Around him: chants, jeers and hand-flinging parliamentarians reenacting a circus. But the minister...]]> ]]> Ever wondered why Pakistan’s Economic Survey is released just a day before the federal budget is presented to...]]> ]]> A real-life test of a former Pakistani finance minister is still remembered for highlighting the gap between the annual national budget...]]> ]]> Another year, another budget. And another opportunity missed. How many more opportunities do we have left? How many more...]]> ]]> On May 30, 2025, the State Bank of Pakistan issued a statement that should have ignited a national debate. Instead, it was received with...]]> ]]> As we start this budget day, the government faces a pivotal test: whether to solidify the fragile economic stability achieved over the past 18 months or risk squandering it for short-term...]]> ]]> The four-day war between India and Pakistan ended nearly a month ago, but the war continues through other means, including diplomatic outreach to selected members of the international community. For a change, our bigger neighbour...]]> ]]> The first five months of the second Trump administration have been characterised by...]]> ]]> In 2003, the legendary Indian writer Khushwant Singh published a small but searing book titled The End of India. In it, he issued a bleak...]]> ]]> In a stark display of brazen unilateralism, India has cast aside...]]> ]]> As we await another budget, we are dreading having to pay more in taxes next year and are trying to divine what new areas and activities the government will...]]> ]]> "Another life lost to internet fame", wrote a seasoned journalist on my timeline, reacting to the brutal murder of Sana Yousaf in Islamabad, as if visibility, not violence, was the real crime....]]> ]]> Human history is marked by conflicts that have often led to devastating wars. The two...]]> ]]> Indian Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan recently acknowledged his country’s defeat in the narrative war against Pakistan. After three weeks of denying air...]]> ]]> Parliament’s constitutional ‘power of the purse’ is meant to anchor democratic control over public money, yet in Pakistan the reality rarely lives up to the...]]> ]]> The Wall Street Journal recently revealed an uncomfortable entanglement of diplomacy and cryptocurrency in its report on Steve Witkoff, United...]]> ]]> The trilateral summit in Lachin did not make headlines for the right...]]> ]]> India’s strategy ignores the costs of provocation in a landscape already scarred by extremism. It also ignores the fact that Pakistan’s counterterror operations have evolved significantly since the era of Zarb-e-Azb and...]]>