Iranian Revolution – an Untouched Aspect on February 12, 2022As Iranians celebrated the 43rd anniversary of their Islamic Revolution this past Friday, one important aspect of this revolution still remains shrouded under the dust of political prejudices and sectarian parochialism. That critics among the Shiites called Imam Khomeini a ‘Wahabi Shiite’ was not just a sarcastic remark. The leader of the Islamic Revolution had […]
India-Central Asia Summit on February 5, 2022Iran’s Chabahar Port is all set to emerge as a major, if not the only, terminal for Central Asia’s trade and transit with the outside world – more specifically with India. The port is going to equally benefit the landlocked Afghanistan, which, after the induction of the Taliban government in Kabul, has expressed renewed interest […]
Flashpoint Ukraine on January 29, 2022Ukraine is growingly turning into a flashpoint between Russia and the US-led NATO member states. Russia has amassed over one hundred thousand troops around this former Soviet republic and is busy in military drills at several points along the common border. Equally frenzied are the United States and its NATO allies, accusing Kremlin of trying […]
Dwindling SAARC on January 22, 2022Pakistan and India blame each other for the failure of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC). But the fact remains that the culprit is their mutual political rivalry dragged into the fold of this platform meant to boost regional harmony. Earlier this month, Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar accused New Delhi of […]
IMF and the PTI Government on January 15, 2022Once managing to secure an IMF facility, the previous Pakistani governments would just keep on dodging the international financial institution and hesitate to divert pressure to the common man. The present government has proved deadly honest and sincere in this matter. Doing little for the relief of the people, particularly the fixed income group, during […]
Trans-Asia Corridor on January 8, 2022Pakistan and Afghanistan have for long been endeavouring to cobble a viable political and diplomatic relationship. But a lack of willingness to back up their efforts by practical steps in commerce and economy has always acted as a hampering agent. When the 1965 Afghan Transit Trade Agreement ran into snags in the last several decades […]
New National Security Policy on January 1, 2022Whether the PTI government is correct in its claim that its new National Security Policy is a “historic achievement” will be seen once the “public version of the policy is launched by Prime Minister Imran Khan in due course.” For the moment, the only known fact about the policy is that it fails to command […]
Democracy Sans Patronage on December 25, 2021What US President Joe Biden convened this month as Summit for Democracy aimed to “galvanize commitments against authoritarianism; fight corruption; and promote respect for human rights” has only further sharpened the fault lines in international diplomacy. The US has, undoubtedly, a history patronising democracy and human rights across the world. But the way it has […]
Spring in the Desert on December 18, 2021The much-hyped Arab Spring of yesteryears could not produce any meaningful socio-economic and cultural impact in the lives of people except for causing regime change and political turmoil. Its most trumpeted success story happened in Tunisia where the 23-year regime of the then President, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, was overthrown in 2011 in a […]
A State on Volcano on December 11, 2021The macabre lynching of a Sri Lankan national in Sialkot is neither the first incident of its kind nor the last one. Rather, it is a raging phenomenon of vigilante justice in the name of Islam, which is manifesting itself in different shapes. But now, the bowl has filled to the brim. What to speak […]