Pakistan’s Budget 2026-27 has once again triggered the familiar debate. Are tax rates too high? Has the salaried class received enough relief? Are businesses paying more? Should the government have imposed additional taxes or reduced expenditure instead? These are legitimate questions. Yet they all overlook a more fundamental issue. Perhaps Pakistan’s biggest tax problem is […]
Op-Ed
South Asia’s NextGen Test (Part I)
A drive into Washington always carries surprises. Some days it is the flash of motorcades slicing through traffic, while on others, it is a practised-to-perfection rhythm of suited figures hurrying past security barriers, badges swinging, as decisions that shape distant regions are quietly set in motion. Tuesday morning, I hurried across a rain-soaked pathway; June […]
Pakistan’s Security Concerns Vindicated
Pakistan has spent the better part of the last few years telling the world that anti-Pakistan militant groups are operating from across the border in Afghanistan. Successive governments, military commanders and diplomats have repeatedly argued that the Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan has found space to regroup on Afghan soil and uses that space to plan […]
Re-interpreting the ‘Tortoise and Hare’ Fable
Aesop’s fable of the Hare and the Tortoise is one of the oldest stories in the human tradition, yet its moral has never felt more urgently contested than it does today. The hare, blessed with natural speed and talent, races ahead with breezy confidence, only to nap beneath a shady tree, certain that his lead […]
Five Years of Taliban Rule: Triangle of Terror, Ethnic Purges & Gender Apartheid
The joint statement by EU and UK envoys regarding cross-border terrorism originating from Afghanistan validates Pakistan’s long-standing position, a claim the Afghan Taliban have rejected since assuming power. This is not an isolated case. Previous reports by UNSC monitoring committees and SIGAR had also highlighted similar concerns and urged the Afghan regime to fulfil its […]
From Bulldozer Justice to Hindutva Pop!
The Indian film industry and broader showbiz platforms have increasingly leaned into hyper-nationalistic, anti-Muslim, and anti-Pakistan themes. Media analysts and human rights groups point out that this trend serves both to secure box-office profits from a polarised audience and to align with the political narrative of majoritarian nationalism. This poisonous tendency has received fresh validation […]
India’s Indus Position Meets China’s Tibet Dam
The announcement that China has formally commenced construction of what is being described as the world’s largest hydroelectric project on the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Tibet has sent strategic shockwaves across South Asia. Estimated to cost around $168 billion and expected to dwarf even China’s Three Gorges Dam in power generation capacity, the project has […]
Europe’s Taliban Problem
For years, Pakistan kept telling the world that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan was not operating in a vacuum. Islamabad said its fighters had sanctuaries across the border, that they were receiving support from Afghan soil, and that the authorities sitting in Kabul and Kandahar could not wash their hands of this problem. Many in the West […]
No Shortcuts to Success
For decades, Pakistanis have built successful careers and businesses across the world through hard work, professional skills and lawful migration. Millions of overseas Pakistanis serve as ambassadors of the nation, contributing significantly to both their host countries and Pakistan’s economy through remittances, investments and expertise. Their achievements demonstrate that success abroad is best achieved through […]
Water, Power and Double Standards: India’s Indus Position Meets China’s Tibet Dam
The announcement that China has formally commenced construction of what is being described as the world’s largest hydroelectric project on the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Tibet has sent strategic shockwaves across South Asia. Estimated to cost around $168 billion and expected to dwarf even China’s Three Gorges Dam in power generation capacity, the project has […]