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By S.M. Inam Pakistan and Indonesia’s decision to accelerate efforts to upgrade their preferential trade agreement into a comprehensive economic partnership by 2027 is more than a procedural adjustment. It signals a deliberate reordering of priorities in Islamabad, where economic statecraft is increasingly being positioned at the center of foreign policy. The meeting between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Indonesia’s investment minister, Rosan Roeslani, accompanied by a senior delegation, was framed in the familiar language of brotherhood and shared history. Yet beneath the rhetoric lay a sharper emphasis: political affinity must now translate into measurable economic outcomes. For decades, Pakistan’s…

By Muhammad Mohsin Iqbal The state, in its ideal moral conception, resembles a mother — protective yet firm, generous yet disciplined. It provides security, creates opportunities, sets boundaries and, when required, reprimands those who defy the collective order. Authority, when exercised with purpose and balance, is not an intrusion into daily life but a fulfilment of responsibility. Recent developments surrounding the celebration of Basant in Lahore offered a timely reminder of this principle, demonstrating that when the state asserts its writ with seriousness and resolve, even long-suspended traditions can be revived without compromising public safety or social harmony. Lahore —…

By Atiq Raja David Baldacci’s The Nash Falls reads at first glance like a conventional political thriller: swift pacing, concealed motives, institutional intrigue and characters navigating a landscape thick with suspicion. Yet beneath the mechanics of suspense lies a more deliberate meditation on power, moral compromise and the personal cost of defending truth. Baldacci has long excelled at constructing tightly wound plots, but here he pairs narrative propulsion with a sustained inquiry into the ethical tensions that define contemporary leadership. At its core, the novel examines the architecture of power. Authority in The Nash Falls is neither abstract nor benign;…

By Moin Ullah Shah KARACHI: The Sindh government has decided to seal high-risk buildings found in violation of fire safety regulations, following a high-level meeting chaired by the provincial chief secretary. The meeting, held to review fire safety measures across the province, was attended by the secretary for rehabilitation, the director general of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority, commissioners and deputy commissioners. Officials were told that 3,633 buildings had been inspected province-wide. Notices were issued to 3,319 of them over fire safety deficiencies, according to Asif Hyder Shah. A total of 889 buildings were declared high risk, Shah said. The…

Forty-seven years after crowds surged through the streets of Tehran and the Pahlavi monarchy fell with astonishing speed, the Iranian revolution remains one of the most misunderstood events of the late 20th century. It is invoked, too often lazily, as shorthand for intransigence, for clerical rigidity, for a nation locked in permanent defiance. Yet history is rarely so simple. The upheaval of 1979 was born not in abstraction but in grievance: a memory of humiliation, of foreign interference, of a political order that appeared modern in its façade yet brittle at its core. To revisit that history is not to…

By S.M. Inam At the World Defence Show in Riyadh, Pakistan has made clear that it no longer wishes to be viewed as a passive or peripheral participant in the global security marketplace. Among nearly 900 exhibitors from 80 countries, the country’s defence manufacturers have presented themselves not merely as suppliers to a domestic army, but as confident actors with ambitions that extend well beyond national borders. The displays are assertive, technically detailed, and carefully curated to signal that Pakistan is conscious of both the strategic and commercial stakes in a region increasingly defined by complex rivalries, emerging technologies, and…

By Syed Shamim Akhtar In the wake of the recent suicide attack that shook Islamabad, Pakistan finds itself once again grappling with a familiar yet evolving threat: violent extremism that exploits both local vulnerabilities and international indifference. Addressing the nation and the world via the social platform X, President Asif Ali Zardari expressed gratitude for the outpouring of solidarity from governments and international organizations. Yet his message went beyond thanks, carrying a stark reminder that terrorism is not a challenge any single country can face in isolation. The tragedy in Pakistan’s capital, he insisted, underscores a fundamental truth: when extremist…

By Atiq Raja For more than seventy years, Kashmir has remained one of the world’s most emotionally charged and politically complex disputes. It is often reduced to lines on a map, strategic calculations, or the ambitions of distant capitals. Yet at its heart, the conflict is profoundly human: it is the story of people struggling for identity, dignity, and the right to determine their own future. The question that resonates across valleys and mountain passes is simple, yet deeply unsettling for those who wield power beyond the region’s borders: can Kashmir ever be free to exist as an independent, peaceful…