Pakistan faced severe challenges of violent extremism and terrorism after US invasion of Afghanistan. The successive governments pursued both political and military means to bring an end to this problem but to no avail. The war against terrorism was highly unpopular among the people and it was the main cause of failure to combat terrorism. In 2013, the newly formed government led by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif decided to give peace a chance after a decision of an All Parties Conference (APC). Consequently, the dialogue process, through the committee members nominated by the government and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), ensued that kindled the hope of peace and stability in the country. However, the process was crippled after a few months and government launched a military operation against TTP and other militant outfits in the country. The paper explores the factors that lead the government to start peace talks with TTP and analyzes the challenges that dialogue process faced and ultimately caused its failure. Finally, it highlights the benefits, particularly the national consensus to combat terrorism that dialogue process produced despite its failure to bring peace in the country.

Afghanistan has witnessed a turbulent history of long and devastating war due to Soviet unabated invasion of Afghanistan of ten years producing unbearable losses of life, institutions and society. The United States along-with the support of majority of Muslim countries supported Jihad to defeat communism. This victory was, however, short-lived as infighting among Afghan war lords later entangled the entire country with even graver consequence. The emergence of Taliban and resultant occupation of 70% of Afghanistan had brought some degree of stability by providing good governance and expeditious justice system, but failed to pragmatically adjust to international environment. The unfortunate incidents of 9/11 changed the world for foreseeable time with even harsher fall out for Afghan nation as unleashing of the war of terror destroyed the left over Afghanistan. The instability in Afghanistan has caused negative effects on Pakistan as next door neighbour, which has rendered all sorts of humanitarian, diplomatic and moral support to Afghan cause since Soviet invasion and has also suffered most in the process due to spill-over effects. The democratic government is incharge in Afghanistan after fall of Taliban regime in 2001 and several state institutions are also in place albeit at infancy stage, especially the security institutions, yet the prospects of enduring peace and stability are distant reality. More than three million Afghan refugees are still in Pakistan with very dim prospects of honourable return due to persisting instability. This paper highlights the causes of instability in Afghanistan with spill-over impact on Pakistan and suggests a course of action for enduring stability.

The history of Pak-Afghan relations is dominated more by conflicts then by cooperation since emergence of Pakistan. In the ongoing pattern of peace process, it is proposed that Pakistan should pave the way to bring the Taliban on negotiation table for peace and stability in Afghanistan. The recent steps taken in the form of different Confidence Building Measures show flurry of diplomatic relationship in the emerging cordiality between the two countries. Diverse civil society groups of Pakistan are of the view that the drawdown of US forces from Afghanistan will ultimately create a power vacuum and plunge the country again into yet another civil war. Pakistan’s efforts to use its influence to bring the Taliban on table talk will smooth the way for peace, stability and prosperity of Afghanistan as well as security of the entire region. Keeping in view the geographical proximity of the two countries, Pakistan’s own vital interests are attached to peace and stability in Afghanistan. Pakistan took cognizance of this very fact and played highly constructive role in facilitating dialogue process in Afghanistan and improving bilateral ties of the two countries.

Today, technological advancement has largely altered human existence and has turned this globe more interdependent. In this development, means of communication play a substantial role in promoting peace, harmony, and interaction among multi-cultural societies and discouraging notions of conflict and animosity. Communication is the carrier of culture; it is the key of any relationship, be it interpersonal or intrapersonal. Without communication, no dialogue is possible. Social media, being the cheapest source of communication, is considered only a reliable and effective way of universal interaction, which is tremendous for a peaceful global relation. Social media, along with its approaches, has helped prevent conflict and has helped link people with the world. It breaks the communication barriers and opens opportunities for a peaceful international connection. Its proliferation has served as a bridge between the states and cross-cultures. Moreover, it promotes education, awareness, and a sense of belonging among people and sensitizes them about adverse repercussions of war, terrorism, climate degradation, and cultivates positivity to reserve the amity sphere. This research attempts to analyze social media as an effective tool to bring peace and harmony in the world and can help prevent an environment of animosity and conflict.

Peace education is a new discipline which is being introduced in the existing curriculum in the world. Peace education is mandatory for reducing violence and developing positive thinking. The major aim of this study was to examine the need of peace education and to investigate the perception of teachers for incorporating peace education in existing curriculum at Secondary level. The study was descriptive in nature. All the secondary school teachers (753) of district Attock were included in population of the study. Of these, 255 teachers were taken as a sample through a random sampling technique. The researcher employed a validated questionnaire for collecting data. The major findings showed that the teachers favored the inclusion of peace education as a compulsory subject at secondary level.

The paper compares the coverage of JNK conflict in the Pakistani and Indian English press. The objective of the study is to figure out the differences in the coverage of Kashmir conflict by the Indian and Pakistani press along with determining the prominence of war or peace frames in the coverage. Content Analysis was carried out of the news stories published on the international and national pages of English daily The Nation and Dawn from Pakistani press and English daily The Hindu and Times of India from the Indian press. The results revealed that war framing was recorded as the most dominant coverage pattern with respect to Kashmir conflict. War frames were more dominant in the Indian press coverage as compared to the Pakistani press and the differences in the coverage of the press of the two countries are significant.

Tolerance, peace and social cohesion are the most significant and substantial values of society. In the scenario of Pakistan, the existence of above-mentioned values are prominently correlated with each other. The aim of this study was to assess the need of training program to counter the negative effects regarding the existing level of tolerance, peace and social cohesion among university students. Population of this study was consisted of Government College University Faisalabad. A questionnaire was used to collect the quantitative. 280 students were selected by using purposive sampling technique. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistical test were applied to assess the difference between their opinions. The findings of study demonstrated low level of tolerance, peace and social cohesion among university students and identified various factors affecting low level of tolerance, peace and social cohesion among university students.

This article reviews China's rise in the context of Status Quo or Power Transition in international society. A growing power strives to gain its power, prestige, and position among the comity of nations. A rising power can be a rival, or it supports the status quo of global governance. This review showed that there is no power transition in the global order whereas, Beijing is willing to engage or cooperate with the USA and existing institutions to keep the status quo of the power. China is not in a hasty mood to replace the American global order, but it will continue to push softly for multipolarity.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and other international legal instruments provide freedom of religion to individuals and communities globally. Therefore, all the nations of the world agree to allow and respect the relevant religious practices for the followers of any particular religion. By virtue of its teachings and values,Islam was found as a religion of peace and harmony. But unfortunately, since the last two decades, especially after 9/11, the sentiments of Islamophobia have been rising. The existing literature shows the emerging Islamophobia is causing victimization of Muslims all over the world and particularly in the west, which is escalating with the passage of time. This victimization has created feelings of hatred among the various communities and has an impact on global peace. This study analyses the factors that lead to Islamophobia and its implication on the harmonious co-existence of societies.

After the incident of 9/11, Afghanistan emerged as a terrorist state before the face of the world. To eradicate the militant factors the USA initiated a war against terror with the help of her allies on the soil of Afghanistan. This paper aims to analyze the efforts of Pakistan to bring harmony, peace and development to Afghanistan. The Afghan political scenario is a "multi-political scenario" in which different types of stakeholders show their political legitimacy over the masses. The capitalist class led by the USA and the socialist class by the Russians are the antagonistic factors in this regard. Another major group in this regard is the Islamic agenda group, having a culture of arms and is also a main participant in the Afghan political setup. The political legitimacy of the different groups has de-railed whole the system on the verge of chaos. The main focus of this paper is to determine the struggles of Pakistan to restore the true political system in Afghanistan through the participation of all the stakeholders in the scenario.