Exporting Despair on April 21, 2025Last November, Pakistan made headlines for all the wrong reasons when Saudi authorities issued us a stern warning, not over weapons or geopolitical alliances, but a deluge of beggars. Rightly so, as the Kingdom, according to Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, has already deported 4,700 Pakistanis for begging under its Anti?Begging Regulation. While this proves to […]
Wake-up Call on April 21, 2025With just two weeks into April, Pakistan has already been battered by a series of devastating natural events this month. A relentless heatwave, unprecedented hailstorms, destructive windstorms, and unsettling seismic tremors have all come crashing in, one after another. To dismiss these incidents as freak events would be an act of unprecedented naivety. The shrill […]
Polio Punch on April 19, 2025Since February 10 of this year, there has been no new polio case, which shows all provinces,k including Punjab. are working hard to stop polio, a disease that can harm children. The Emergency Operations Centre for Polio Eradication is starting a big seven-day campaign on April 21. This plan aims to give polio drops to […]
Nuke Puke on April 19, 2025The world must criticize US President Donald Trump for threatening to bomb Iran’s nuclear sites if it doesn’t agree to a deal. Such harsh words hurt peace efforts. Iran says it is open to a new nuclear deal with the US, but only if the US is fair. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said this […]
Finally, a B-! on April 18, 2025Is it really light at the end of the tunnel? Fitch Ratings lifted Pakistan’s long?term foreign?currency rating to B- from CCC+, in a rare nod to the country’s recent policy strides. Just last month, Islamabad pared its year-on-year budget deficit down from $2.288 billion, going so far as to aim for a surplus surpassing 2 […]
‘Black Hole’ on April 18, 2025That the US was deporting people aggressively has been known for quite some time now, but what to do when it continues to do so without any regard for the law? If deportations can now ignore court orders, even as President Trump’s own senators call for an end to the status quo, migrants everywhere are […]
Failing System on April 14, 2025A nine-year-old girl walks into a school in Kot Addu. She doesn’t come back the same. The arrest of the man accused of attempting to rape her may offer a sliver of accountability but can anyone, daring to proclaim all is well, really deny how he wasn’t a stranger in a dark alley. He was […]
Urgent Choices on April 14, 2025Eight Pakistani workers from Bahawalpur, shot dead in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan province, their lives executed in cold blood. The banned Balochistan National Army swiftly jumped to the front, claiming responsibility and adding yet another layer of complexity to already strained ties. This is the second such massacre in the last year, a chilling echo of the […]
What Justice? on April 12, 2025On Friday, the Taliban publicly executed four men across Herat, Ghor, and Logar. In any functioning justice system, such acts would be met with due process, transparency, and accountability. But in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, justice is not delivered; it is displayed. These public executions are a deliberate show of dominance, a return to medieval terror under […]
Turning the Tide on April 12, 2025In a response before the national assembly, the energy ministry declared a significant victory, announcing that it had reduced its massive circular debt by Rs 9 billion in just six months. At first glance, this sounds like a breakthrough: a glimmer of hope in an otherwise bleak energy landscape. But let’s not celebrate too soon. […]