History is a stern teacher, but nations that refuse to learn from its lessons are condemned to repeat its tragedies. The Muslim world, blessed with immense natural wealth, strategic geography, a common faith and a civilisation that once illuminated the world with knowledge and wisdom, has too often found itself divided, weakened and exposed to the ambitions of powerful nations. The question that demands serious reflection is whether these calamities are merely the consequences of internal failures or whether external powers have repeatedly exploited Muslim divisions to advance their own strategic interests.

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The history of the Gulf is marked by immense wealth, strategic rivalry and recurring conflict. Yet wars in this vital region have never remained confined to its shores. Whenever conflict threatens oil production or the security of shipping routes, its consequences spread across the world. Prices rise, supplies become uncertain and economies far from the battlefield are forced to absorb the shock.

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Throughout the long and often turbulent history of the Gulf, the states of that vital region have repeatedly been plunged into the furnace of war, with consequences that have reverberated far beyond their shores and touched the lives of distant peoples dependent upon the free passage of oil. The Iran-Iraq conflict that erupted in nineteen-eighty, Iraq’s brazen invasion of Kuwait a decade later, the subsequent American-led campaign to liberate that small sheikhdom, the invasion of Iraq itself in two thousand and three, and the recurrent tensions between Iran on the one hand and Israel and the United States on the other, have each in their turn disrupted the free flow of petroleum upon which the modern world so heavily depends. Prices have soared, supplies have been interrupted at critical chokepoints such as the Strait of Hormuz, and the economic fabric of nations far removed from the battlefield has been strained almost to breaking point. Pakistan, though geographically distant from these contests, has never been wholly insulated from their effects, for her economy rests in no small measure upon the uninterrupted importation of crude oil and refined products, and upon the steady stream of remittances sent home by her sons labouring in the oil-rich states of the Gulf.

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In Pakistan’s turbulent political landscape, Parliament remains the one institution where disagreement can be converted into dialogue and confrontation into compromise. It is the forum where competing political visions meet, debate and seek common ground. In such circumstances, the Speaker’s office assumes importance beyond routine parliamentary proceedings. The Speaker must protect the dignity of the House, ensure space for treasury and opposition benches and preserve channels for dialogue when tensions rise.

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I am only a young girl. My name may never appear in a newspaper, my photograph may never be shown on television, and perhaps no one beyond my family will ever know what happened to me. Yet something happened that has changed the meaning of every tomorrow. A crime was committed against my body, but everyone now seems to be asking questions about my character, my clothes, my movements, my friendships, my silence and my future. I therefore ask one question—not only of myself, but of my family, my society and my State: How shall I live my life now?

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Every parent cherishes the hope of bestowing upon their children an education superior to that which circumstance once permitted them, believing that knowledge alone can lift a family from the constraints of limited means and open doors long closed. Islam itself places the highest value upon learning, for the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) declared that the seeking of knowledge is obligatory upon every Muslim, male and female alike. The first revealed word of the Holy Qur’an was “Iqra”—Read—and this divine command admits of no distinction of gender. In the early days of Islam, women of learning stood among the foremost transmitters of knowledge; the Mother of the Believers, Hazrat Aisha (May Allah be pleased with her), was a scholar of profound insight whose counsel was sought by the Companions themselves. Yet in later centuries, among many communities, greater store was set by the schooling of sons, while the instruction of daughters was frequently held contrary to local custom and tradition. Many households regarded a girl’s place as confined to the domestic sphere, deeming formal learning unnecessary or even undesirable for her.

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