Pakistan is all set to host a second round of US-Iran peace talks before a fragile ceasefire expires on April 22. The scale of preparation reflects the stakes, with authorities moving to ensure that negotiations proceed without disruption. The first round lasted twenty-one hours and produced no deal, though both sides described the exchanges as […]
Cost
State-Owned Enterprises and the Cost of a Failing Economic Model
The crisis of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in Pakistan has moved far beyond the realm of technical inefficiency and entered the territory of structural economic failure. According to the Ministry of Finance’s Annual SOE Performance Review and recent IMF staff reports, Pakistan’s SOEs generated losses of Rs 833 billion in FY 2024-25, while their combined profits […]
Cost of Unilateralism
On Thursday, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, warned of what he described as a “disturbing trend” in international affairs. While his remarks were prompted by India’s decision to place the Indus Waters Treaty in what New Delhi has termed “abeyance”, their relevance extended beyond a single dispute. Almost simultaneously, Pakistan […]
Cost of Simplistic Narratives
When The Telegraph published Hardeep Singh’s article titled “The Grooming Gangs Rapists Are Mainly Pakistani Muslims, Not ‘Asian’,” it revived a narrative Britain has been trying to move past; one where the fight against child sexual exploitation is reduced to a matter of ethnicity and religion. The piece claimed to expose a “suppressed truth,” yet […]
Cost of Endless Forbearance
Pak-Afghan border clashes have left many wondering how we arrived at this breaking point. The western border was envisioned as Pakistan’s strategic depth, but how did it become an active war front, even hotter than the eastern border with arch-rival India? The question is valid, but the answer is not obscure or a matter of […]
Cost, financing remain hurdles for EV market: experts
The Electric Vehicle (EV) market in Pakistan appears promising; however, cost and financing remain major hurdles, and long-term, cost-efficient financing will be crucial to make EV ownership accessible and affordable for the general public. This consensus emerged during the third edition of the Electric Vehicle (EV) Conference held here on Sunday. The event, organized by […]
Cost of Limbo
Late Thursday night, two explosions ripped through Kabul’s skyline, and the Taliban regime leapt to accuse Islamabad of bombing a market in Paktika, violating airspace above Kabul and committing an act of aggression previously unimagined. Their social media posts thundered warnings, “the consequences will be attributed to the Pakistani army.” But behind these claims lies […]