The paper critically evaluates the notion that political Islam is a threat to world peace. The argument is developed in the light of Islamic history and fundamentals of Islam and the research is based on primary and secondary sources. There was a time when magical influence of Muslims in every field of life (socio-economic, Political scientific) was conspicuous. For instance, Al Farabi's books influenced platonic theories. Similarly influence of Sufism on the works of William James, Goethe, August Comte, Nietzsche, Voltaire and Rousseau also cannot be over looked. Muslims taught geology, geography understanding of mathematics rules of philosophy and Industrial Arts and quality of products. Islamic state and society showed many signs of internal decay by 11th Century. The symptoms of decadence were discernible even earlier, the decline of the power and prestige of the caliphs even in their own capital. So, the problems lay with Muslim rulers and parties in rule but not with political Islam. The result was weak administration which shook the foundations of Islamic Empire. It is very important to have a state in order to preach Islam that is why, Mohammad (SWS) established Madina as a political entity to prevail justice on the lines of Quranic injunctions.

1-Zahid Anwer
Professor (tenured), Department of Political Science, University of Peshawar, Peshawar, Pakistan.

2-Nelofar Ikram
PhD scholar, Department of Political Science, University of Peshawar, Peshawar, Pakistan.

The paper explores the progress of regional cooperation in various functional areas as identified by South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) since its inception in 1985. It also examines whether and to what extent SAARC has been successful in accomplishing the goals enshrined in its charter. SAARC was formed: to promote peace, amity, stability and progress in the region; to promote the welfare and quality of life of people; to accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development, and; to attain collective and national self-reliance through joint efforts. SAARC made significant progress in several areas, such as: agriculture and rural development; environment; science and technology; human resource development including education, arts, culture and sports; transport; telecommunications, and information and communication technology; tourism, and energy. It has concluded several agreements and conventions besides setting up a few regional centres to realize its objectives. Generally, SAARC has not successful in implementing its programs and projects due to various reasons. It has been short of achieving several of its goals which makes its performance dismal.

1-Manzoor Ahmed Naazer
Assistant Professor, Department of Politics and International Relations, International Islamic University, Islamabad.

2-Sumbul Hussan
Junior Research Fellow at HRC, Islamabad, Pakistan.

Soon after 9/11, the advent of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in FATA remained focus of discussion among different scholars and stakeholders at different forums. CSOs are considered the messengers of peace and education. These organizations are getting funds from various sources, UN at their top, and invest in the targeted area(s) for the purpose of enhancing the education of a locality. The debate bifurcates CSOs between real objectives persuading and fabricated objectives persuading. Not only those CSOs who are purely working for education but all CSOs are part of this struggle directly or indirectly. This research is focusing on the programs of the CSOs running in FATA and their direct or indirect impact on the education system of the region. The Methodology used for this research is qualitative, comprising direct in-depth interviews and FGDs with students, local population and other stakeholders.

1-M Ikram Khan Bajauri
PhD scholar at Center for International Peace and Stability (CIPS), NUST, Islamabad, Pakistan.

2-Sadia Riaz
MPhil Scholar, Political Science, IIU, Islamabad, Pakistan.

3-Sabeeha Rasheed
Lecturer, Government Girls Post Graduate College, Hari Pur, Pakistan.

This research paper demonstrates the role of new technology intervention of crop maximization project in increasing crop production of small farmers of district Charsadda. The core objective of this study was to know the significance of new technology adoption at small scale agriculture and its effect on productivity enhancement of small farmers of district Charsadda. The research was conducted in two union councils i.e. Rajjar-II and Sarki Tetara of Tehsil and district Charsadda. For data collection Pre-tested interview schedule was used. The data were collected from 150 targeted small farmers which were purposively selected through random sampling method. The findings of the study revealed that new technology intervention of the project converted the small scale subsistence agriculture in commercial one by increasing their crop production. The collected and analyzed data indicates that a major portion (83.3%) of the respondents increased their farm production through the new technology interventions while 16.3% of them got no benefits from the new technology intervention of the project. The findings of the study further demonstrate that there is significant association and direct relation between new technology intervention of the project and the increase in farm production of small farmers.

1-Muhammad Kaleem
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Bacha Khan University, Charsadda, KP, Pakistan.

2-Bahadar Sher Khattak
MPhil Scholar, Rural Development Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad, Pakistan.

3-Syed Rashid Ali
Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, KP, Pakistan.

Jamat-e-Islami (JI) started as a social movement in 1941 and became an influential group to support Islamic constitution in Pakistan. Later, the leaders of this movement decided to take part in electoral politics. And in 1957, the movement evolved into a political Party. In 1964, JI was banned by the dictator Ayub Khan, because they did not support the regimes' unconstitutional martial law. After Ayub khan, the Bhutto suppressed all opposition parties including JI. In addition to this, General Zia shared power with JI for some time but quickly stripped it of all authority. It can be concluded that JI was never allowed freely participate in the political system of Pakistan. JI also suffered the schisms in the organizational structure because of its strict rules and regulations. However, Qazi Hussain Ahmad took certain measures to push JI in main stream of Pakistani politics. An attempt to find out how JI was operated in electoral politics from 1987 to 2009 has been made in this paper. It has used the Columbian school of thought as a model. This model rationalizes election on the sociological perspective, where voters are influenced by the left-right, ideological orientations, and by religion, sect, ethnicity, class, caste, rural and urban divisions. The data is collected by researching secondary sources that discussed and evaluated the electoral politics in Pakistan. A content analysis method is used to analyze the data leading to the stated findings about JI's electoral strategies.

1-Manzoor Khan Afridi
Head of Department of Politics and IR, International Islamic University Islamabad, Pakistan.

2-Tabi Ullah
MPhil Scholar, Department of Politics and IR, IIU, Islamabad, Pakistan.

3-Uzma Gul
PhD Scholar, Department of Political Science, AWKUM, Mardan, Pakistan.

Every political ideology has a distinct conception of various aspects of human life such as reason, purpose of life, free-will, liberty, freedom, autonomy, democracy, sovereignty and moral rights and obligations of the citizen. But the fundamental purpose of a political ideology is to define the purpose of the state and its role in providing a political system to its citizen in which individuals can live their social and political life according to the moral values and ethical principles of that political ideology. This paper only elucidates the purpose of the state according to ancient, Liberal, Marxist and Feminist standpoints. To understand the viewpoint of each political ideology, it is necessary to understand the political thought of its founders. It is pertinent to mention that all political thinkers have one ultimate aim in describing the purpose of the state which is the "ultimate good" of the citizen though they may differ with each other. The viewpoint of one ideology about the purpose of the state may be at odds with another ideology. For example, liberals demand freedom and equality while accepting the capitalist state but Marxist reject the capitalist state in totality, however they also demand freedom and equality of man. Hence, all these political ideologies of these great political thinkers have developed into political movements and later into the formation of political parties which resulted in the modern day civic political system.

1-Waseem Khan
Demonstrator (Research Associate), University of Swabi, Swabi, Pakistan.

2-Sana Hussan
Research Coordinator at HDS, Mardan, Pakistan.

3-Bushra Qureshi
Independent Researcher at NUML, Islamabad, Pakistan.

The respect of human rights in a society determines the destination of that society or state. It is the level of satisfaction of citizens of a country which convinces them to work for the growth and progress of that state or society. The people of FATA are living under a draconian law which is known as Frontier Crime Regulations (FCR). There is agrave human rights violation of the people of FATA under this law. Freedom of speech, freedom of expression etc. are hampered by the FCR and the common people live under a threat of collective punishment as well. Moreover, due to military operations against the militants in the area, millions of people from FATA have been displaced. At times, there are grave violations of human rights of the displaced persons as well. This paper will explore the state of human rights in FATA in general and evaluates its impact on the Federation of Pakistan. The paper evaluates different instances of human rights violation in various agencies of FATA and their root causes as well.

1-Sohail Ahmad
Assistant Professor, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan

2-Fasih Ahmed
Assistant Professor, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan.

3-Muhammad Zubair
Associate Professor and Chairman, Department of Law, AWKUM, Mardan, Pakistan.