Riaz Missen

The Cholistan Canal is currently framed as an agricultural off-take-designed to release 4,100 cusecs of monsoon floodwater for six months into Punjab’s southeastern desert, traditionally treated as marginal land. The canal has already triggered controversy, especially from Sindh, the lower riparian province, which fears further depletion of Indus flows. But a more compelling question remains […]

The celebration of historic low inflation in Pakistan-often touted as a sign of fiscal success-masks a much deeper and more alarming issue: the erosion of democratic freedoms. The Shahbaz regime, heralding a 1% inflation rate as an achievement, has successfully managed to pull off what seems to be an economic victory, but the cost has […]

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in her recent remarks in New Delhi, doubled down on Western support for India, framing it as a rising power, a counterweight to China, and a model of economic progress. Emphasizing “shared values of democracy and freedom” as the foundation of the EU-India strategic partnership, she pledged to […]

Hindutva, the Aryan supremacist ideology, has historically destabilized South Asia, making it prone to foreign invasions. Rooted in a desire for absolute control over the subcontinent, it has disrupted the delicate regional consensus that sustained empires, leading to cycles of internal strife and external conquests. Hindutva’s radical impulse has persistently fractured South Asia’s geopolitical fabric. […]

For years, India has strutted onto the global stage, propped up by foreign backers who handed it the script of China’s counterweight without ensuring it had the means to play the part. In its eagerness to flex its muscles, India has plundered its own backyard-ravaging the fragile Himalayan ecosystem and manipulating rivers at its neighbours’ […]

For decades, India was built up as a rising power, a counterweight to China, and a pillar of regional stability. This narrative, largely pushed forward by the West, allowed India to ride high on a wave of external backing. However, as those favors dry up, India finds itself increasingly overextended. Its internal contradictions are coming […]

Driven by neoliberalism, Pakistan has given up control over key public services like healthcare, education, and utilities, handing them over to private corporations in the hope that market competition will lift society as a whole. However, this expectation has fallen apart, as privatization and deregulation have shut out the poor while allowing a handful of […]

Bahawalpur royal state once thrived under the embrace of the Sutlej River. Today, just a division of Punjab, its vibrancy has dimmed, replaced by a grim tapestry of poverty and disease. This transformation is no natural consequence but the direct outcome of human intervention: the drying up of the Sutlej, a casualty of the Indus […]

The ruling coalition in Pakistan is advancing the 27th Constitutional Amendment with the stated aim of addressing various governance and security issues, as well as responding to pressures within the coalition itself. As details emerge from coalition leadership, it appears that this amendment seeks to address governance gaps left by previous legislative efforts-particularly the controversial […]

The distribution of water between India and Pakistan has long been a sensitive and contentious issue, deeply rooted in the historical, political, and environmental contexts of the region. This sensitivity has been starkly highlighted by India’s recent issuance of a fourth notice to its western neighbour within a year for a review of the Indus […]