Author: Uzma Ehtasham

By Uzma Ehtasham The uneasy silence that followed the latest round of United States-Iran talks in Islamabad has already been shattered. Once again, global peace finds itself hostage to the same old fears: a nuclear threshold crossed, a vital waterway blocked, and two implacable foes trading threats rather than handshakes. Yet to dismiss these negotiations as a failure would be to miss the one slender reed of hope that emerged. That the two sides sat down at all, that they spoke directly and laid out their red lines face to face, represents a small but significant step forward. And at…

By Uzma Ehtasham There is an old saying in the bazaars of Lahore that a good neighbor is one who knows when to stay silent. However, what happens when the neighbor learns not just silence, but the art of the strategic whisper? That, in essence, is the question now haunting the high rises of South Block in New Delhi. For months, the Modi government has operated on a simple premise: that Pakistan, wracked by economic tremors and political spasms, could be rendered a pariah, a shout in a crowded room that everyone had learned to ignore. But a shout is…

By Uzma Ehtasham The talks held in United States of America and Iran in Islamabad have been described by international reporting as a rare and carefully managed moment of direct diplomatic contact between two states whose relationship has long been defined by suspicion, sanctions and periodic confrontation. Stretching over 21 hours, the negotiations did not produce a final agreement, but diplomats involved and observers close to the process suggest that the outcome should not be measured only in terms of what was signed, but also in the fact that the talks happened at all, and that they did not collapse…

By Uzma Ehtasham The diplomatic stage has shifted, and in its latest act, Washington finds itself offering unexpected praise to an unlikely partner. President Donald Trump has gone out of his way to commend Pakistan’s leadership – specifically Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir – for their role in hosting the recent United States-Iran talks in Islamabad. According to Trump, these negotiations, which stretched nearly twenty hours, were made possible only through the effective stewardship of Pakistan’s civilian and military establishment. He described the country’s leadership as extraordinary, noting with a touch of theatrical gratitude that Pakistani…

By Uzma EhtashamThe world held its breath, and then, unexpectedly, exhaled. Just days after President Donald Trump’s chilling threat to “obliterate” Iranian civilization, followed by Iranian missile strikes on Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, a third world war seemed not merely possible but imminent. Fear gripped every capital. Markets convulsed. The language of diplomacy gave way to the grammar of annihilation. And yet, from the brink, a step back was coaxed – not by Washington or Tehran, but by Islamabad. It is a measure of our disoriented times that a nation often caricatured as unstable has emerged as the unexpected architect…

By Uzma Ehtasham The warning issued by Kristalina Georgieva, the head of the International Monetary Fund, should not be read as a routine projection but as a stark diagnosis of a global economy already strained to its limits. Even if hostilities involving Iran were to subside swiftly, the economic aftershocks, she cautioned, would linger, feeding inflationary pressures and dampening growth across continents. What had once been a cautiously optimistic outlook for global expansion has now been overtaken by a far more sobering reality: every plausible trajectory points towards higher prices and slower recovery. This is not merely a matter of…

By Uzma Ehtasham A meeting chaired by Shehbaz Sharif has produced a policy response that will be familiar to many Pakistanis, even if it remains contentious: the early closure of markets across most of the country. Announced as a measure of energy conservation and fiscal prudence, the decision requires bazaars, shopping centers, and department stores to close by 8pm, while restaurants, bakeries, and wedding venues must end operations by 10pm. The restrictions, already in effect since 7 April, cover all provinces and territories except Sindh, where consultations are still underway. On the surface, the logic of the policy is clear.…

By Uzma Ehtasham KARACHI: Leaders and lawmakers from across the world, including the United States, have acknowledged Pakistan’s role in facilitating a two-week ceasefire between Washington and Tehran, reached just hours before President Donald Trump’s deadline. The UK High Commissioner to Pakistan, Jane Marriott, thanked Pakistan for its “quiet, effective, diplomatic role” in securing the ceasefire, while New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters also welcomed the announcements from the US and Iran. “We are grateful for the work of Pakistan, and others such as Turkiye and Egypt, to seek a solution to the crisis,” he wrote on X, pledging New…

By Uzma Ehtasham The world now teeters at a juncture few could have imagined in the post-Cold War era, where a single miscalculation risks cascading into a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions. In recent days, the rhetoric emanating from former US President Donald Trump towards Iran has sounded less like the measured deliberations of a statesman and more like the impetuous declarations of a man driven by personal vendettas, willing to place global stability on the altar of his own grievances. Social media has become the theatre for these pronouncements, where threats to destroy Iran’s power plants and bridges are issued…

By Uzma Ehtasham For a government that insists it will not leave its people alone in difficult times, there is rather too much solitude to go around. The prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, convened a review of public relief measures this week, during which attention turned to petroleum stockpiles. Disbursements, he announced, had begun for public transport and freight vehicles. The economically vulnerable, he said, would receive relief swiftly. However, the gap between such assurances and the lived reality of ordinary Pakistanis grows ever more unbridgeable with each passing day. Consider the arithmetic of abandonment. First came an increase of 55…