Strategic games
IT is August 2021. Pakistani spymasters, pro-establishment ideologues and then prime minister Imran Khan unanimously celebrate the re-conquest of Afghanistan by the Taliban. The age-old pursuit of a ‘friendly government’…
Merger and a manacled media
FIVE years after the merger of former Fata with KP, the threats to freedom of expression, journalists and journalism, which were prevalent during the ‘war on terror’ years, persist. Ongoing…
Broken politics
BANGLADESH next door is going through a period of instability in which street protests by students ended in a government being sent home after 15-odd years. The rapid political changes…
A recipe for regional mayhem
The 34th report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team submitted to the UN Security Council, pursuant to the latter’s resolution 2734, makes for sombre reading. The UN report,…
Matters of sovereignty
Since achieving independence from British imperialism, some of our circles have been continuously claiming that Pakistan has not achieved absolute sovereignty and we are de-facto slaves of imperialist forces like…
A reinvigorated resolve
For the last two decades, the menace of terrorism has been inflicting immense human and material losses in Pakistan leaving its ghastly marks on our society. Lasting peace remains elusive…
How to dismantle the terror trifecta
After the events of 9/11 and the US-led intervention in Afghanistan, more than a dozen military operations were undertaken to eradicate terrorism from Pakistan. Now, the latest surge in terrorism…
No progress without stability
This cruel budget settles like dirty smog across the land. It feels awful now but its long-term impact is even worse. People tenuously hanging on to a simple but decent…
Here we go again
Here we go again with another military operation against the religious extremist terrorists that afflict this country, chiefly Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). This time it is Chinese pressure, casting a deep…
External-internal conundrums
Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has demanded in a press conference that the Afghan Taliban government arrest, prosecute and hand over the terrorists of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) based on…
