Pakistan’s military-backed political establishment is at odds with a population that largely desires democratically elected civilian rule. The country’s ever-present terrorist threat is likely to intensify in the run-up to national elections, which were postponed to January 2024. The difficulties facing Pakistan’s leaders could both aggravate and be aggravated by regional and geopolitical dynamics, particularly those concerning India, China, and […]

Pakistan, a nation known for its rich cultural diversity and vibrant heritage, is currently grappling with a troubling phenomenon: the rise of hate politics. In recent years, political parties in the country have increasingly employed divisive rhetoric, hate speech, and intolerance as strategies to secure their agendas and gain electoral support. This piece shed light on the politics of hate […]

A senior Pakistani diplomat said Thursday that while the Taliban had brought peace and security to Afghanistan, increased terrorist attacks from the neighboring country threatened stability in Pakistan, putting strains on an already difficult bilateral relationship. “Unfortunately, the peace dividends for us are missing,” Asif Durrani, Pakistan’s special representative on Afghanistan, told an international seminar in Islamabad. He said his […]

Pakistan said on Friday that it would repatriate all illegal immigrants including hundreds of thousands of Afghan nationals in orderly phases rather than in one go. Pakistan’s announcement on Tuesday of a Nov. 1 deadline for people to leave or face forcible expulsion has frayed already soured relations with Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers, who said the threat to force out Afghan […]

Pakistan has ordered all undocumented immigrants, including 1.7 million Afghans, to leave the country by November 1, vowing mass deportations for those who stay. Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar approved the plan Tuesday at a high-level meeting of his top civilian and military officials in Islamabad. “All illegal immigrants residing in Pakistan have until November 1 to return to their […]

Despite repeated promises of the Pakistani authorities, the arrest and harassment of Afghan refugees by the police in Pakistan continues, Afghan embassy in Pakistan said on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday. Over the last two weeks, many Afghans have been arrested in different areas of Pakistan, especially in and around Islamabad, where the majority of documented refugees reside. “Day and […]

It was the promise of creating a ‘Naya [new] Pakistan’ on the lines of ‘Riyasat-e-Madina’ [a model Islamic welfare state] plus a discreet ‘push’ from Pakistan’s powerful army that saw Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf [PTI] chief Imran Khan becoming the ‘selected’ prime minister of Pakistan in August 2018. Unfortunately, despite Khan’s grandiose assurance of ushering-in winds of change by bringing about all-around […]

Pakistan believed that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will be their “Alladin’s Lamp and the Genie will full fill all their wishes.” CPEC was to be believed to be a ‘Game Changer’ for Pakistan.Initially valued at $47 billion, the value of CPEC projects was worth $62 billion as of 2021. Since 2018 onwards, however, it has not been smooth sailing and […]

Afghanistan’s Taliban says it has captured 200 suspected militants for staging deadly cross-border attacks against Pakistan and has implemented other “concrete steps” to “neutralize” the terrorist activity, VOA learned from Pakistani officials privy to the process. The de facto Afghan rulers shared the details about the crackdown on the outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, in bilateral talks they hosted last […]

Pakistan’s Caretaker Prime Minister, Anwar ul Haq Kakar said this week that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) does “reside on Afghan soil” and that they even have training camps in the country. In an interview with TRT this week, he said: “We do raise such issues with them (the IEA), there are training camps over there, on their soil (Afghanistan) which is […]