China’s growing involvement in Afghanistan may also create tensions in the Sino-Pak relationship. Here’s the thing: China’s main goal in Afghanistan is ostensibly to keep the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) out, while Pakistan’s is to keep India out. Read Here – Dawn
The state is hesitant to control religious hatred. Deep-rooted hate narratives have developed a majoritarian mindset, which creates insecurity among the very tiny religious minorities. Even ‘naya Pakistan’ has not yet shown the courage to break the vicious cycle of this hatred. Read Here – Dawn
Pakistan Foreign Office’s attempts to fast-track the normalisation of relations with Afghanistan, India and the United States are already encountering problems. In a seeming frenzy to meet the 100-day reform target set by the newly-elected leadership, blunders are being made one after another. Read Here – Asia Times
Pakistan’s freshly minted Prime Minister Imran Khan has an unusual opportunity. If he plays his cards right, he can keep his rivals, including his controversial predecessor Nawaz Sharif, tied in knots for a long time. Or he can duck the bouncer, and play the game as it has been played, ensuring that Pakistan remains a […]
In what has become somewhat of a ritual, Pakistan is back at the doorsteps of international creditors. The PML-N government has left national coffers empty, just like the PPP and the Musharraf-led PML-Q governments before it. Like clockwork, Pakistan goes to the IMF after every election: 2008, 2013 and now 2018. This time the request […]
To be fair, it is not clear that Imran Khan will have much choice regarding nuclear policy. For Pakistani politicians, the options largely come down to either support the Bomb, or keep quiet about it. Like other prime ministers before him, Imran Khan may go and have his picture taken with the missiles that will carry nuclear […]
Some in Pakistan have speculated that China may oppose an IMF program out of concerns that it would compel China to release the financing terms of many CPEC projects. But outside of situations where external debt restructuring is required, it would be exceedingly unusual for the IMF to make such a demand. Instead, the IMF […]
Governing Pakistan is an unenviable task in the best of times, not least when the country is faced with an economic meltdown and a diplomatic squeeze. The solution to both is intrinsically linked — with the US holding one of the keys to relieving the pain. Incoming prime minister Imran Khan isn’t going to have […]
A challenge facing Khan is that, for many Pakistanis, the optimism that accompanied his initial rise has yielded to wariness, if not outright cynicism. His critics see him as an opportunist who is poised for power now because he has accepted back-door support from the country’s powerful Army. Read Here – The New Yorker
Prime Minister Imran Khan it is. Some of it, we already know what it means. A lot of it, no one can really know. A door has been opened, but opened to what? Few would be willing to bet about much right now. Read Here – Dawn
looking beyond borders 