Current Affairs & Pakistan Affairs

Candidates will be expected to display such general knowledge of history, politics and international affairs as is deemed necessary to interpret current affairs.

• Political
• Economic
• Social

• Pakistan's relations with its neighbours (India, China, Afghanistan, Russia)
• Pakistan's relations with the Muslim world (Iran, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey)
• Pakistan's relations with the United States
• Pakistan's relations with regional and international organisations (UN, SAARC, ECO, OIC, WTO, CW)

• International security
• International political economy
• Human rights
• Environment: global warming, Kyoto Protocol, Copenhagen Accord
• Population: world population trends, world population policies
• Terrorism and counter-terrorism
• Global energy politics
• Nuclear proliferation and nuclear security
• Nuclear politics in South Asia
• International trade (Doha Development Round and Bali Package)
• Cooperation and competition in the Arabian Sea, Indian and Pacific Oceans
• Millennium Development Goals: current status
• Globalisation
• Middle East crisis
• Kashmir issue
• Palestine issue

1. Ideology of Pakistan — definition and elucidation; historical aspects: Muslim rule in the sub-continent, its downfall and efforts for renaissance. Movements for reforms — Shaikh Ahmad Sarhindi, Shah Waliullah, Sayyid Ahmad Shaheed, Aligarh, Deoband, Nadwah and other educational institutions — Sindh Madrassah and Islamia College Peshawar. Ideology of Pakistan in the light of the speeches and statements of Allama Iqbal and Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
2. Land and people of Pakistan — geography, society, natural resources, agriculture, industry and education, with reference to characteristics, trends and problems.
3. Pakistan and the changing regional apparatus.
4. Nuclear programme of Pakistan, its safety and security; international concerns.
5. Regional economic cooperation (SAARC, ECO, SCO) and the role of Pakistan.
6. Civil–military relations in Pakistan.
7. Economic challenges in Pakistan.
8. Non-traditional security threats in Pakistan: role of non-state actors.
9. Pakistan's role in the region.
10. Palestine issue.
11. Changing security dynamics for Pakistan: challenges to the national security of Pakistan.
12. Political evolution since 1971.
13. Pakistan and the US war on terror.
14. Foreign policy of Pakistan post 9/11.
15. Evolution of the democratic system in Pakistan.
16. Ethnic issues and national integration.
17. Hydro-politics; water issues in the domestic and regional context.
18. Pakistan's national interest.
19. Challenges to sovereignty.
20. Pakistan's energy problems and their effects.
21. Pakistan's relations with neighbours excluding India.
22. Pakistan and India relations since 1947.
23. Kashmir issue.
24. The war in Afghanistan since 1979 and its impact on, and challenges to, Pakistan in the post-2014 era.
25. Proxy wars: role of external elements.
26. Economic conditions of Pakistan, the most recent Economic Survey, the previous and current budgets, and the problems and performance of major sectors of the economy.
27. The recent constitutional and legal debates, the latest constitutional amendments and important legislation, legal cases and the role of higher courts.
28. The prevailing social problems of Pakistan and the strategies to deal with them — poverty, education, health and sanitation.