategy with respect to India. This paper focuses on how this has effected Pakistan's policy options; how Pakistan raised this issue in the past at international level to build up a counter-narrative against India's move. With realignment on membership in NSG for India based on criteria-based approach makes Pakistan's position as a center of gravity in the context of this campaign demanding for a firm diplomatic and political resolve. Failure in this aspect may result in losing Pakistan's case for membership in future. The analysis presents recommendations in light of comparing views for future measures.

The study focuses on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as a great regional, political and economic force, which would lead the region to a prosperous future. The route of CPEC is not only a connection between Gwader and Khunjrab but it is also "a motorway of political economy" which would become a track to development and sustainable prosperity. No doubt, the route leads to cooperation in the transition of resources and increase the bilateral trade partnership but there emerge various questions. The present study provides detailed analysis of how the route connects Asia to Europe and provides access the local markets. The study further recommends that Gwadar Port is one of the shortest ways for China rather than Strait of Malacca or any other international route. At the end, based on an in-depth critical evaluation, the study recommends the strategy of boosting its Political Economy on emergency basis.

YouTube grow into one of the potential commercialization platforms after the inception of the Internet. Users can decide the content of the video by subscribing to popular trends. This research also aims to examine the motivation behind YouTube usage among the young generation in Pakistan. The researchers employed a descriptive quantitative approach and gathered data from n= 105 respondents from young students. Results indicated that the YouTube watching pattern among the students of AIOU showed that students use YouTube to satisfy their cognitive needs and gratify their personal, effective, and social integrative needs. Students also use YouTube for tension release. The majority of the students of AIOU use YouTube to get extra information about the topic they want to prepare for their exams. The students use YouTube to clear their concepts about specific topics and courses. Thus, it is concluded that students watch an aspiring video on YouTube, and they not only get entertained and are also motivated by these videos. Further, the research has concluded and highlighted significant study limitations accordingly.

This study examined ten cement businesses that are listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) to determine the impact that working capital management has on a company's profitability. A systematic selection technique was used to choose every tenth of Pakistan's cement industry for the study. The websites of these cement businesses' annual reports were used to gather primary data. Financial ratios were used in the study and quantitative data analysis was used to determine whether the link between the variables was positive or negative. Since a variety of factors also affect return, we added the control variables of firm size (sales log) and sales growth. According to study findings, the Payable Deferred Period (PDP) has a favourable influence on profitability, the Return on Assets has a negative impact on the inventory collection period, and the Receivable Collection Period and PDP are
independent variables, but their relationship is not very strong.