The struggle for influence between states is no longer confined to border posts and military deployments. It now unfolds daily in the quiet machinery of digital platforms, state-linked outlets, and the clever arrangement of selected facts. A narrative repeated often enough can harden into truth. A missing detail can leave a permanent scar on public […]
Op-Ed
Beyond Hospital Gates: The Wrong Number
June in Quetta marks summer in its most oppressive sense as daytime temperatures start to soar. The month also marks the end of the Government fiscal year. Businesses are busy reconciling their accounts, bureaucrats are buried in ledgers, politicians line up outside Finance offices, and influentials can be seen trying to get a piece of […]
Pakistan Should Get Rich Before It Gets Old
In the quiet corridors of power and the loud arenas of prime time talk-shows in Islamabad, a convenient consensus has taken hold. Whenever the conversation turns to Pakistan’s compounding economic troubles, country’s population growth is invariably blamed for its underdevelopment. This view, shared by politicians and commentators alike, frames an expanding population as liability. It […]
America’s Independence Day: Lessons for Pakistan!
The United States recently celebrated its Independence Day on July 4. Nearly 250 years ago, in 1776, the thirteen American colonies declared their independence from the British Empire. At the time, the American leadership adopted a historic document, i.e. the Declaration of Independence, whose central message was remarkably revolutionary for its era. In the decades […]
Maryam Nawaz’s Governance has Earned her Global Recognition
The true measure of any government lies in its style of governance and the seriousness with which it addresses the problems of its people. There is a world of difference between delivering speeches filled with promises and providing genuine relief. The injustices suffered by various segments of Punjab’s population between 2018 and 2022 are now […]
Economic Administrative Regions — A Blueprint for Pakistan’s Future
For decades, every discussion about creating new provinces in Pakistan has followed the same predictable script. The debate quickly becomes one of language, ethnicity and political identity. Emotions replace reason, political interests overshadow national priorities, and another opportunity for meaningful administrative reform slips away. The problem is not the idea of creating new provinces. The […]
UNAMA’s Credibility Crises
Every conflict produces two battles; one is fought on the ground, while the other unfolds through competing narratives that shape international opinion. In an era where reports issued by global institutions often influence diplomatic positions as much as military realities, the responsibility to uphold impartiality has never been greater. The credibility of international organisations depends […]
Tourism — A Case for Inclusive Management
Pakistan projects its north as a success story. The claim to fame is primarily based on the burgeoning number of tourists every year. What nobody points out aloud is that growth is outpacing governance faster than expected. The 18th Constitutional Amendment had devolved tourism to provinces, each with its own legal framework, including regulation. However, […]
Panic Attacks-The Invisible Storm
A panic attack does not announce itself politely. It arrives as a racing heart, a tightening chest, a sense that the room is closing in, and often a conviction that death is near. To the person experiencing it, this is not an exaggeration; it is a full-body medical event, as real as an asthma attack […]
Pakistan is Back in the Room
In Washington, influence is not always measured by the speech that is delivered, the rally that is staged or the slogan that briefly trends online. More often, it is measured by what quietly does not happen: the hostile amendment that never reaches the floor, the pressure campaign that fails to acquire legislative weight, the punitive […]