Foreign policy and economic challenges
Foreign relations and the state of the economy have become inextricably linked in Pakistan due to the PML-N administration's overarching objective to borrow from external sources to meet its budgetary…
Foreign to policy
The first ten days or more of the Imran government are a lesson in how not to conduct foreign policy – on the hoof, in haste, for publicity, and then…
Breaking the foreign grip
The leaders of five emerging markets that are categorised as Brics countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – met in Xiamen to discuss trade, economic cooperation, the…
Foreign policy imperatives
Pakistan has lacked a pragmatic and well-articulated foreign policy since 2008. What is more worrying is that the PML-N led incumbent democratic dispensation displayed an outright reluctance to appoint a…
Foreign varsities in Pakistan
During the last two years, I have travelled to Austria, Italy and France to explore the possibility of establishing top class engineering and technology universities in Pakistan. These journeys were…
The evolving terrorist threats and our response
In February, Pakistan suffered the worst wave of terrorist violence since the tragic Army Public School attack in Peshawar in December 2014. Three terrorist groups – Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Jamaatul Ahrar…
Viewpoint: Anti-terrorist operations in Punjab
The Punjab government has been reacting angrily to suggestions that security operations by the Rangers, like in Sindh, are needed to eliminate violent extremist organisations from the province. The government…
Who needs a foreign minister?
There is a growing sentiment in Pakistan that the country’s diplomacy is handicapped by the absence of a foreign minister. This is a repeat of Nawaz Sharif’s first tenure (1990-93).…
Why terrorists have the advantage
Criticism of Pakistan’s state institutions has increased substantially in recent weeks, especially since the terrorist assault on the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda. The context for the Bacha Khan University…
Syrian civil war: Fruits of foreign intervention
THE chaos and carnage that has now spread from Afghanistan through West Asia and the Levant to North Africa and the Sahel is widely ascribed to Al Qaeda, the militant…
