Maleeha Lodhi

THE assassination attempt on PTI leader Imran Khan has plunged the country into chaos at a time when tensions between the opposition and government were already spiralling out of control. Such violence is condemnable and unacceptable. It should have no place in the country whose tortuous history has seen assassinations of political leaders in the past. The tragic assassination of Benazir Bhutto is still ...

PRESIDENT Joe Biden’s remarks questioning the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons provoked an angry response from Islamabad. At a fund raiser earlier this month, the US president said Pakistan “may be one of the most dangerous nations in the world” which had “nuclear weapons without any cohesion.” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif rejected these gratuitous remarks, calling them “factually incorrect and misleading”. The American ...

ON the eve of the 20th Chinese Communist Party congress, which later confirmed a historic third term for President Xi Jinping, the US announced its National Security Strategy, reiterating its overwhelming priority is to “outcompete China”. The timing may have been coincidental. But it was telling that while President Xi was proclaiming China’s global power had increased, the US was resolving to deal ...

AN important global debate is underway about the disruptive impact of new technology. There is no doubt modern technology has been a force for good and responsible for innumerable positive developments — empowering people, improving lives, increasing productivity, advancing medical and scientific knowledge and transforming societies. Technological developments have helped to drive unprecedented social and economic progress. But the fourth ...

INDIA’S ruling Bharatiya Janata Party continues the assault on Kashmiri culture and identity and imposes its Hindutva ideology on occupied Jammu and Kashmir. A recent tweet by Mehbooba Mufti, former chief minister of J&K, focused attention on the forced singing of a bhajan (Hindu hymn) at a school in Kulgam and elsewhere. A video of Muslim students singing the bhajan circulated widely ...

IN his opening address to the UN General Assembly, Secretary General António Guterres issued a stark warning about the troubled state of the world. “We are gridlocked in colossal global dysfunction”, as a result of geopolitical divides, turmoil, deadly conflicts, climate catastrophes, food crisis, rising inequality and poverty. This dire situation held great peril, especially with trust declining in democratic institutions, respect ...

IN the midst of the worst catastrophe Pakistan has faced in living memory, uncertainty looms about the future. But with that comes an opportunity to rebuild lives and make the country resistant to the ravages of climate change. The challenge is to plan for a future in which this threat to human security is mitigated and managed effectively. Along with navigating a ...

WHEN calamities strike it usually unites nations. Not so this time in Pakistan. The worst floods in the country’s history should have urged political rivals to set aside their partisan interests and offer a collective response to the catastrophe. But this was expecting too much. Politics was back to business-as-usual save for a few days after the deadly monsoon began to wreak ...

WHILE the world looks away, Narendra Modi’s government continues to take steps to impose more fraudulent arrangements on occupied Jammu and Kashmir. After J&K’s illegal annexation, bifurcation and integration into the Indian union three years ago, Delhi has used force and fraud to maintain its unlawful hold over the region. Aug 5, 2019, opened a new chapter in the tortured history of ...

ANTICIPATION of the resumption of an IMF bailout package has helped improve market sentiment. But given the turbulent state of politics, there is little reason to be sanguine about the country’s political and economic future. Confirmation that the Fund’s executive board will meet next week to approve the loan programme has helped to strengthen the rupee and revive market confidence. It also ...