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The Friday Times |
When the IMF approved Pakistan’s latest programme review in May 2026, it quietly highlighted a contradiction that now sits at the centre of...
The joint recommendations presented on May 12, 2026, by the country’s leading textile and export associations to the Federal Finance Minister,...
President Donald J. Trump’s arrival in Beijing on May 13, 2026, greeted by formal ceremonies and high-level Chinese officials, including Vice...
Pakistan’s rise as an increasingly important diplomatic actor during the Iran–US crisis has created a rare strategic opening that Islamabad must...
“There are none so blind as those who will not see.” — Jonathan Swift Few quotations capture the constitutional tragedy unfolding behind...
The uneasy standoff between Iran and the United States also has a nuclear dimension. Under a proposed deal, America wants Iran to hand over its around...
A year after Operation Sindoor, the guns are silent, the ceasefire largely holds, and both India and Pakistan continue to claim success in their own...
In April 2026, a Chinese defence spokesperson issued an ominous warning: “Should an evil tiger be unleashed from its cage, it would inevitably wreak...
The 2026 Iran War, which finally ended after 40 days with a ceasefire on 8 April 2026, had already demonstrated the failure of conventional military...
Pakistan's manufacturing sector is routinely described as being in decline. Shrinking shares of GDP, stagnant export baskets, and low industrial...
Brick kilns are counted among the major sources of air pollution in Punjab. To curb smog and improve air quality, the Punjab government made it...
Three developments over the past few days carry significant geostrategic and diplomatic implications for Pakistan. These developments must be...
Much anticipated, President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping’s summit meeting is scheduled for May 14–15, 2026, in Beijing. This meeting is...
Officially launched in 2008, the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) was designed as Pakistan’s largest social safety net to protect low-income...
In public policy, few metrics are as influential and as frequently misunderstood as the Value of Statistical Life (VSL). It quietly shapes decisions...
For more than six decades, one of the world's most unlikely diplomatic achievements quietly endured between two nuclear-armed states that have...
Pakistan’s foreign policy has often been described in grand strategic terms: geostrategic relevance, regional balancing, Islamic solidarity,...
The primary purpose of education is to enable both students and teachers to engage in meaningful discussion and deliberation on the social dimensions...
We are living in dangerous times. The world is on the edge. The rule-based international order stands badly mauled. The foreign and security policy of...
Taking advantage of the crisis does not in any way mean that we are positioning the crisis or war as a romanticised event. Pakistan’s position has...
There are wars that fit neatly into textbooks. Then there is this one. A conflict where aircraft carriers escort oil tankers while economists track...
The brief but intense crisis of May 2025 may not have escalated into a full-scale war, but it has already redrawn the intellectual map through which...
As of May 2026, the United States is pursuing aggressive maritime enforcement, particularly a blockade of Iranian ports, that both helps and pressures...
“….we are persuaded to hold that Section 7E of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, is ultra vires the Constitution, and is accordingly struck down,...
Like millions around the world, I grew up watching The X-Files—the iconic television show that explored UFOs, alien encounters, and unexplained...
Adopted on 10th November 1975, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 3379 declared Zionism to be a form of racism. The resolution...
In the modern battlefield arenas, timelines matter as much as the technology itself. With the Asia-Pacific being the epicentre of great power...
The Marka-E-Haq is a remembrance of the day our forces fought with bravery and professionalism against the aggressive Indian forces who violated the...
Every year, Pakistan's federal and provincial governments pour billions of rupees into public education, distributing free textbooks, waiving...
Some commentators have recently blamed “solar advocates” in Pakistan for overlooking the inability of solar systems to provide reactive power and...
The dark clouds of a renewed conflict between the United States and Iran, complicated by the strategic imperatives of Israel, do not merely portend a...
Iran war is far from over. Credible reports indicate continued U.S. and Israeli military positioning in Kuwait, the UAE, and adjoining Gulf states...
The origins of modern international humanitarian law are rarely traced to the theatre. We instinctively credit the polished halls of Geneva or the...
Pakistan’s recent inflationary episode is mainly driven by higher fuel prices, freight shipping costs, and insurance charges, caused by oil price...
Every May, as the temperature climbs in the plains below, the headlines arrive in Pakistan with the grim reliability of a recurring illness: soaring...
Some disputes in Pakistan are lazily filed away as “provincial demands”. The assumption is familiar: one province is asking for more money, the...
The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) revised fuel prices again this week. As history serves as an indicator, the nation reacted similarly to...
Pakistan has never been short on ‘announced’ ambitions. The present government has taken a clear and increasingly assertive stance to move the...
Somewhere in Pakistan right now, a child in Class 5 is sitting in a government school classroom unable to read a sentence from a Class 2 textbook. She...
Pakistan’s inflation rate reached 10.9% in April 2026, its highest level since July 2024 and, given current fuel-driven price pressures, could move...
There is a special kind of cruelty in telling a man he must tighten his belt while his master feasts at the same table. Yet this is precisely the...
Quaid-i-Azam University is once again in crisis. With midterm examinations scheduled this week, the administration has issued a firm notification:...
What is unfolding between Iran and the United States has evolved far beyond a conventional interstate conflict. It is now a hybrid crisis, with war,...
Author’s Note: This article was penned on February 15 this year in response to Dr Shashi Tharoor’s op-ed in The Indian Express. It was sent to an...
Author’s Note: This article was penned on February 15 this year in response to Dr Shashi Tharoor’s op-ed in The Indian Express. It was sent to an...
“Section 4C is a distinct charge on a distinctly defined base of income, and takes nothing away from the charge of tax under Section 4 or from the...
47 years of hostility between Iran and the United States is now taking a dangerous turn. After 40 days of war, in which the United States and Israel...
47 years of hostility between Iran and the United States is now taking a dangerous turn. After 40 days of war, in which the United States and Israel...
A few days ago, the UAE did something few expected. It walked out of OPEC, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. After nearly six...
On April 28, 2026, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif inaugurated the first-ever High-Level EU-Pakistan Business Forum at Islamabad's Serena Hotel,...