“The findings of this study challenge the very rationale of Pakistan’s poverty alleviating strategies, which have constantly been failing as the number of those who are below the Poverty Line, instead of decreasing, has increased.” He further said, “Though this study focuses only on two districts of Punjab, it [...]

Alternate Solutions Institute, Pakistan’s first free market think tank, launched its online platform in Urdu with the technical and financial support from Atlas Global Initiative for Free Trade, Peace, and Prosperity. Hum-Azad.org will serve as the Urdu portal for information on classical liberalism, while ASInstitute.org will continue to be the English portal in [...]

Atlas has supported the Alternate Solutions Institute in Pakistan (ASI) for many years, they are one of the 2008 Fisher Venture Grantees.  Recently, Dr. Khalil Ahmad, Executive Director of ASI announced that Mr. Ali Salman has joined ASI as the Director of Development. Mr. Salman  also the Managing Partner Development Pool, a socio-economic consultancy firm [...]

Here is a rundown of news items from friends of Atlas around the world:

Individualland in Pakistan will begin a weekly radio series on  several stations throughout Pakistan, on the topic of Freedom of Information. If you’d like to listen to the episodes they will be available online at individualland.com
This evening Executive Director of PERC, [...]

It has been an unusually active week in Asian news, to put it mildly. Pakistan has allowed the Taliban to enact Sharia in the Swat Valley in an “Illiberalism for peace” deal. North Korea last week launched a rocket, and then yesterday announced that is was booting nuclear inspectors out of the country.
And then, of [...]

Atlas has been a supporter and a friend to Alternate Solutions Institute based in Lahore, Pakistan for many years. ASI recently won Atlas´ Fisher Venture Grant Award. Dr. Khalil Ahmad the founder and executive director of ASI was recently in the Washington, DC area attending Atlas´ TTMBA program.
Dr. Ahmed is man with a strong sense [...]

The Middle East and the Muslim world- from Morocco in the West to Indonesia in the East; from Azerbaijan to the North and the strategic location of the Gulf region- are experiencing a paradoxical period of parallel turmoil, unrest and prosperity.
Islamic countries are practicing traditional Islamic commerce along with new globalization methods and old-fashioned capitalism. [...]

After winning the September 6th elections in Pakistan, President-elect Asif Ali Zardari, the husband of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and the head of Pakistan People´s Party (PPP) says he is determined to form a national unity government. However; looking back at the history of the PPP and Mr. Zardari´s own personal reputation, in [...]

The resignation of Pakistan’s President General Pervez Musharraf after nine years of military rule has marked a historic political success for his rivals at home who have been seeking his removal from office since last February elections.
President Musharraf departure resulted, in part, due to his political enemies. They convinced his supporters in the Bush Administration [...]

Khalil Ahmad of the Alternate Solutions Institute in Pakistan writes about “The Long March - The Aftermath” (referring to the‚ country-wide protest to demand the reinstatement of senior judges, removed in November when President Musharraf declared emergency rule) in a piece published in The Pakistan Observer (6/28/08).
The lawyers, civil society activists and all of us [...]