Editorial

Until a few months ago, we were worried about being conveniently left out of a new camaraderie brewing in our backyard. Thanks to a complex dance of opportunity, Kabul, despite its Taliban leadership, had managed to get the golden invitation into the ever-so-pertinent Belt and Road Initiative, which had more to do with the Pakistani […]

It is puzzling that some people persist in labelling every military court trial as an affront to justice, even though these courts afford far more due process than critics seem willing to concede. Every such argument that is hell-bent on branding these defendants as only and only “political workers,” ignores the fundamental reality that the […]

It’s time to talk about the elephant in the room. Karachi, the largest city in the country, has yet to come out of the clutches of street crime. Despite a much-welcomed decline in the early months, reports indicate that as many as 45,000 incidents have taken place in the ongoing year while there’s still a […]

That the torchbearers of the modern, civilised world must have had a word or two to comment on the intense brawl in Indian Parliament or Taiwanese lawmakers breaking into a water fight is a given. However, these nuggets of wisdom become scanty when questioned about the chaos of a federal government shutdown. The working-class Americans […]

Time and again, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has touted its governance in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as a prime example of its stark and unwavering message: nothing screams success like success. The strategy could not get any simpler. Leverage the previous achievements in administrative reforms and grassroots success delivery to lay the foundation of a smart and emotional campaign. […]

Five innocent lives extinguished, 200 more left injured, and a nation plunged into shock. Germany, a country that has heavily invested in the fight against fanaticism, stands paralyzed after a 50-year-old Saudi dissident, steeped in Islamophobic beliefs, wreaked havoc at a bustling Christmas market. This heinous act of terror was not merely a random outburst […]

After a heartfelt appeal by philanthropist Faisal Edhi, the Punjab Government has announced that it will supply medicines and other essential supplies to the perpetually suffering population of Parachinar. With highways closed in the wake of last month’s attack on a passenger convoy and the subsequent sporadic outbreak of sectarian violence that claimed an astonishing […]

As the world watches, Pakistan is on the brink of a catastrophic failure in its battle against climate change. The evidence is all around us: soaring temperatures, unpredictable weather patterns, and an alarming uptick in natural disasters that threaten to unravel the very fabric of our society. Having made history as the first South Asian […]

If nuclear weapons are political weapons, largely developed to wave a menacing finger or pull one up neighbour, nuclear-related sanctions have also long stopped being war-deterrents. Here too, permissions slips are handed to the blue-eyed, golden-haired and the back-benchers constantly terrified. So if the US has decided to, for the millionth time, play the cat-and-mouse […]

Away from the public eye and in no mood to let home politics stop him in his tracks, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif seems to be running in a league of his own. Although his long-standing reputation of capability may have gotten lost in turbulent times, his focus on building linkages does represent a model of […]