Author: Uzma Ehtasham

By Uzma Ehtasham The postponement of Pakistan’s federal budget has once again highlighted the difficult balancing act facing policymakers as they attempt to navigate competing political demands, international financial obligations and growing public frustration over the cost of living. What might appear to be a routine delay in the budget-making process is, in reality, a reflection of deeper structural challenges confronting the country at a moment of significant economic uncertainty. The government had initially planned to present the federal budget on 5 June. However, continuing negotiations with the International Monetary Fund and disagreements within the ruling coalition have forced officials…

By Uzma Ehtasham Iran Israel Lebanon crisis escalates reports circulating across regional and international media have pointed to a sudden and fragile recalibration in the Middle East, where claims of backchannel diplomacy, attempted restraint and continued military pressure now overlap in a region already defined by instability and competing narratives. According to these accounts, US President Donald Trump is said to have directly intervened with Israeli leadership in an effort to halt planned military escalation in Lebanon. The reports suggest that Israeli authorities were urged to stop strikes on Beirut and delay any ground expansion. Some narratives further claim that…

By Uzma Ehtasham The continuing conflict in the Middle East has once again exposed how fragile the region remains, where periods of uneasy calm are repeatedly interrupted by cycles of escalation. Recent reports of Israeli military operations extending deeper into southern Lebanon have intensified fears that the conflict is no longer contained within established battle lines. Instead, it appears to be expanding gradually into a broader regional confrontation with unpredictable consequences. The reported military activity in southern Lebanon, including areas of strategic importance and long contested geography, is not only a battlefield development but also a political signal. It raises…

By Uzma Ehtasham A rare and deeply personal public statement in Turbat has once again drawn attention to the human fractures that run through Balochistan’s long and painful conflict. The family of Shahnaz Baloch, identified by security officials as a commander linked to a Bashir Zeb faction of the Balochistan Liberation Army, has publicly announced that they have completely disowned her. The announcement, made at the Turbat Press Club by her mother Rukhsana, her grandfather and her maternal uncle, was delivered with a sense of finality that reflected not only political distance but also years of personal absence and silence.…

By Uzma Ehtasham As temperatures climb across Pakistan and cities endure another punishing summer, the country’s fragile electricity system is once again under intense scrutiny. For millions of citizens, the challenge is no longer simply coping with extreme heat. It is coping with extreme heat while enduring prolonged power outages, unreliable electricity supply and repeated failures of essential public services. The gap between official assurances and the daily experiences of ordinary people has rarely appeared wider. The government had assured the public that there would be no load-shedding during the Eid holidays. Such promises carried particular importance given the combination…

By Uzma Ehtasham The Eid-ul-Azha cleanliness operation in Punjab, as reported by officials, offers a rare case study in how municipal governance can be made to work at scale when political will, planning and administrative coordination align in the same direction. In a context where public service delivery in many parts of Pakistan is routinely criticised for being reactive rather than prepared, the figures emerging from this year’s campaign stand out for both their ambition and execution. According to official accounts linked to the Suthra Punjab initiative, more than 110,000 tonnes of animal waste and remains were collected and disposed…

By Uzma Ehtasham The latest security operations in north-western Pakistan, presented by the state as another step forward in its long struggle against militancy, in fact sit within a far more complex and unsettled reality. According to military statements, eleven suspected terrorists were killed in an intelligence-based operation in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan over the past two days, with weapons and ammunition recovered and follow-up clearance work still under way. In Bannu, a separate joint operation involving the army, police and counter-terrorism forces reportedly resulted in the deaths of sixteen more suspected terrorists, including individuals described as…

By Uzma Ehtasham For decades, Pakistan’s relationship with China has been framed through the language of strategic necessity. Beijing offered diplomatic protection, military cooperation and economic investment at moments when Islamabad often found itself politically isolated or financially vulnerable. Yet the arrival of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Hangzhou this week suggested that the partnership may now be entering a more ambitious and potentially transformative phase — one that seeks to redefine Pakistan’s economic future as much as its geopolitical positioning. The warmth of the reception accorded to the Pakistani delegation at Xiaoshan International Airport carried significance beyond ceremonial diplomacy.…

By Uzma Ehtasham The joint statement issued in Beijing following talks between Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin reflects a familiar but increasingly sharpened anxiety at the heart of Eurasian geopolitics: the fear that Afghanistan remains not a post-war stabilisation project, but an unresolved security vacuum with consequences that spill far beyond its borders. Framed in the language of regional security, the communiqué’s central message is stark. Militancy and extremism emanating from Afghan territory, it argues, are not contained domestic challenges but active risks to neighbouring states and to international peace more broadly. There is a deliberate gravity in the wording.…

By Uzma Ehtasham Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to China between 23 and 26 May arrives at a moment when diplomacy is increasingly being measured not only in ceremonial gestures but in the harder language of economic necessity and geopolitical alignment. Marking 75 years of relations between Pakistan and China, the trip carries the familiar weight of symbolism, but also the more pressing demand that long-declared friendship be translated into tangible outcomes at a time when both countries are navigating different, though overlapping, pressures. In Beijing, Sharif is expected to hold detailed discussions with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, with a…