Pakistan’s Agricultural Might: From National Breadbasket to Global Supplier
Pakistan’s greatest economic strength may not lie beneath its soil, but in the soil itself. From the irrigated plains of Punjab and Sindh to the fruit belts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, the mountain valleys of Gilgit-Baltistan and the Arabian Sea coast, Pakistan can produce temperate, subtropical and tropical crops; grain, fruit, fibre, livestock,…
Koh-i-Noor Diamond: The Mountain of Light and the Throne of Lahore
A Stone Older Than Any Modern Border The Koh-i-Noor is usually described as an Indian diamond, and the description misleads. When the stone was mined, probably at Kollur in the Deccan, no state called India existed. There was no Indian passport, flag, constitution or citizenship. There was a vast subcontinent of competing kingdoms, sultanates…
A Turning Point: The Gulf Reorders Itself, and Pakistan Moves to the Centre
For eighty years, the security of the Middle East ran through Washington. Gulf monarchies bought American arms and hosted American bases, and in return they assumed the guarantee would hold when it counted. Today that assumption is being retired. What is taking its place is a regional order built by the region’s own powers,…
Moscow Format on Afghanistan: Russia Praises the Taliban While Terrorism Concerns Go Unanswered
The eighth Moscow Format meeting on Afghanistan was meant to showcase regional coordination. Instead it exposed how divided Afghanistan’s neighbours are on the Taliban and on terrorism. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks drew as much attention for what he left out as for what he said. The summit ended without a joint…
Afghanistan’s Terrorism Ecosystem: How Taliban Rule Is Sustaining a Regional Security Threat
Five years after the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, Afghanistan remains a significant base of operations, sanctuary and networking for multiple terrorist organisations. The central security problem is not that the Taliban command every militant group operating from Afghan territory. Rather, Afghanistan has developed into a terrorism ecosystem base: a Taliban-controlled territorial…
The Politics of Erasure: Institutional Audits, Banned Books, and the Suppression of Dissent in Indian-Occupied Kashmir
An unprecedented ideological and administrative purge is unfolding across Indian-occupied Kashmir, threatening the foundations of intellectual autonomy and historical preservation. Recent data tabled in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly reveals that authorities have scrutinized a staggering 2,181,582 books and publications across college libraries, public repositories, and educational institutions. Under the official guise of eliminating…
Pakistan’s Way Forward: A 30-Year National Plan for Prosperity, Security and Social Justice
Pakistan stands at a decisive point in its history. During the next 25 years, our population is expected to increase dramatically and may nearly double. Feeding this expanding population, creating sufficient employment, and providing education, healthcare, housing, water, energy and other essential services will require planning on an unprecedented scale. We cannot wait for…
A Sacred Red Line: The Makkah Joint Defence Agreement and the Imperative of Collective Deterrence
The security architecture of the Middle East has entered an acutely volatile and unprecedented phase following the latest Houthi aggression directed towards the holiest sanctuary of Islam. On 16 September 2026, coalition air defence systems successfully intercepted an armed unmanned aerial vehicle launched by the Iran-backed militia just prior to its entry into the…
The Indispensable Guardian: Pakistan and the Defence of Muslim Sovereignty in South Asia
In the fractured geopolitical landscape of 2026, a single question has moved from the margins of strategic discourse to its very centre: who speaks for the Muslim world’s sovereign interests when they are threatened by the expansionist ambitions of regional powers? The answer, increasingly, is Pakistan. From the negotiating rooms of Islamabad to the…
The Gulf Slips Away: How the Makkah Pact Ended India’s Decade of Gulf Diplomacy
The formalisation of the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement on 7 August 2026 marks a pivotal structural shift in the security architecture of West Asia and South Asia. Signed in the holy city of Makkah by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the trilateral…
