Pakistan, as one of the large countries that emerged after the collapse of British India, inherited complex relations in both cross-border and transnational politics. The geopolitical situation associated with the intervention of the Anglo-Saxon line in the region only complicated these relations. Meanwhile, Pakistan, as a region located at the junction of South and Central Asia, is very relevant for […]

In an article in the respected British journal, The Economist Pakistan’s ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan has expressed doubt about the fairness of the forthcoming General Elections scheduled to be held in January 2024. In his words, Imran Khan is now in jail on charges of exposing state secrets by reading out in the Pakistan National Assembly a secret telegram […]

On December 27, 2023, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) told the Islamabad Federal Capital’s Police not to treat Baloch protesters as “enemies”. Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb’s remarks came as he heard a petition filed on December 21, 2023, challenging the arrest of marchers who arrived in the Federal Capital, Islamabad, on foot from Turbat town in the Kech District of […]

Observers might expect that the exacerbation of long-running Iranian-Pakistani tensions would be against Islamabad’s interests, just like they might think the same about closer Indian-Iranian relations in the aftermath of this unprecedented tit-for-tat against designated terrorists in Balochistan. In reality, the Pakistani Establishment – which refers to the country’s powerful military-intelligence structures that call the shots behind the scenes – […]

Pakistan launched airstrikes against alleged militant hideouts inside Iran on Thursday, killing at least nine people as it retaliated for a similar attack days earlier by Iran and raising tensions with its neighbor as conflict across the region escalates. The unprecedented attacks by both Pakistan and Iran on either side of their border appeared to target Baluch militant groups with […]

On Tuesday, Iran used missiles and drones to strike western Pakistan near Koh-e-Sabz. On Thursday, Pakistan conducted airstrikes in southeastern Iran near Saravan, then released a statement claiming that “Iran is a brotherly country.” More than a sibling squabble is going on here. Iran and Pakistan were apparently targeting hideouts of armed non-state actors—Jaish al-Adl in Pakistan, and the Balochistan […]

Pakistan’s Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam political party chief, Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman, has said that a mechanism should be created to address the issues between Pakistan and Afghanistan. In an interview with Geo TV, Fazl-ur-Rehman said that Pakistan had been hoping that the Islamic Emirate would be a good friend for the country, but the recent events disappointed Islamabad. He considered his recent visit […]

On January 15, 2024, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards initiated a missile attack on a purported Mossad spy base in northern Iraq and targeted “anti-Iran terror groups” in Syria, intensifying ongoing hostilities and escalating the risk of a wider regional conflict. Subsequently, Iran acknowledged launching a missile and drone assault on western Pakistan on January 16, claiming it was aimed at the […]

The badlands that form the Iran-Pakistan border have for years been notorious for smuggling, human trafficking, narcotics trade, and of course, movement of insurgents and terrorists. It is anything but a tranquil frontier because skirmishes, shallow incursions and raids, and even occasional mortar shelling are fairly routine. But both countries have somehow managed to keep things from spiralling out of […]

An Iranian strike on Pakistan this week that drew a rapid military riposte and raised fears of greater regional turmoil was driven by Iran’s efforts to reinforce its internal security rather than its ambitions for the Middle East, according to three Iranian officials, one Iranian insider and an analyst. Both the heavily-armed neighbours, oftentimes at odds over instability on their […]