Author: Ayla Reid

In an age of megaphone diplomacy, where states increasingly communicate through social media posts, televised threats, and carefully choreographed displays of military power, the most consequential conversations often happen in silence. The reported visit of Lebanese Army Chief Rodolphe Haykal to Pakistan, allegedly linked to wider United States-Iran negotiations, offers a glimpse into a less visible but increasingly important reality: diplomacy is once again being conducted away from the cameras. If reports are accurate, this visit is about far more than military cooperation between two countries. It points to a larger strategic shift in which regional actors are becoming indispensable…

In constitutional democracies, strength of the protests is not the basis for legitimacy, it is fidelity to procedures. That distinction has been starkly put forward in the recent Advisory Opinion of Supreme Court of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, which has refocused a not-so-smooth political discourse on the refugee constituencies within the constitutional framework, institutional control and democratic priority. The fundamental principle that is at stake is a simple one but still hotly debated: constitutional change is not a concession made under pressure. It’s the formal legal procedure that is only available to representative institutions. It is not just a doctrinal…