Author: Uzma Ehtasham

By Uzma Ehtasham The meeting between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump in Beijing arrived at a moment when the international order appeared increasingly fragile, fractured by war, economic uncertainty and the sharpening rivalry between major powers. Against the backdrop of mounting tensions between Iran and the United States, fears surrounding the security of the Strait of Hormuz and the continuing instability in Ukraine and the Middle East, the language emerging from the Chinese capital carried significance well beyond ceremonial diplomacy. What was ultimately placed before the world was not merely another summit between Washington and Beijing, but a reminder that…

By Uzma Ehtasham A recent wave of claims circulating across social media has sketched an arresting but fundamentally misleading picture of rupture in the Gulf: the idea that the United Arab Emirates has abruptly left the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, triggering retaliatory measures from Saudi Arabia ranging from airspace restrictions to economic pressure, and culminating in the supposed collapse of the Emirati currency. It is a story written with cinematic certainty, where alliances shatter overnight and financial systems unravel in dramatic sequence. Yet it is precisely this sense of narrative clarity that signals its detachment from reality. There…

By Uzma Ehtasham The Middle East once again finds itself suspended in a familiar but increasingly dangerous state of fragility, where diplomacy, deterrence and distrust operate in uneasy proximity. The region’s fault lines are not only military and political but also informational, shaped by competing narratives that travel as quickly as missiles and often linger longer than ceasefire proposals. Against this backdrop, Pakistan’s renewed offer to facilitate dialogue between the United States and Iran has added a further layer to an already complex geopolitical landscape. Islamabad’s positioning is not new, but it has become more pronounced at a time when…

By Uzma Ehtasham A military operation in Barkhan district of Balochistan has once again brought into sharp focus the persistent and mutating nature of the country’s internal security crisis. The engagement, conducted against what officials describe as Fitna al-Hindustan, ended with the reported killing of seven terrorists. It also claimed the lives of a senior officer along with four soldiers, underscoring the continuing human cost of a conflict that has stretched across decades and repeatedly resisted a definitive resolution. In official accounts, the recovery of a substantial cache of weapons, ammunition and explosive material from the site has been highlighted…

By Uzma Ehtasham More than five decades after the violent rupture that permanently altered the political geography of South Asia, Pakistan and Bangladesh are cautiously rediscovering the value of institutional engagement. The restoration of high-level civil service relations between the two countries may appear understated when compared with the spectacle of summit diplomacy or headline-grabbing state visits, yet its importance lies precisely in its quietness. In many ways, bureaucratic cooperation often reveals more about the long-term intentions of states than carefully choreographed political ceremonies. Governments change, political moods fluctuate and regional rivalries intensify or recede with time, but institutions endure.…

By Uzma Ehtasham Karachi’s trajectory has become one of the most unsettling paradoxes in Pakistan’s urban story. It is a city expanding at a pace that outstrips most official projections, a commercial engine that continues to anchor national revenue, and yet a place where governance appears increasingly absent from daily life. As its population edges towards a scale that could soon rival the rest of Sindh combined, the question is no longer whether Karachi is growing, but whether the state has any meaningful capacity—or willingness—to govern what it has allowed to become its most indispensable yet most neglected metropolis. Across…

By Uzma Ehtasham The latest claims emerging from Iranian state media, suggesting that Tehran’s response to American proposals on ending the conflict has been transmitted via Pakistan, underline how diplomacy in the Middle East continues to rely on indirect channels at moments of acute tension. If accurate, the involvement of Islamabad is not incidental but illustrative of a longer pattern: when formal dialogue between adversaries collapses, intermediary states become the fragile scaffolding on which communication is tentatively rebuilt. At the heart of this episode lies an increasingly brittle exchange between Iran and the United States. The reported framework of discussion,…

By Uzma Ehtasham The latest engagement between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund arrives, as so often before, at a familiar intersection of urgency and unease. On one side sits a government still grappling with fragile macroeconomic stability, constrained fiscal space and a persistent external financing gap. On the other is an institution that has become an increasingly central architect of Pakistan’s economic policy direction, insisting on discipline, reform and price correction as preconditions for continued support. In its most recent assessment, the IMF has urged Pakistan to widen its tax net and press ahead with structural reforms that have…

By Uzma Ehtasham KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah told the provincial assembly that Pakistan’s armed forces deserve full tribute for their performance in recent regional tensions, while delivering a sharply worded critique of India. Presenting a resolution in the Sindh Assembly linked to what he described as “Operation Haq”, he praised the Pakistan Army and paid homage to martyrs, saying the house stands in solidarity with the country’s security forces. Referring to India’s nuclear history, he said New Delhi had conducted its first nuclear test in 1974 and a second in 1998, while accusing it of repeatedly engaging…

By Uzma Ehtasham KARACHI: The Pakistan–ASEAN Economic Dialogue 2026 was held in Karachi under a framework aimed at strengthening economic engagement between Pakistan and Southeast Asian economies, with organizers describing it as part of broader efforts to deepen regional cooperation and trade linkages. The event was organized by the Pakistan–Malaysia Friendship Association (PMFA) in collaboration with the Consulate General of Malaysia in Karachi, bringing together diplomats, policymakers and business representatives to discuss emerging opportunities for economic collaboration between Pakistan and ASEAN member states. Director General Foreign Affairs Muhammad Irfan Soomro attended the dialogue as chief guest, where he also distributed…