Economic Affairs & National Development

India’s Turn At the FATF

The saga of Pakistan and the FATF is one that I have written about extensively, having been an ardent contributor and advocate for the strategy that led to the country’s ultimately successful exit from the dreaded gray-list. The crux of that strategy involved a twofold approach: (1) improving financial oversight, legal frameworks, and institutional coordination for the intrinsic benefit to the financial regime, but also (2) calling out the deeply-politicized and corrupt agenda of the FATF as a transboundary body run amok. This dual-approach yielded excellent results for Pakistan, and incidentally, the agent-provocateur of that tussle with the FATF is now up for a similar review.
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Palestine

Israel-Palestine Conflict in an Age of Information and Disinformation

Israel-Palestine conflict has been the lynchpin of Middle Eastern dynamics for more than several decades. While tensions never truly subsided between the warring sides, the protracted conflict has often taken a back seat, overshadowed by other global crises such as the invasion of Crimea, onset of the Pandemic, and the Russian-Ukraine war, etc. However, the recent heartbreaking hostilities that have transpired since 7th October have made it global headline news.
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India

BJP’s Anti-Pakistan Electioneering: An Old Playbook in a New Election

With the Lok Sabha elections around the corner in 2024, the debate around Indian electoral dynamics has attracted significant discourse. According to some estimates, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to win the elections for a third consecutive term. However, the concerning matter is that BJP’s election campaign which should ideally be based on a vision of India’s future outlook; unfortunately revolves around exploiting anti-Pakistan sentiments.
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India

Politicisation of Cricket by BJP

Over 76 years, India and Pakistan have shared many things: three wars, restrictions on the exchange of goods, interconnected history, and their universal love for the game of cricket. However, the ever-contentious state of affairs between the two countries has gradually impacted cricket. There has been no bilateral series between the two countries for over a decade, and the only time the two teams face each other is in international tournaments, such as the World Cup, Asia Cup, and the Champions Trophy. ​
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Economic Affairs & National Development

How Much Do We Export?

The question of our overall trade balance, how much we export and import, is one that has always been of significant concern, and one that has bedeviled many successive administrations, particularly those of recent times. It is generally ideal for a country to have a high level of both exports and imports, with roughly an equal amount of both. If exports are too great, there are negative effects such as strong appreciation of the currency, the need to reinvest surplus forex, and inflation.
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China

On China’s Vision of a ‘Global Community of Shared Future’

Recently in its foreign policy initiatives, China has emphasised the importance of mutual cooperation among nations to meet the collective goals of humanity, which it believes are harmoniously aligned. In this regard, Beijing has issued multiple documents – commonly referred to as white papers – proposing a common vision for a global community of shared future.
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Palestine

Gaza Under Attack

The persistent violence by Israel has spanned decades, yet the recent escalation, in the aftermath of Hamas’s ‘Operation Al Aqsa’, is unparalleled. The overwhelming evidence of a massive humanitarian crisis in Gaza is deeply shocking and heart-wrenching.
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Nuclear

Killing the Nuclear Test Ban

On 18 October 2023, the Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament) voted unanimously to de-ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The treaty seeks to ban nuclear tests of all kinds, by all states, anywhere. It has 187 signatories and 178 ratifications. Russia had signed the CTBT on 24 September 1996, once it was opened for signature, and ratified the treaty in 2000.
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Afghanistan

On the Expulsion of Afghan Migrants

There was a time when Peshawar, City of Flowers, really was a beautiful floral abode. The same is true for Karachi, the City of Lights, which was once a great beacon of the East. Today, both cities are characterized by ghettoism, crime, a drug problem, and squalor. There are many factors underpinning that advanced degradation, but one thing that local residents point to without equivocation is the “Afghan problem,”
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National Security

Understanding TTP’s Resurgence

The first nine months of 2023 depict an impoverished internal security landscape inhabited by the revival of terrorism in Pakistan. According to a recent report by the Islamabad-based Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), 700 security personnel and civilians lost their lives in various militant attacks from January to September 2023, which is a 19% increase in the number of fatalities as compared to 2022.
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