Author: Uzma Ehtasham

By Uzma Ehtasham Every word uttered by the president of a country that styles itself as the world’s sole superpower demands serious attention. A single message from him can send the price of oil per barrel rocketing toward the heavens – and, once there, send it crashing back down to earth with a deafening thud. Journalists in Pakistan, however, are compelled to take his spontaneous pronouncements even more gravely, for Iran is our neighbor. We share a border stretching nine hundred kilometers. Moreover, nearly eighty per cent of the oil and gas available to us arrives via the Strait of…

By Uzma Ehtasham There is a particular kind of cruelty in setting a man on fire while he is still breathing. There is another kind, colder and more calculating, in turning that man’s death into a line item on a spreadsheet of statecraft. Both kinds were on display in the dusty, unforgiving terrain of Chagai district in Balochistan, where ten employees of the National Refinery Limited, among them foreign nationals, were torn from this world not by accident or impulse but by design. Their attackers did not merely shoot. They watched the oil reserves burn. They understood, as any arsonist…

By Uzma Ehtasham India’s military adventurism last May, branded as the triumphant “Operation Sindoor,” has become a symbol not of strength but of hubris unmasked. What Delhi’s leaders hailed as a decisive blow against Pakistan now stands exposed as a costly misadventure, one that has left deep fissures in India’s strategic posture. The boasts from army and air force chiefs ring increasingly hollow, drowned out by the sober critiques of defence analysts and the uneasy murmurs within India’s own media circles. Even General Anil Chauhan, the Chief of Defence Staff, has taken to theatrical deflection, brushing off the episode as…

By Uzma Ehtasham In a world where alliances often fray under the weight of self-interest, the relationship between Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates stands as a quiet marvel—a bond as deep and unshakeable as that between two brothers, each ever vigilant for the other’s dignity. It’s not the stuff of grand treaties or blaring headlines, but of remittances that keep families afloat, workers who cross deserts for dreams, and diplomats who speak the language of the heart. This fraternity has weathered economic storms and regional tempests, proving that true partnership thrives not on spectacle, but on sincerity. Consider the…

By Uzma Ehtasham As the next round of US-Iran talks looms in Islamabad—a development confirmed by President Donald Trump himself—the world watches with a familiar mix of hope and exasperation. These aren’t abstract summits in sterile conference rooms; they’re high-wire acts where a single misstep could ignite shipping lanes, spike fuel prices at pumps from Karachi to Cornwall, and upend lives far beyond the Gulf. Trump’s pronouncements veer wildly, as they so often do: one moment he champions the negotiations as a masterstroke of his deal-making genius, the next he undermines them with threats that echo his campaign trail bravado.…

By Uzma Ehtasham There are moments in global affairs when time seems to stand still. Decisions are postponed, statements are issued, and everything appears, on the surface, to be under control. But the truth is rather less comforting: there are junctures at which delay itself becomes the greatest threat. The present international moment is precisely such a time. If no decision is taken today, what awaits us tomorrow is not merely uncertainty – it will be harsher, costlier, and quite possibly far more dangerous. Islamabad has, almost imperceptibly, become a quiet but decisive hub. The talks taking place there are…

By Uzma Ehtasham The enduring stalemate between Washington and Tehran continues to hold the global economy hostage. No agreement on a permanent ceasefire has been reached, and at the heart of this paralysis lies the unresolved question of Iran’s enriched uranium. Both sides have dug in, their positions hardening into an almost geological intransigence. Iran has now declared, with a clarity that leaves little room for diplomatic wriggling, that under no circumstances will its stockpile of enriched uranium be transferred to the United States. The spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, Esmaeil Baghaei, framed the matter in almost sacred terms: enriched…

By Uzma Ehtasham At last, Pakistan’s persistent diplomatic efforts for peace have yielded a tangible reward. Iran has announced the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a decision that drew an extraordinary public thank you from President Donald Trump, who took to his social media platform to express gratitude to Pakistan, Iran, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir. “Thank you Pakistan, thank you Iran, thank you Field Marshal, thank you Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif,” he wrote. In his telling, this is a splendid day for the entire world. Iran, he claimed, has agreed never again to…

By Uzma Ehtasham There is something quietly defiant about a country that decides to build its own defences from its own soil with its own hands. It is not the loud defiance of parades or ultimatums. It is the quieter, more stubborn kind – the kind that happens in laboratories and workshops, in the small hours when no one is watching, in the minds of scientists who have been told for years that they cannot do it. This week, the Pakistan Navy carried out a successful test of an indigenously manufactured anti‑ship missile, striking a target at long range with…

By Uzma Ehtasham There is a particular art to the diplomacy of the anxious. It is the art of the phone call made before the fire reaches the fuel depot. It is the craft of the handshake offered in a capital whose radar systems are already blinking amber. For months, the world has watched the ridge of the Gulf narrow into a knife edge, with the United States and Iran trading threats across a table of broken trust, while Israel’s war on Iranian positions – which began in late February – threatened to pull every loose thread in the region…