The death certificate ordered for Abdul Rashid Wani after almost three decades in Indian-occupied Kashmir opens a record of what New Delhi has tried to leave buried. Wani disappeared in July 1997 after being taken into military custody. Twenty-nine years later, a court has directed that his death be recorded as having occurred on the […]
Between War and Peace
The joint call by China and Pakistan for the United States and Iran to end hostilities and resume dialogue arrives as terrifying attacks have spread again across southern Iran and the Gulf. That the immediate burden lies on Washington and Tehran cannot be stressed enough. Each says it is responding to the other’s breach of […]
Defending Balochistan
The latest killings in Balochistan should not be treated as another grim provincial dispatch. They belong to a larger militant pattern that has gathered pace over the past two years and is now testing the state’s patience and resolve at every possible level. According to DG ISPR Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, four civilians, 27 […]
Diplomacy Under Fire
The ceasefire between the United States and Iran is under its severest strain yet. Speaking at a NATO summit in Ankara on Wednesday, President Donald Trump said the memorandum of understanding signed in mid-June was, as far as he was concerned, “over,” though he left the door open for negotiators to continue talking. He also […]
Cotton Squeeze
There is a revealing cruelty in the latest cotton crisis. Pakistan’s most important export industry is being weakened at home itself by a tax structure that has made local cotton less attractive to buy and more expensive to move through the formal value chain. The closure of ginning factories in Tando Adam and other cotton […]
Extreme Temperatures
This year, Fourth of July was meant to celebrate a historic milestone, marking the 250th anniversary of the United States officially becoming its own sovereign nation after it severed ties with Great Britian. Instead, it became a lesson in what heat now does to rich countries as well as poor ones. More than 185 million […]
TODAY’S CARTOON
Right to Defence
Washington has reiterated its support for Pakistan’s right to defend itself against terrorist attacks, with the US State Department saying that “the Pakistani people have suffered greatly at the hands of terrorists” and that Washington “supports Pakistan’s right to defend itself against terrorist attacks.” The remarks signal continued US backing for Pakistan’s position that the […]
Women in Uniform
India has spent years presenting the induction of women into its armed forces as proof of institutional modernity. Republic Day tableaux, permanent commission litigation, combat-support appointments and glossy recruitment messaging have all carried the same promise that the Indian military is opening space for women on equal terms. The record emerging from within that establishment […]
Iran Talks
The Iran track is not dead. That, rather than any grand announcement, is the meaning of the latest indirect US-Iran talks in Doha. Mediators have spoken of “positive progress, with oil falling to a four-month low as fears of immediate disruption in the Strait of Hormuz eased. Yet this is not peace–at least not the […]