Author: Uzma Ehtasham

By Uzma Ehtasham The uneasy pause now visible between Iran and Israel may temporarily reduce the sound of missiles and airstrikes, but it would be dangerously premature to mistake silence for peace. The latest ceasefire rhetoric emerging from Washington, Tehran and Tel Aviv reveals not stability, but a region suspended in uncertainty, where every statement of restraint is accompanied by another warning of escalation. Behind diplomatic language lies a reality that remains fundamentally unresolved: the Middle East continues to function under a political order shaped less by peace-building than by managed instability. US President Donald Trump’s recent appeal urging Israeli…

By Uzma Ehtasham The violence that erupted in Rawalakot has cast a long and unsettling shadow over Rawalakot and, by extension, the wider political landscape of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The killing of four law enforcement personnel, alongside injuries to more than twenty police and security officials, marks a moment that cannot be easily absorbed into the familiar rhythm of protest politics. It signals something sharper, more corrosive, and more dangerous: the point at which political agitation begins to merge with organised violence, and public grievance risks being reshaped into armed confrontation. According to official accounts, the clashes involved members…

By Umza Ehtasham The ongoing conflict involving the United States, Iran, and Israel has now entered its fourth month, and its cumulative impact is increasingly being felt far beyond the immediate theatre of hostilities. What began as a rapid escalation has developed into a protracted geopolitical confrontation with significant economic and diplomatic consequences. Global markets, already fragile after successive shocks in recent years, have absorbed substantial losses running into the trillions of dollars, while uncertainty continues to weigh heavily on trade flows, energy prices, and investor confidence. Even if hostilities were to subside in the near term, analysts widely expect…

Uzma Ehtasham The question of how the United States should manage its escalating confrontation with Iran has once again drifted into a familiar but increasingly uncomfortable space in Washington: strategic ambiguity. With contradictory signals emerging from the White House, rising tensions in the Middle East, and an unsettled diplomatic track on Iran’s nuclear programme, lawmakers in Congress are being urged to step in more decisively to impose clarity on a policy that appears, to many observers, to be shifting from day to day. At the heart of the current uncertainty is President Donald Trump’s latest remarks on Iran’s nuclear capabilities…

By Uzma Ehtasham The collapse of yet another ceasefire in Gaza has once again exposed how fragile pauses in violence have become in a war that continues to inflict immense human suffering with no clear end in sight. What was once presented as a possible opening towards de-escalation has quickly unraveled, replaced by renewed Israeli air and ground operations and fresh waves of Palestinian casualties. For civilians already exhausted by months of displacement, destruction and grief, the return to open conflict has deepened a sense that temporary truces offer little more than brief relief between cycles of violence. Local authorities…

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…