Key Takeaways:TTP-linked violence in Pakistan has intensified in 2026, with at least 128 incidents and 559 fatalities recorded by late August (higher than the corresponding period in 2025); Khyber Pakhtunkhwa remains the main theatre, but attacks and arrests now also occur in Balochistan, Punjab, and Sindh, showing expanded reach.Despite successive large-scale military operations and a partial National Action Plan, TTP […]

Key Takeaways:Ongoing Baloch insurgency and high levels of militant violence in Balochistan continue to threaten Chinese mining investments, particularly the long-running Saindak Copper-Gold Project operated by China Metallurgical Group Corporation.Insecurity primarily disrupts logistics and supply routes rather than the mine itself, raising risks of operational interruptions, higher costs, and potential production threats despite increased Pakistani security deployments.The situation highlights broader […]

Six years after the abrogation of Article 370, official statistics tell a story more complicated than either its critics or its defenders admit. This article draws on data and analysis originally published in The Hindu’s data journalism report, “Did reducing Jammu and Kashmir to a UT and abrogating its special status make a difference?” by Sambavi Parthasarathy, Pon Vasanth B.A., […]

Pakistan has been experiencing one of its deadliest years since 2013 for terrorism-related deaths, with the month of July alone accounting for over 600 deaths. The attacks primarily stem from the Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP) and the ethnonationalist militant group, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), both organizations with differing goals but overlapping areas of operation. The Pakistani military has blamed the increase […]

Key TakeawaysPakistan’s Shehbaz Sharif government, installed through military-influenced 2024 elections, is showing clear signs of drift amid economic stagnation, political unpopularity, deteriorating security, and inability to address major challenges, despite full military backing that has reduced parliament, the judiciary, and bureaucracy to rubber stamps.Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi’s admission that the “system has collapsed,” coupled with military endorsement and speculation about […]

Pour la première fois, les deux principales routes d’exportation de pétrole du Moyen-Orient se ferment simultanément — les Houthis, soutenus par l’Iran, ont déclaré un blocus maritime de l’Arabie saoudite tandis que le détroit d’Ormuz reste effectivement fermé. Alors que les forces américaines subissent des pertes en Jordanie et que l’approbation de Washington s’effondre, Zulfiqar Ali de Transition Protocol et […]

Who has the constitutional authority to decide when childhood ends in Pakistan? That question lies at the heart of one of the country’s most significant constitutional challenges, now before the Federal Shariat Court. Yet from its inception, the legislation contained an important limitation. Although it criminalised the conduct of those responsible for child marriages, it did not expressly declare such […]

Four Taliban cabinet ministers have visited India over the past nine months, highlighting growing engagement between New Delhi and the Taliban as their relations with neighboring Pakistan remain strained. The latest visit came last week, when Ataullah Omari, the Taliban’s acting minister of agriculture, traveled to New Delhi at the head of a delegation. His trip follows earlier visits by […]

Many jihadists, building on the Palestinian model, increasingly see Kashmir as prime land to conquer: the next great cause for global jihad. Pakistan has actively enabled and amplified this jihadist narrative by positioning itself as the foremost protector of Muslims, effectively asserting ownership over Kashmir. In June 2026, Pakistani paramilitary forces opened fire on protesters in… Kashmir. The protesters were […]

Pakistan carried out airstrikes overnight in eastern Afghanistan, Islamabad said on Monday, adding its operations had targeted militants as the Afghan government reported dozens of civilian casualties. Pakistan’s information minister said the operations killed 25 militants and were aimed at a group that it blames for a deadly weekend attack in Karachi, though Afghan authorities have repeatedly denied their territory […]