The Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court, Iqbal Hameed ur Rehman has showed his loyalty to the government agencies by disposing off the writ petition of two abducted members of Hizb ut-Tahrir, without taking any legal action. A member of Hizb ut-Tahrir registered his statement before a magistrate in which he named ISI and MI as the abductors. But instead of taking action against the intelligence agencies, the Chief Justice simply disposed of the writ.

As Steve Jobs personal biography by Walter Isaacson hits bookshops around the world a fierce debate rages about his rank amongst America's greatest innovators. For some, however, Steve Jobs has earned the right to be included amongst the world's top inventors. In any case, Americans feel proud about his achievements and given America's domination of the Nobel Prize, there is strong belief that America's pre-eminence in science and technology is set to continue. Indeed, some would argue that under America's stewardship West will continue to dominate the globe for years to come. But just how true is the assertion that Western thoughts will enjoy unfettered primacy for the foreseeable future.

By scrutinizing the annals of scientific thoughts over the past four centuries it is quite apparent that scientific discoveries or technical innovations fall into two categories namely: revolutionary and evolutionary discoveries. Revolutionary discoveries are associated with a step change in the scientific thoughts of a designated discipline. In other words, the discovery of the idea radically changes the fundamental precepts of the subject, and propels innovation and discoveries to new heights. Progress in the subject is by leaps and bounds, and benefit to humanity is immense.

Evolutionary discoveries are focused on the progressive elaboration of the fundamental principles about a particular subject. The edifice of the subject remains intact, but the application of basic thoughts crosses existing thresholds, and produces a new body of secondary and tertiary concepts that push the boundaries of existing research further. Advancement is small and the benefit to mankind is of diminutive proportions. So in physics its evolutionary moments are many, but its revolutionary moments are very few. Newtonian physics dominated the subject for centuries and was eventually turned on its head by Einstein's theory of relativity. Over a hundred years later, there is yet to be a revolutionary moment. It was Einstein's theory of relativity and its views on the sub-atomic world that paved the way for the discovery of the computer chip and mobile communication technology. Steve Jobs did no more than use computer chips, 3G and WIFI technologies to produce the Apple suite of products such as the iMac, iPhone, iPod and the iPad. The same can be said for other scientific disciplines and it can be argued that in the past 100 years or so the discoveries in science and technology merely evolutionary, a sort of natural progression.

Leaving aside scientific thoughts, the same classification standard can be applied to other disciplines such as philosophy, literature, sociology, politics, economics etc. The subjects of paramount importance are politics and economics, as they have the greatest effect on human thinking and play a pivotal role in the development of science.

A close inspection of Western economic thinking reveals that two men revolutionized economic theory in the West. The first was Adam Smith, regarded by many as the father of capitalism. The second is Karl Marx who developed Communist economic theory as an alternative to capitalism. The rest of the economists hitherto have either based their economic works on these two schools of economy thought. In sum, their collective efforts to date have only produced evolutionary changes.

Although the ideas of Smith and Marx are widely studied, it can be safely said that both are discredited. Communism as an economic model is dead, and Smith's free market ideas are facing a catastrophic crisis of confidence. The aftermath of the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008 has exposed the erroneous nature of the free market and inspired millions to protest against these ideas.

The advancement of Western political thought was dominated by a handful of thinkers and most of them came from the age of enlightenment. In fact, in the past one hundred and thirty years, Western political thinking has stagnated, and presently the West lacks solutions to contemporary political problems. The concepts of nation state, freedom, democracy, international law etc., when applied in practice are found to be flawed and unworkable. The current economic crisis in Europe and the colonial wars in the Muslim world have exposed the fallacy of these ideas.

Hence, the demise of the West has been long in the making. Its political and economic thoughts are gradually losing legitimacy amongst the people of the world, and dying a slow death. As a countermeasure, the West is left with no other option but to employ force both at home and abroad to maintain their hegemony. Once the political and economic thoughts are discredited and abandoned, scientific progress will also come to a halt. The demise of the Soviet Union is an apt example of how when people abandon an ideology, scientific advancement comes to a standstill.

So which nation will take the helm of the leading state after America is dislodged from its perch and Europe follows suit? Some advocate China, Brazil and India as the up and coming nations to lead mankind. But this view is short sighted and lacks thorough analysis. The question is not which nation will lead mankind, but which ideology will lead mankind in the 21st century. China, Brazil and India are fast embracing the very same Western thoughts that are discredited and responsible for West's demise. Hence the problem is one of thoughts and ideology, not people.

Islam is the only ideology that can lead humanity in the 21st century. It has a proven track record of leading mankind in all walks life for a thousand years, and it produced revolutionary thinking for well over five hundred years. The Islamic ummah was blessed with an abundance of revolutionary thinkers, a feat unparalleled in the history of civilizations. And at the head of Islamic thinkers was the messenger of Allah (saw) who was the greatest thinker of all time. He brought the Quran and the Sunnah, so that generations after him would continue and implement the message of Islam. This is what Barnard Shaw said about him: "The world much needs a man with Muhammad's bright thinking. I believe that if a man like Muhammad's caliber were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world he would succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring it the much needed peace and happiness: I have prophesied about the faith of Muhammad that it would be acceptable to the Europe of tomorrow as it is beginning to be acceptable to the Europe of today."

Abed Mostapha

US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton in her policy article in the November issue of Foreign Policy magazine said: "As the war in Iraq winds down and America begins to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan, the United States stands at a pivot point... In the next 10 years, we need to be smart and systematic about where we invest time and energy... One of the most important tasks of American statecraft over the next decade will therefore be to lock in a substantially increased investment -- diplomatic, economic, strategic, and otherwise -- in the Asia-Pacific region." She further challenged China with statements such as "The time has come for the United States to make similar investments as a Pacific power." This shift in focus from Afghanistan and Iraq towards China was clearly observed by every political analyst and Statesman across the globe.

It's quite obvious that after physically clogging China's western trade routes and energy corridors through huge military presence in Afghanistan, the US now prepares to bolster her presence around East and South of China. In this regard India and Japan, China's traditional enemies, can play a crucial rule. America already has built a ring of military bases around China in the Pacific region with at least seven known military bases in South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Guam, and now Australia. Now the US wants to further intimidate China by bolstering its neighbors. Obama had an important meeting with Indian Premier Manmohan Singh in Indonesia on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit and Hillary Clinton made an unexpected visit to Myanmar who has a longish boarder with China compared to its size.

The US sees Pak-India ties through the same prism of containing China. There has been an unusual push towards Pak-India normalization right after Hillary's visit to Pakistan in October this year. Pakistani government out of nowhere granted India MFN (Most Favored Nation) status, something India has been demanding for years. This has been a major initiative from Pakistan given that Pakistan had been blaming Indian involvement in FATA and Baluchistan. Pakistan used this claim to motivate Pakistani soldiers to carry out brutal military operations in FATA, which displaced millions and killed thousands of Muslims. Furthermore, Pakistan has completely decoupled the Kashmir issue from Indo-Pak trade - an old Indian demand which Pakistan has been denying until now. Just in the span of few days, Indian wrestlers visited Pakistan and a Pakistani Kabadi team went to India. A Pak-India cricket series is also on the cards for early next year. All these styles of public diplomacy are geared towards normalizing the relationship between the two countries.

The question is how does Pak-India relationships impact America's Asia-Pacific strategic objectives? For China the biggest competitor in the Eurasian land mass is India with whom she has fought a war and currently shares the longest disputed border of the world.  The US wants to build India as an economic and military counterweight to China. With a hostile Pakistan, India cannot even think of threatening China.  The US also knows that Kashmir issue cannot be resolved justly hence she wants to bury it and normalize the relationship so that Pakistan and India could work as a block to counter China. Hence, it is of utmost importance that India normalizes relationships with Pakistan allowing her to pull out troops from Kashmir and solely focus on China.  The US has already forced Pakistan and the ISI to stop its operations within India granting India much needed political stability. At the same time the US is building India economically and militarily. Granting India civil nuclear capability and opening up US markets for Indian goods are few such examples. Moreover, the US is propping up India to assume a regional rule all the way to Afghanistan and Central Asia. This is why the US allowed India to gain foothold in Afghanistan by building a chain of consulates along Pak-Afghan border. US is also arm twisting Pakistan to grant Indian goods land access to Central Asia. Hence, Pakistan is a key to achieving a stronger and more China-centric India, a major US objective in achieving dominance in the Pacific region. The agents in the military and political leadership of Pakistan are playing completely according to the US strategic script instead of working to secure interests of Muslims of Pakistan and Kashmir.

Hence Pakistan has become a major pawn in the hands of the US through which the US plans to gain stability in Afghanistan to influence Central Asia as well as strengthening India to counter China. But unfortunately the current leadership doesn't see the strategic strength of Pakistan and perpetually fans out disinformation that Pakistan is too weak to defend itself. They claim that Pakistan has no option but to be a lackey of the US. A sincere leadership under Islamic rule will exploit this strategic strength and not only expand the boundaries of the Khilafah "Caliphate" to all the way to Central Asia but will also have the leverage to play politics with China, who would love to have Khilafah "Caliphate" as an ally against the threatening Indo-US nexus.

Naveed Butt
The Official Spokesman of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Pakistan

The government of Sheikh Hasina, agent of US-Britain-India, came to power back in 2009 with the slogan of creating "Digital Bangladesh." Since then the rapid transformation of Bangladesh into a spineless, subservient state for Hasina's masters has indeed been more than digital!  However, when it comes to transforming the country to achieve the welfare of the people the story is one of digital bankruptcy. The economy has been crippled by government mismanagement. In fact, it will not be an overstatement to say that today the people of Bangladesh face one of the most difficult periods of economic hardship in the last 4 decades. It all begun with the stock market, a capitalist digital gambling machine.

In the beginning of 2009, when the government of Sheikh Hasina took power, the main stock market of Bangladesh, Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) had index of 2538.79, with total market capital of $13.86 billion. And then within a period of less than two years, on the 5th of December, 2010, the DSE general market index boomed to $58.52 billion! What a digital magic of capitalist economic prosperity in the midst of global economic recession!! Hasina and her ministers and the so-called civil society trumpeted this as the success of her government's economic policy. They started to say that with this huge market boom millions of people have got jobs. Sheikh Hasina and her ministers claimed that they are living up to the electoral promise of giving one job to each family. As if this was a success in reality.

Small savers, women, sole proprietors continued to draw closer to the market as if this balloon is never going to burst. Then came the big day in December 2010, when the market crumbled to its feet due to huge sell pressure from those who worked behind the closed door to keep this casino boom. Then in less than a year, on 15th November, 2011 the market fell down to its lowest index and market capital stood at $33.90 billion, evaporating almost 50% or $25 billion from the market, leaving directly 3.3 million small investors or 15 million people destitute. This is how Sheikh Hasina repaid her domestic and foreign fund providers in the 2008 general election. This was smarter than the alleged $0.856 billion fund misappropriation or theft by Tariq Rahman, the son of former prime minister and current opposition leader Khaleda Zia. Sheikh Hasina's computer engineer son and aides are more creative geniuses!

For the past one year the government has tried to cover up the scam. Hasina continued the policy of "let it go" or "time is a great healer" so that the daily angry street protests by those who were allured to invest in the casino and ultimately lose everything gradually lose their zeal and vigor to continue their protests and the looters can go scot-free. And now she is eying on the prospect of another round of gain for her fund raisers. This week Hasina personally chaired a committee to oversee the DSE to foul the people once again. Now she is asking the banking and insurance sectors to invest their fund in this market, which is fodder for another catastrophe as evident from the USA stock market crash and its cyclical effects.

In fact for Hasina that was not enough. Her government's economic policy has not just failed the 3.3 million middle class people and made them insolvent. A BBC South Asia Monitoring report on 3rd November, 2011, reports that for the first time in the history of Bangladesh, in order to meet its demand for money the government has taken initiatives to secure $1 billion sovereign debt from foreign countries, issuing 5-10 years treasury bonds. For anyone to understand its dangerous effect on the economy it is enough to remind them that the developed countries have failed to manage their economies by adopting such strategy. The recession across Europe is a glaring example of this. In the current fiscal year (2011-2012), the government had set a target of $4.28 billion domestic loans from the local commercial banks to finance its budget deficit.  However, within only 5 months of this fiscal year, a daily $14.28 million loan from domestic commercial banks, Hasina government has already borrowed $3.85 billion or 90% of its targeted borrowing. The largest four national commercial banks are already on the verge of bankruptcy and even the Central Bank of Bangladesh has made it clear that, "local banks will not be able to supply money to it anymore, because, the private sector will not get any loans from the banks if the government continues its borrowing further."

Looking at this government's dismal performance on the economic front, one must ask the question why the government is borrowing so much. There is no real answer from the government. In fact the growth in tax revenue in the first quarter of July-September of the current fiscal year was 15%, with revenue income of $2.58 billion, while the growth in collection was 25%. On the other hand, only 11% of the annual development program was implemented in the first quarter of the current fiscal and the total expenditure was $0.70 billion only. Thus the question remains where the money is going? Some explanation coming from government is that the price of oil in the international market has increased, so the government has to increase it financing, otherwise continuation of the subsidies will not be possible. This is a great lie. First of all, the government has already increased the price of gasoline more than 100% in past three months to finance the subsidy. Moreover, just in this month oil price has been increased by more than 10% while gasoline price is expected to increase by another 90% in coming months. Moreover, if shortage of gasoline or oil is our problem, which definitely is not, then why the government is increasing this burden on the people by awarding oil and gas blocks to American and other foreign multinational companies like ConocoPhillips and agrees to contracts where the government will buy our gas or oil from these multinationals at international price and they will take 80% of the daily production. Additionally, since it is the Hasina government who makes such contracts to show her commitment to her American masters, why the 160 million Muslims should pay for that? This increase in oil, diesel and other fuel prices just before the harvesting season will definitely increase the cost of production and subsequently will cost every single countryman with increasing cost of living in a country where inflation rate has been around 50% annually.

By continuing to implement the capitalist economic system, like her predecessors, Sheikh Hasina has in reality turned Bangladesh to a bankrupt nation. Therefore it is time for the 160 million Muslims in Bangladesh to understand that, the very desire they hold to have economic opportunities and realize the potential of our economic resources that Allah (swt) has bestowed upon us in this world can only be managed and utilized for public good if we can install a government who will run the economic policies not based on capitalist free market system but based on Islamic economic system under the shade of Khilafah "Caliphate" state. Indeed capitalism has failed humanity and its proponents. So it is time to show how our economic nightmare under this system can become our economic blessings under the system of Islam.

Jafar Muhammad Abu Abdullah
Dhaka, Bangladesh