Pakistan’s Taliban movement, led by its most vicious and largest group, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and apparently buoyed by the recent triumph of their ethnic Pashtun cousins in Afghanistan, is revitalizing its strategy either for regional autonomy or to overthrow Pakistan’s government and replace it with an Islamic Emirate of Pakistan — a Pashtunistan made up of Pashtuns, an ethnic group […]

Meezan Bank (MEBL) has reported its highest ever quarterly profit of Rs8.8 billion (EPS: Rs5.4) 4Q2021, up 115%YoY. The earnings remained higher than industry expectation due to strong growth in Net spread earned and other income. Net spread earned during 4Q2021 was reported at Rs20.4 billion, up 35%YoY led by strong deposit growth and increasing low cost deposits. On QoQ […]

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan will fly to Moscow this week to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, Islamabad confirmed on Monday – the first such trip by a Pakistani leader in two decades. The two-day visit, starting on Wednesday, was planned before the current crisis over Ukraine. “During the Summit meeting, the two leaders will review the entire array of […]

“Most countries have an army, but Pakistan’s army has a country.” Pakistan has had a near continuous military dominance of both serving and retired General officers being co-opted into its bureaucracy by lateral induction. General Musharraf brought in officers at every level. Imran Khan Government appears to have beaten all earlier records in filling civilian posts with military officers into […]

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan and Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi discussed ways for closer cooperation between the two neighbors in various fields, particularly trade. The Iranian interior minister met with the Pakistani prime minister in Islamabad on Monday. In the meeting, also attended by Pakistan’s interior minister and the Iranian ambassador to Islamabad, the parties stressed the need to […]

The Afghan Taliban could bite the Pakistan hand that had fed it Marvin G. WeinbaumDirector, Afghanistan and Pakistan Studies The smashing Taliban victory was greeted with satisfaction if not celebration by a great many in Pakistan. Prime Minister Imran Khan undiplomatically and provocatively asserted that the insurgents had “broken the shackles of slavery.” The U.S. was seen as having finally […]

Now that it has the upper hand in Afghanistan since the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul in August 2021, it appears that the Pakistani Army is once again activating its proxies – the religious extremist groups – to advance its domestic political ambitions. The November 1 agreement with the proscribed extremist group Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) demonstrates that the Army is using […]

Hundreds of Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) have rallied in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi for the release of a lawmaker. Led by PTM head Manzoor Pashteen, the workers walked from Sohrab Goth to the Sindh Assembly, calling for the release of National Assembly member Ali Wazir. Refusing to accept government requests to cancel their protest, the activists staged a sit-in […]

Observers saw the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan last year as a strategic victory for neighboring Pakistan after years of frosty relations between Islamabad and the Western-backed government in Kabul that collapsed last August. Security concerns along the two nations’ border have since complicated the picture. Many Pakistanis celebrated the Taliban’s return to power, including Prime Minister Imran Khan, who declared […]

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa paid a visit to Balochistan province on Tuesday, days after two deadly terrorist strikes at different military bases killed nine soldiers. The terrorist raids on 2 February have been claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA). The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorist organisation, an offshoot of […]