No one can dispute the assertive position of English as a communicative language. It is enjoying status of medium of instruction as well as compulsory subject in Pakistan. But it is facing numerous problems in learning. The failure rate of the students is increasing which is deplorable. The failure in this subject means the failure in the public examinations. The concerns about the situation can be observed by all the stakeholders. The recent study is an attempt to probe into the alarming situation that has been conducted in the male colleges of public sector of Districts Mianwali and Bhakkar, the remotest Districts of Pakistan. This study deeply looks into the obstacles faced by the intermediate collegiate students in learning it. Four out of seven public sector colleges of both districts have been selected; taking from urban and rural areas to get genuine and reasonable data in this connection. The study has examined the position of English in the presence of Urdu and Saraiki, the mother tongues of students with the background of the brief survey of the position of English and the learners of it. Many factors have been indicated that are responsible for creating obstacles in learning English. Results point out that students of the context desire to learn English but numerous factors stand on their way of progress that need to be eradicated for the better future of this language. The ambiguous educational policies, the bias attitude towards English, the behavior of parents and teachers, the adverse policies of the government, the unavailability of modern teaching technology to the public sector, the shortage of English teachers especially in the remotest located colleges, the flawed syllabi and examination system, the lack of teaching training and the deprived position of teachers are the major factors that are arising obstacles in learning English. The study emphasizes upon the state support by adopting positive approach to the issue to strengthen the position of English.

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This study reports on the multivariate analysis of the vegetation of Hindukush Range in Pakistan, concentrating on the structure and regeneration potential of Monotheca buxifolia and associated tree species. Twenty stands at different locations in the Dir District of the Hindukush Range in Pakistan were chosen for the study. A point centered quarter method for trees and 5 m  5 m size quadrats were used for the sampling of understorey vegetation, including shrubs, seedlings, and saplings, respectively. The underlying group structure in vegetation was exposed by an agglomerative clustering technique, while major trends were disclosed by DCA ordination. Size class structure and regeneration potential of M. buxifolia and associated tree species were also examined, which reflects the future trend of species and, consequently, the forests where they dominate. The relationships between environmental factors and vegetation were investigated.The arboreal vegetation was mostly dominated by broad leaved species including Monotheca buxifolia, Olea ferruginea, Acacia modesta, Punica granatum, Quercus baloot, and Ficus palmata. Among the understorey vegetation, the abundant species were Dodonea viscosa, Justicia adhatoda, Otostegia limbata, Indigofera gerardiana, Plantago lanceolata, Rumex dentatus, Marrubium vulgaris, Fragaria nubicola, Geranium rotundifolium, Daphne oleoides, Solanum nigram, Ajuga bracteosa, Oxalis corniculata seedlings of Monotheca buxifolia, Quercus baloot, and Punica granatum. At the seedling and sapling stage, the maximum number was observed for Monotheca buxifolia (27±5.75 and 38±7.1), followed by Quercus baloot (18±2.2 and 12±1.0) and Olea ferruginea. As far as regeneration status is concerned, 34% species showed good regeneration, 50% species were facing the problem of poor regeneration while, and only 16% species were not regenerating. Five groups of tree vegetation that emerged from Ward's cluster analysis could readily be superimposed on DCA ordination. These groups were associated with particular elevation and, to a lesser extent, with edaphic variables, such as pH and nutrients. Some of the topographic and edaphic variables, such as soil nutrient, showed significant or weak linear relationships with one or more ordination axes. The size class structure of M. buxifolia and associated tree species for individual stands exhibited a few gaps. Relationships between density and basal area were significant, but the density and basal area with altitudinal and slope gradient showed an insignificant relation. Some recommendations are outlined for future research and sustainable management of these forests species.

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The power rests with those who had more resources (Mahadi et al., 2015). If a woman contributes more to the household income, her power should be improved which is considered as the decisionmaking authority within the household. In tradtional Abstract | Women served as the major participant in livestock management at the domestic level and supporting rural livelihoods with the provision of multiple products for consumption and sale. However, the question arises that women's participation in livestock management has some relation to their empowerment or it is not a debatable issue. To address the issue, this research is carried out in the tribal areas of Pakistan for which data were collected from 323 randomly selected female respondents from 323 randomly selected households in Mohmand Agency. The collected data were analyzed using percent participation, descriptive statistics, and Decision Making Index (DMI). The results showed that the decisions related to livestock management were mostly taken by both women and men jointly (44%), followed by men alone (27 %) and women (25%) independently. It has been found that six kinds of livestock management activities such as milk/by-products and its marketing, milk handling and processing, animal health problems, animals keeping place, and number and breed of animals were more significant for assessing women empowerment as depicted by the high DMI value of above 0.80. Moderate level of women empowerment was observed in the activities of animals' purchase (0.57), animals' sale (0.59), and livestock income utilization (0.63) due to their low level of mobility and technical know-how. Almost all the household activities were directly related to the power of men due to the DMI value of below 0.50. The average DMI was 0.98 for livestock management activities as compared to 0.42 for household matters which indicate that women were enjoying a high level of decision-making power/empowerment in livestock management as compared to household matters. The study concludes that women's participation enhances women's empowerment. However, the provision of technical knowledge and guidance to women are suggested to increase their participation in the decisions related to livestock management activities and ultimately for women empowerment. Moreover, there is still a need to enhance women's decision-making power at the household level for the development of Pakistani society.

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Xanthium strumarium L. is a globally successful invasive herb that has had significant negative ecological, economic and social impacts in many world regions. The present study was therefore conducted to evaluate the invasive potential and spatial distribution patterns of X. strumarium in heavily invaded plant communities of the semiarid regions of northern Pakistan. Investigations were based on data from 20 plants grown in the Herbarium at the University of Malakand, and from observations in 450 plots distributed across 45 stands representing habitats across Northern Province including open fields, hillocks and abandoned areas in both urban and rural areas. Multivariate analysis identified elevation, organic matter and organic carbon as the environmental variables most associated with communities invaded by X. strumarium. Increased soil silt was positively associated and available water was negatively associated with X. strumarium–invaded communities. These key environmental characteristics allowed us to identify four main associations: Group I: X. strumarium-C. sativa, Group II: X. strumarium-P. hysterophorus, Group III: X. strumarium-A. aspera and Group IV: X. strumarium-C. sativa. Other invasive species were observed, either exotic, such as P. hysterophorus, or indigenous, such as C. sativa and D. inoxia, often co-occurring and responding similarly to these factors. The results suggest that high temperature with drought stress could be a determinant of increasing population at lower elevations, whereas colder climates with adequate moisture are related to reduced populations at higher elevations, near the species’ upper range limits. It is recommend that the inclusion of appropriate, additional soil and climatic variables in species distribution models be implemented in order to better explain species’ ecological niches and help guide conservation and protection plans for native plant communities.