Author: Nazish Mehmood

Pakistan is a vast country with a population of approximately 241.5 million, according to the 2023 census, making it the world’s fifth-most populous country. Yet this enormous population is administered through only four provinces, alongside Islamabad Capital Territory, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan. As Pakistan’s population and administrative needs continue to expand, many political leaders, experts, and citizens argue that the existing provincial structure needs to be reconsidered. Creating additional provinces could bring government closer to citizens, improve service delivery, and promote more balanced regional development. The strongest argument for administrative restructuring is the sheer size of Punjab. With…

Pakistan stands at a pivotal juncture in its governance trajectory, where modernizing administrative structures has become essential for unlocking the nation’s full socio-economic potential. The proposal to restructure the federation into 12 distinct provinces represents a forward-thinking strategic initiative designed to bring public administration closer to the people. By expanding the number of administrative units, the nation can transition toward a more agile, inclusive, and responsive model of governance that ensures balanced growth across every region. The primary catalyst for establishing 12 provinces lies in the sheer demographic and geographical scale of the existing setup. Managing a population of over…

The Taliban returned to power nearly five years ago with grand promises of stability, but their ruling apparatus has instead pushed Afghanistan into a cycle of self-inflicted economic ruin and social regression. At the heart of this collapse lies a cruel and shortsighted strategy aimed at stripping women and girls of their fundamental rights. By systematically barring women from public life, banning girls from secondary schools, and prohibiting female employment, the Taliban regime is not just suppressing half its population; it is actively tearing down the foundation of the nation’s economic and political future. The economic cost of this systemic…

Pakistan’s Foreign Media Facilitation Guidelines, 2026, have triggered a predictable wave of criticism from international media outlets and advocacy groups. The outrage, however, reveals far more about selective standards than about any novel authoritarian impulse in Islamabad. Registration, accreditation and permission for reporting from sensitive areas are recognised state practices across the world. Presenting the same measures as uniquely oppressive merely because Pakistan has formalised them exposes a clear double standard. According to the official Foreign Media Facilitation Guidelines issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s External Publicity Wing, registration is mandatory for foreign media houses and all personnel…

For long, water has been thought as one of the pillars of development and survival, which can be utilized as a means of change instead of as a weapon for change in geopolitical context. The recent remarks by the Indian government about the future water flows towards Pakistan, however, have alarmed a lot on the waters of peace and stability of South Asia and the future of trans-boundary river flow system of the world’s most important one. Such measures – recently mentioned in public discussions – would not just be a bilateral one, but would question on-going principles of international…

Pakistan’s recent cooperation with Russia regarding the issue of illegal migration and drugs trafficking is significant as it is bringing Islamabad increasingly in the mainstream of Pakistan’s proactive and responsible activities in the region for enhancing regional security cooperation. Signing an agreement with Russia’s Interior Minister, Vladimir Kolokoltsev, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting in Bishkek, the Interior Minister had highlighted that building a coordinated institutional response to modern threats was important, as opposed to taking isolated action between the two countries. But Pakistan has been occupying a most important geographical and strategic junction of South Asia,…

Diplomacy, conflict and repositioning the Middle East is happening again. Old loyalties are on the test, new relationships are beginning to form and governments throughout the region are re-evaluating their position in an evolving political landscape. Central to this change is the Abraham Accords and the fresh squabbles over Iran and the rising prominence of Pakistan as a diplomatic force, in the attempt to maintain stability in the region. What started as a landmark deal in 2020 between Israel and a number of Arab nations, today is a constituent of a far expanded geopolitical discourse. The Abraham Accords are no…

War leaves behind a lot; silence, dust, broken walls and empty spaces where the normal life had been. It exposes bedrooms to the elements, turns kitchens into rubble, finds school books under concrete, and turns streets into topography barely recognisable. And maybe the big deadweight that war leaves is rubble–not merely broken rock, but the ruins of memories, habits and lives abruptly terminated. Rubble is normally regarded as the ultimate product of destruction. Here ends the stories. But where I was? Two sisters gazing on that rubble and envisioning a start. In front of the rubble of their war-blown house,…

A river system which transcends nationals’ borders is one of the most delicate resources in international politics. The value of rivers is not limited to supplying drinking water, rivers are also responsible to sustain agriculture, electricity production, supporting ecosystems and ensuring economic stability. A river that passes more than one state becomes a common resource of nature which should be ruled by law, collaboration, and mutual respect. Indus River system between India and Pakistan is a prime example. Throughout, there have been sensitivities in Pakistan whenever developments in the upstream are thought to have an impact on downstream flows under…

There is a rising wave of maritime redirection through the shipping routes of Asia beginning to transform the regional economics of trade, with energy logistics, alleviation of congestion of ports on the one hand and geopolitical upheavals and disturbances on the other, consolidating to provide new investment avenues in the Arabian Sea. It is against this backdrop that the proposed mega-scale Energy City and multi-purpose terminal at Port Qasim are now being planned-developments that mirror a strategic movement towards positioning the maritime infrastructure as a key means of economic development as opposed to a peripheral one. Arab News reports that…