A Muslim father examines sex, gender, Islamic law and women’s autonomy, asking when protection becomes control over a woman’s everyday choices. Continue reading What Is a Woman? Ask Who Gets to Control Her Life.
Houthi missile attacks are testing two major Saudi strategies at once: Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 and the new defence architecture linking Saudi Arabia with Pakistan and Türkiye. For Islamabad, the crisis raises a difficult question: where does defending Saudi territory end and entering the Yemen war begin? Continue reading The Houthis Are Testing Two Promises at Once: Pakistan’s Saudi Defence Pact and Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030
Nearly one in 16 internet-using Pakistani children aged 12–17 experienced technology-facilitated sexual exploitation or abuse in a single year, according to new UNICEF, ECPAT and INTERPOL research. The findings challenge familiar assumptions about strangers, social media and who should be responsible for keeping children safe online. Continue reading Pakistan Put Its Children Online Before Teaching Them How to Be Safe There
Pakistan says militant sanctuaries across the Afghan frontier threaten its citizens. Kabul accuses Islamabad of violating Afghan sovereignty. After renewed air strikes and border fire, Pakistan faces a harder question: can military pressure contain the TTP without creating a permanent conflict with Afghanistan? Continue reading Pakistan Is Striking Across the Afghan Border. How Far Can Islamabad Go Without Starting a Bigger War?
I was watching Palki Sharma explain Pakistan’s fuel crisis when the reporting suddenly began to sound like a punchline. She called the conservation measures a “lockdown.” Then came the claim that Pakistan’s military could use as much fuel as it wanted. I checked the actual government measures. They tell a more complicated story. Operational military vehicles are exempt, but administrative and non-operational formations are not. There is another fact that deserves attention. Palki herself acknowledged: “This is not a crisis of Pakistan’s making.” Pakistan is facing a regional energy shock, but our own weak energy planning has made the damage … Continue reading A Very Pakistani Problem”? How Palki Sharma Turned a Regional Energy Shock Into a Pakistan Punchline
Someone recently told me that I should stop talking about Bihar. I have heard disagreements about identity before, but this one became personal very quickly. My parents came from Bihar, and many of my relatives have roots there. Yet I was told that my attachment to Bihar made my loyalty questionable. Then came the word “traitor.” I was compared with Afghans who live in Pakistan but retain an attachment to Afghanistan. The argument, as I understood it, was simple: once your family has made Pakistan its home, why keep talking about another place? I thought about that for a while. … Continue reading My Grandfather Died in Bihar. Why Should Talking About Him Make Me Less Pakistani?
The author reflects on the lessons learned from Pakistan’s political history regarding the credibility of intelligence claims. Drawing parallels with Germany’s accusations against Russia, the piece emphasizes the necessity for independent scrutiny of intelligence evidence to maintain public trust. Blind faith in secretive institutions can be dangerous and misleading. Continue reading Germany Says “Trust Our Intelligence.” Pakistan Taught Me to Ask for Evidence
A reader challenged my argument about Iran with a question I could not dismiss. He said I was using the same logic for Iran and the Houthis that America once used to justify war in Iraq and Afghanistan. I went back to the Bush Doctrine. The comparison became uncomfortable. America argued that waiting for a future threat could become more dangerous than striking first. Iran developed a very different doctrine of forward defence under very different conditions. But a familiar political argument appears underneath both. The enemy may become stronger tomorrow, so military action today starts looking defensive. A weaker … Continue reading When America Did It, We Called It Preventive War. What Do We Call Iran’s Version?
Pakistan can inspect a brick kiln, but a child domestic worker can remain invisible inside a private home.The problem becomes more disturbing when parents or guardians receive months of wages in advance. If the child wants to leave early, who repays money the family has already spent?That financial pressure can reduce a child’s freedom to walk away.Media reports in Pakistan repeatedly show young maids reaching hospitals only after severe abuse has already occurred. The quieter cases rarely enter police files or labour statistics.My article follows the money behind child domestic work and asks a harder question: who actually controls the … Continue reading Pakistan’s Hidden Child Domestic Labour Market: Who Controls the Wages?
I spent my morning looking at a map of Islamabad, a city that has suddenly become the most important real estate on the planet. If you’ve been avoiding the news because the “Operation Epic Fury” headlines felt too heavy, I … Continue reading U.S.-Iran Peace Talks in Pakistan: A High-Stakes Coffee Date
