Author: Nazish Mehmood

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…

The Middle East has now plunged back into a state of dangerous uncertainty with reports that Iran has launched a second wave of missiles and drones against the United Arab Emirates and the Emirati air defenses have succeeded in intercepting the second wave. The incident, after a previous interception reported on April 8, has cost the region the feeling that it was returning to a pattern of confrontation when many had thought that it was heading out of it. To a section of the globe, which exports about a third of all seaborne oil in the world, and to which…

When it comes to the digital finance environment, where a, once, experimental approach is no longer considered experimental but rather foundational, the fact that Pakistan decided to make its virtual assets regulatory software operational is a significant change, however, no longer experimental but rather foundational approach. The nation is sending signal that it will not be a 2023 stragglers in the globalized digital economy. Over the years, the crypto environment in Pakistan resided in a grey area. Though it was not formally regulated, the take up was tremendous. As of the recent years blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis reports that Pakistan…

The latest Iranian missile and drone attack on the United Arab Emirates has gained Pakistan some strong backing again concerning Islamabad long-standing diplomatic policy: Pakistan supports peace, stability, and respect of ceasefires, although it refuses to become a member of any aggressive bloc politics. When the world has revived some uncertainty over the Middle East, the reaction of Pakistan has presented the country as a moderate and authoritative actor whose voice is still heard in the opposing capitals. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif explicitly criticized the attack in a public statement, saying, “Pakistan viciously condemns the missile and drone attacks on…

The events related to the US-Iran conflict in the recent past, as well as the high-profile diplomatic efforts associated with Islamabad, are timely, as the world diplomacy becomes more and more dispersed and responsive. Pakistan, with the report of Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi meeting with the military leadership, including Asim Munir, is again at the centre of a developing regional diplomatic process. What is slowly turning out to be increasingly apparent is that Pakistan is not merely a host of diplomatic relations. It is being actively entrusted with the role of a stable, neutral, and organized platform, in which…