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The federal government’s decision to launch an aggressive crackdown on the networks that sustain Pakistan’s fake visa trade marks an unusual moment of political consensus in a country where unity is often fleeting. For years, this clandestine industry has not only tarnished Pakistan’s international reputation but has also perpetuated a cycle of humiliation for ordinary citizens who find themselves caught in the machinery of deportation, detention, and distrust at foreign airports. The announcement that Islamabad is finally moving decisively against this shadow economy suggests both a recognition of the damage done and an acknowledgment that the state can no longer…

Pakistan’s decision to elevate General Syed Asim Munir to the newly created role of Chief of Defence Forces marks a defining moment in the country’s long and often turbulent civil–military story. President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s approval of Munir’s appointment, alongside an extension of his tenure as Chief of Army Staff for a full five-year term, signals far more than a routine administrative reshuffle. It represents a carefully calibrated restructuring of Pakistan’s security command, designed to concentrate strategic authority at the highest levels and introduce a unified architecture for defence planning. For a nation where military…

The Indian rupee has, over the course of 2025, emerged as the weakest currency in Asia—a fact that is likely to attract attention not just from financial analysts but from anyone invested in the region’s economic future. At first glance, a faltering currency might appear to be a simple accounting issue, a matter of exchange rates and balance sheets. Yet the rupee’s persistent decline reveals far more than the mechanics of the foreign exchange market. It exposes underlying vulnerabilities in India’s economic management and governance, and it raises questions about the country’s ability to sustain growth amid global uncertainties. According…

By Imtiaz Hussain The transfers and postings of civil servants in Sindh have long been treated as a kind of background noise to provincial politics — a routine so entrenched that few pause to question its cost. Yet behind every notification quietly issued by the Services and General Administration Department lies a story of influence, pressure and insecurity that has shaped governance in the province for decades. In Sindh, the administrative map has never been drawn by merit alone. For generations, the movement of commissioners, deputy commissioners and police officers has been dictated not by performance or public need, but…

By Abdul Rehman Patel Socrates was never accused of raising an army, plotting a coup or shaking Athens with weapons. His supposed crime was far subtler and far more dangerous: he taught young people how to think. For every ruling order in every age, this has always been the subversion that frightens power the most. Swords threaten for a moment, but questions unsettle a society forever. When the court confronted him, it offered two exits. He could renounce his ideas, publicly apologize and accept silence as the price of safety — or he could drink the cup of poison. On…

By S.M. Inam Pakistan’s struggle to stabilize its public finances moved into a harsher and more exposed phase this week, as fresh figures revealed the depth of revenue haemorrhaging from the country’s illicit cigarette trade. Few issues better illustrate the gap between state policy and state capacity. For years, the authorities have acknowledged the existence of a vast underground market in cigarettes, yet the latest estimates — that the exchequer is losing between Rs250bn and Rs300bn every year — have reopened a familiar debate: how does a government facing chronic fiscal constraints allow an entire parallel industry to flourish beyond…

The latest wave of disclosures emerging from the unsealed archives of the Epstein files has sent ripples through political circles across several countries, and India has found itself increasingly drawn into the turbulence. The suggestion that some sitting ministers, former ministers and current MPs may be implicated in documents linked to Jeffrey Epstein has unsettled a government that has spent the past decade constructing a narrative of moral rectitude and national strength. For the first time, the possibility of an international scandal colliding directly with the Modi administration appears uncomfortably real. At the heart of the storm lies a series…