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By Asghar Ali Mubarak For forty days, the world held its breath. The Strait of Hormuz, that slender waterway through which a fifth of global oil passes, had been slammed shut. What began on February 28 as a series of American and Israeli strikes on Iranian territory spiraled into a full-blown crisis, with Tehran sealing the strait and issuing dire warnings to any commercial vessel from enemy nations. Tankers idled, supply chains snapped, and the global economy teetered on the edge of a recession. Then, late on a Friday, came the crack of light. Iran announced the temporary reopening of…

By Atiq Raja There is a particular kind of silence that falls over a room when someone mentions the word consistency. It is not the silence of awe, nor the hush of controversy. It is the silence of mild disappointment. We were hoping for something sexier, the room seems to say. A secret. A shortcut. A single morning that changes everything. But the truth, as it so often does, arrives without fanfare. Real success is rarely sudden. And the most reliable engine of lasting achievement is not talent, not luck, not even genius. It is the quiet, unglamorous, daily act…

By Shah Nasir Khisro Many countries are falling behind in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and development discourse is already beginning to shift towards a post-SDG framework. This growing concern has been further intensified by geopolitical instability, particularly the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, which have disrupted global economic recovery. Rising fuel prices, inflationary pressures and constrained fiscal space are disproportionately affecting low- and middle-income countries—especially across South Asia and Africa—where development gains remain fragile. Recent analyses from institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund highlight that global economic shocks are reversing progress on…

By Dr. Zawwar Hussain There are landscapes that impress, and then there are those that endure — not simply in memory, but in the quieter corners of thought. Along Pakistan’s southern edge, where the land yields to the sea, the Makran Coastal Highway unfolds as one such place: less a road than a slow, reflective passage through time, terrain and temperament. Cut across the vast expanse of Balochistan, the highway stretches for more than 650 kilometers, linking Karachi to Gwadar. It is often compared with celebrated coastal drives such as Great Ocean Road or Pacific Coast Highway, yet the comparison…

By Muhammad Asif Iqbal As Pakistan edges towards its Budget for 2026–27, a familiar tension resurfaces in the machinery of the state: the uneasy balance between the center and the provinces. Fiscal federalism, once heralded as a cornerstone of democratic devolution, now appears caught in a quiet but consequential paralysis. The 11th National Finance Commission (NFC), formed in August 2025 with cautious optimism, has yet to deliver what it was convened for — a new consensus award. Meetings have been held, working groups assembled, and technical papers circulated, yet the outcome remains elusive. With time running short, it is increasingly…

There is a particular kind of fatigue that settles over the foreign correspondent. It is not the exhaustion of travel, though that is real enough. It is the heavier, more corrosive tiredness that comes from watching the same tragedies loop endlessly, like a newsreel stuck on its spool. You see it in the Gaza briefing rooms, in the smoky corridors of Geneva, in the careful, empty language of UN resolutions that condemn everything and change nothing. We have become, as a profession and as a public, connoisseurs of the intractable. So when a story arrives that does not fit the…

By Mujeeb Rahman Qambrani MEHAR: A farewell ceremony was organised by the Mehar Bar Association in honour of Additional Sessions Judge Syed Aijaz Ali Shah following his transfer from Mehar. The ceremony was attended by Senior Civil Judge Syed Haider Ali Shah, Civil Judges/Judicial Magistrates Muhammad Azeem Solangi and Aijaz Ali Tunio, along with Mehar Bar President Pir Bakhsh Solangi, General Secretary Dad Muhammad Magsi, and a large number of senior and junior lawyers including Saeed Panhwar, Muhammad Ali Kandhro, Abdul Khaliq Bughio, Sajid Mahesar, Amjad Hussain Balhro, Ali Anwar Sahar, Lal Shah, Rizwan Tunio and Najeeb Mahesar. Addressing the…

Israr Ahmed Orakzai HANGU: A member of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly, Shah Turab Khan, visited the local office of the Benazir Income Support Programme in Hangu following public complaints, where he met staff and reviewed ongoing matters in detail. He directed officials to treat citizens with courtesy and to resolve their issues promptly and transparently, making it clear that any negligence or delay would not be tolerated. He said deserving individuals should receive their entitlements on time and that all obstacles in this regard must be removed immediately. Residents also presented their concerns during the visit, upon which the lawmaker…