Munir Ahmed

May 21, 1951, is the day when Pakistan and China joined hands for diplomatic and development collaboration. Pakistan was about four years old while China was just less than two. Then, China was satirically termed by the West as an “opium country” with a huge idle population. Meanwhile, Pakistan had no resources for its people’s […]

More than three weeks now, the UK hosted the 47th G7 summit announced to jointly work on Biden’s initiative “Build Back Better World (B3W),” which is outlined in a 70-point “Carbis Bay G7 Summit Communiqué.” Apparently, the Communiqué speaks of the post-Covid-19 agenda that would bridge and support the lags the pandemic created for over […]

Congratulations to the Communist Party of China (CPC) for being on schedule to complete a century of progressive leadership for successive growth on July 1, 2021. The CPC emerged in very crucial days of Chinese history to liberate the ‘natives’ from socio-economic suffering. The CPC slogan of social equality and economic parity triggered a civil […]

The stone crushing mafia appears to think it is more powerful than any court of law. Indeed, it certainly appears to have some influential backers. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Power Crushers (Installation, Operation and Regulation) Act was promulgated on January 3, 2020. Yet by March of the same year, the Supreme Court had directed provincial governments […]

The Sindh government has arrested hundreds from all over the province. Among those detained are community leaders, farmers, trade unionists, and civil society representatives. All were protesting the razing of ancestral villages and occupation of these lands by Bahria Town Karachi (BTK); as well as the forced eviction of farmers and poor communities. Some have […]

June 5 saw Pakistan host World Environment Day 2021 in partnership with the UN Environment Programme. This year’s theme is ‘Ecosystem Restoration’. Some world leaders sent pre-recorded video messages and others spoken virtually, in real time. President Joe Biden stayed away from this global event despite the US comeback to the Paris Agreement on climate […]

At the very end of last month, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority won legal cover as the the CPEC Authority Act 2020 sailed through the Senate. The Bill, already passed by the National Assembly, unexpectedly landed in the Senate through supplementary agenda minutes before the closing of the day’s proceedings. The opposition members strongly […]

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi arrived on Sunday night at Islamabad airport after his “very successful diplomacy efforts” for a ceasefire in Gaza. When he spoke to the waiting media, he was the conqueror returned from battle. His admirers were there to shower rose petals on him while shouting their appreciation. The press conference kept […]

Diplomatic moves on Sunday failed to put a stop to Israel’s air and land strikes on occupied Palestinian land due, in large part, to American complicity. This was seen over the weekend when the US, for a third time, vetoed a joint statement by the UN Security Council that would have condemned Israeli aggression while […]

The unilateral decision to drawdown US and NATO troops from Afghanistan was not entirely anticipated by other parties and stakeholders to the decades-old conflict. Even more disconcerting is that this process began on May 1 when the US vacated Kandahar Airfield (KAF), the primary target of Taliban attacks since 2001; sparking clashes between Afghan forces […]