The European Union’s (EU) High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, is due in Islamabad today at a special invitation from Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar for the eighth session of the EU-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue. That Kallas is coming to Pakistan twice in a span of six months speaks volumes about the importance attached to the […]
Editorial
Accountability Test
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif’s complaint about alleged corruption in Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) should worry the government for reasons larger than one transformer in one village. According to Mr Asif, villagers had to collect Rs 80,000 for the repair of a transformer and no receipt was issued. Power Minister Awais Leghari has since said […]
Conflict-related Sexual Violence
The UN’s decision to add Israeli and Russian armed and security forces to its list of parties credibly suspected of conflict-related sexual violence is a grave indictment. It should not be treated as another annual report to be read and denied, especially given that UN Secretary-General António Guterres has taken a more assertive stance this […]
Price of the Strait
There are moments in international politics when a technical phrase tells the whole story. “Transit fees” in the Strait of Hormuz is one such phrase. On paper, it may be dressed up as maritime management, mine-clearing costs, or an “environmental fee.” In reality, a permanent charge on passage through Hormuz would be a levy imposed […]
More Warnings
Pakistan’s climate emergency isn’t a seasonal headline anymore. It is a constant, erratic intrusion into everyday life. According to the provincial disaster management authority (PDMA), there is a risk of glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) events in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa due to rising temperatures and rains. A severe heatwave persists on the other end of the […]
Now, Cotton
Pakistan’s cotton crisis has reached the point where the country is importing the weakness it should have corrected at home. Textile mills have begun buying American and Brazilian cotton before the local ginning season has properly opened, and one recent order of more than 206,000 bales from the United States, accounting for almost the entire […]
Pakistan’s China Moment
Pakistan’s relationship with China has entered one of its most consequential phases in decades. At the conclusion of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to Beijing, the wide-ranging joint statement issued by the two sides went beyond the familiar notes of goodwill. It placed the partnership inside a wider architecture of connectivity, technology, regional diplomacy and […]
Wheat Policy
The National Assembly has been told that the National Wheat Policy 2026-30 has been finalised in consultation with the provinces and will be placed before the cabinet before the 2026-27 budget, but the announcement lands in a market where confidence has already been damaged by weak execution and a procurement transition that left farmers exposed […]
Workers, Not Wedges
The Reuters report making the rounds on social media on 7,500 Pakistani Shias being deported from the UAE in the wake of Iran needs to be read with utmost caution, not consumed as a ready-made indictment. Even if it raises a legitimate consular question for Islamabad (as any Pakistani citizen returning without access to their […]
Writing on the Wall
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has spoken in a language that militants understand least: public defiance. The wall chalking seen on Kohat Road, in Bara, Khyber and across parts of Peshawar is more than a scattering of angry slogans. It is a political message from a wounded province that has buried too many sons, policemen, soldiers, clerics, traders, […]