Network disruptions
CITIZENS of Pakistan continue to suffer from the short-sighted policy of shutting down apps and websites, to shutting down entire networks arbitrarily; sometimes for years. In November, again citizens of…
Digital graveyard
ARBITRARY network shutdowns and slow internet speeds have been the defining feature of 2024. The ever-revolving circle on the screen harks back to the dial-up days, where one would hear a cacophony…
Post-election challenges
PAKISTAN voted on Feb 8 in an election full of surprises and upsets. This was a pivotal poll in the backdrop of the political tensions and uncertainty of recent years,…
Digital policy
IN a recent address, caretaker Minister for IT and Telecom, Umar Saif, spoke about payment gateways for freelancers to receive payments at ease in Pakistan. He spoke of a communication…
Path to resilience
WHEN I first arrived in Pakistan in 2005, it was in the wake of one of the most devastating disasters in the country’s history. The earthquake that struck on Oct…
Follow the data, not the headlines
The headline numbers for the first half of 2025 appear reassuring at first glance: the US-dollar value of global merchandise trade rose about 6.0 per cent year-on-year in H1 2025,…
Follow the data, not the headlines
The headline numbers for the first half of 2025 appear reassuring at first glance: the US-dollar value of global merchandise trade rose about 6.0 per cent year-on-year in H1 2025,…
Tourism’s test of resilience
Resilience has become the defining test for Pakistan’s travel and tourism industry. Each monsoon season, as rivers swell and valleys brace for floods and landslides, the sector confronts the realities…
From tariffs to tokens
With America’s obsession to gain revenue by restricting trade through customs and tariffs, a historical similarity presents itself: mercantilism. The core similarity between today’s trade framework and then is the…
Pakistan in a changing world
For centuries, the Silk Road carried merchants, scholars and ideas through the passes and ports of South and Central Asia. Pakistan, located at this historic crossroads, has always been part…
