Re-Thinking Models of Judicial Appointments in the Superior Courts of Pakistan: A Quest for a Better Model

Purpose: Since the inception of the notions of separation of powers and judicial independence, different judicial systems across the globe have devised various models of judicial appointments to meet the standards of the concepts of separation of powers and judicial independence. Methodology: In general, three moles of judicial appointments namely the politicised, the judicialised and the institutionalised models have been used in different jurisdictions. Findings: In Pakistan, since its independence, all these three models have been practiced, however none of these could help to achieve the required standards of judicial independence. The causes of failure perhaps rooted in the attitudes and intentions of the constitutional players rather than internal flaws of these three models. Implications: This article analyses the pros and cons of these models of judicial appointments and the causes of failure of these models in provision of independent and trustworthy judiciary in Pakistan and then proposes a better model with further improvements for judicial appointments in Pakistan.

Single Story Sellers Everywhere: Deconstructing Media Reportage on Banditry in Nigeria

Purpose: The media has been described as the fourth estate of the realm because of the huge role it plays in information dissemination and education. However, when the media peddles narratives to make and or mar one group, the media losses its role ethos and principle of balance and neutrality. Therefore, this work attempts to interrogate imbalance media reportage on the issue of north/south divide on banditry. Method: The work is qualitative and employs extant literature as its main source. Findings: The work found out that the media reports the same incidences in different parts of Nigeria in different tones, when violent crimes occur in the north it is simply referred to as banditry but whilst it happens elsewhere, it is called other less derogatory names that do not qualify the extent of the crimes committed. Implications/Originality/Value: The work recommended among other things that the media must uphold its principles of balanced journalism and help peddle narratives that bind rather than divide.

Colonialism and Emasculation of Political and Religious Institutions in Northern Nigeria

Purpose: Colonialism, a phenomenon which has long gone remains an interesting subject of debates especially among the African scholars. This is perhaps, due to the aggressive nature in which colonialism violently altered the evolutionary destiny of the African states. Any study that carefully dig deeply can easily come up with an area of contribution regarding the subject matter of colonialism in Africa. This study specifically explored how colonialism emasculated the political and religious institutions of Northern Nigeria with a view to ascertain the current crisis of identity that the region is facing. Design/Methodology/Approach: Descriptive analytical design was adopted, thematic analysis and a qualitative content analysis method was used in this study which analyzed critically the various views and dimensions on the role played by colonialism in the emasculation of political and religious institutions in Northern Nigeria. Findings: The results revealed that Northern Nigeria had a well-articulated and functioning political and religious institutions prior to the emergence of the exploitative colonialism. The British colonialist supervised the destruction of these heritages and replaced them with the alien ones that failed to function well leading to crisis of identity. Implications/Originality/Value: So it is concluded that colonialism succeeded in damaging the Northern Nigerian heritage and that there must be a reversal towards that indigenous culture and social settings for Northern Nigeria to record a meaningful progress in the 21st century.

Implementation of Juvenile Justice System Act 2018: Prospects and Challenges for Pakistan

Purpose: This paper develops a framework for analyzing the practical implementation of Juvenile Justice System Act 2018, and bottlenecks which are being faced by the juvenile during the process of trial before the court of law. Few areas need to be examined while determining the practical implementation of this act, as its procedural requirements have not been yet followed in the field. This paper aims to identify those obstructions which are necessary to be dealt with iron hand in order to ensure the full implementation of the act. Design: Qualitative content analysis method has been used to analyze the various factors, which are responsible for the failure to implement the said act. Findings: Findings on the topic suggest that even at the stage of registration of first information report , the age of juvenile is neglected and loopholes continues till the conclusion of trial. The crux is that in order to avoid the exploitation of juvenile offender during trial, the Provincial and Federal Governments should play their role to ensure that procedural requirements are met as envisaged by the said act. Implications: The practical and firm implementation of Juvenile Justice System Act 2018, competent authorities and requisite institutions should realize their role.

Role of Political Instability in Attracting FDI Inflow to Pakistan

Purpose: The reason of this study is to recognize the impact of key determinants of overseas direct asset in case of Pakistan, based on annual information covering the period of 1981-2018. Design/Methodology/Approach: After checking for still of the sequence, the technique of ARDL is used for estimation of long run parameters estimates and error alteration instrument for short run dynamics. Findings: The results of the study indicate that politically stable environment and long term policies are necessary to attract foreign investors. furthermore, investment profile of any government also matter for direct asset in the country as the study conclusions reveal that marketplace size as well as domestic investment are positively related to foreign direct investment while taxes have negative association with overseas straight investment in the case of Pakistan. Implications/Originality/Value: The most important factor for FDI inflow to Pakistan is interest rate or ease of doing business which has negative sign means inverse relation exists between the two variables.

Parliamentary Democracy in Developing Countries: Comparative Study of Pakistan and Bangladesh (2008 to 2013)

Purpose: Parliamentary democracy is one of the unique forms of democracy. It is practiced in various countries of the world successfully. Like Australia, Canada exercises it in very effective manner. Pakistan and Bangladesh both countries are practicing parliamentary democracy. This research paper made comparison between Pakistan and Bangladesh and also find out reasons that weakened the democratic system in both developing countries like non democratic attitude of their political leaders, poverty, corruption, injustices, lack of education, dictatorship and terrorism that destabilized the parliamentary system in both countries. Design/Methodology/Approach: Historiography serves as an ideal approach here, given the subjects of the cases being used in this study. It employs a critical, selective reading of sources that synthesize particular bits of information into a narrative description or analysis of a subject. Findings: In Pakistan parliamentary democracy restores in 2008 and eighteen amendments is the good initiate to strength the democratic trend. In fact, in the first time in the history of Pakistan a democratic government complete it tenure. Politics of reconciliation play very vital role in Pakistan. In contrast, in Bangladesh parliamentary democracy restore since 1991but the political leaders highly mistrusted each other and involve in corruption activities. Abolishment of caretaker government is another critical issue in Bangladesh. Implications/Originality/Value: Both countries tried to achieve the parliamentary democracy but both countries should struggle more for institutionalization of parliament for strong the parliamentary democracy in both countries.

Legal, Administrative and Judicial Framework in Pakistan to Combat Tax Evasion and Money Laundering: An Analytical Study

Purpose: The main objective of this research paper is to look at Pakistan's legal, administrative, and judicial framework in terms of countering money laundering and tax evasion. Money laundering and tax evasion are two financial crimes that have been linked, either directly or indirectly, to one other. Money laundering was formerly solely associated with the crimes of narcotics trafficking and terrorism financing. At present, it has been also associated with tax evasion. Methodology: The framework regarding tax evasion and money laundering is varied. In Pakistan, two different mechanisms exist to combat both crimes. This article analytically studies the parliamentary statutes and ordinance, the working of investigating and prosecuting agencies and judicature structure concerning tax evasion and money laundering in Pakistan. Findings: This article concludes that the problem of tax evasion and money launder are causing financial instability in Pakistan. There is an urgent need of revamping the current tax administration to detect tax evasion and frauds. Implication: this article recommends potential reforms in the existing legal, administrative and judicial framework to control and curb both crimes more effectively.

How Does Debt Financing Affect Financial Performance? A Study of Transport Companies Listed in Pakistan

Purpose: The purpose of this paper investigates the impact of debt financing on airline’s (transport) sector performance of Pakistan. Design/Methodology/Approach: We gathered the data from secondary sources. In this study, we used a data sample of 11 years from 2008-2018 by using companies annual reports. Due to unavailability of data, only 3 transport companies have been taken for analysis. The software which we used in analysis is SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science). Findings: The findings of the study suggests that there is opposite relationship between debt financing and financial performance of airlines. Debt is measured from three ratios, short term debt to total assets, long term debt to total assets and total debt to total assets ratio. For the measurement of performance, we used return on assets and earnings per share. We concluded on the basis of findings that the companies should focus on retained earnings which is cheaper source of finance and use less level of debt. As the more level of debt use by the companies, the performance of companies’ decrease. Implications/Originality/Value: There is only one study is available in Pakistan which used transport sector in Pakistan in debt financing context

Ramsey Taxation in the Solow-Uzawa Growth Model with Public Goods

This paper examines issues related to optimal taxation similar to those addressed by Ramsey in his celebrated 1927 paper. Rather than determining taxes on commodities with given revenue to minimize the decrement of utility may be minimum in the Ramsey approach, this model determines optimal taxation to maximize utility with revenue as endogenous variable. We analyze optimal taxation in neoclassical growth theory. We introduce a public sector to the Solow-Uzawa neoclassical growth model. The economy is composed of the public, capital goods and consumer goods sectors. Public goods enter into the utility function. The public sector is financially supported by the government’s revenue from taxing consumption of capital goods and consumer goods. We derive the optimal taxation rule and construct the dynamics of the national economy. The model describes nonlinear dynamic interactions among national and sectoral growth, economic structural change, wealth/capital accumulation, and optimal tax rates in perfect competitive markets with the government intervention. We carry out comparative analysis to analyze effects of changes in some parameters on the tax rates and other economic variables.

Effect of Career Fulfilment on Employee Performance in Federal Civil Service Commission, Abuja-Nigeria

Purpose: The study on the effect of career fulfilment practices on employee performance is still scanty in the human resource management domain. The objective of this study is to determine the effect of career fulfilment practices on employee performance in the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Abuja-Nigeria. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study is a cross-sectional survey. Hence, researchers adopted the primary data approach of data collection. The population of the study is 400 (FCSC, 2021). Using Krijcie and Morgan (1970), the sample size is 196. The researchers increased the sample size by 50% based on Salkind's (1997) suggestion. Thus, the final sample size of the study is 294 using the stratified random sampling technique. The study administered 294 copies of the questionnaires and was used for the analysis. The returned questionnaires were inputted, coded, and screened using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) version 22 software. Analysis was carried out using Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). Findings: Findings showed that career fulfilment practices have a positive and significant effect on employee performance in FCSC, Abuja-Nigeria. Implications/Originality/Value: The study concluded that FCSC, Abuja-Nigeria, government, labour Unions and policymakers should promote career fulfilment practices that will improve employee performance in FCSC, Abuja.