by Kamran Yusuf in The Express Tribune, Dec 31, 2023ISLAMABAD: At the start of the year, which coincidentally happened to be two months after the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) announced the end of a ceasefire with the Pakistani government, Peshawar’s Red Zone was rocked by a suicide blast that killed hundreds. Although the TTP initially claimed responsibility for the heinous attack and later retracted the statement, the incident set the tone for Pakistan’s relations with…
Posts tagged as “policy”
By Mitra Majeedy in TOLOnews Online Dec 29, 2023 at 9:03 PMAfter the request of the Islamic Emirate to the leader of Pakistan’s Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman, to visit Kabul, now the leader of this party, emphasizing the establishment of trust between Kabul and Islamabad, said that this work should be part of Pakistan’s foreign policy. He also added that he will travel to Afghanistan after the election campaign to discuss common interests. The leader…
Report in The Kathmandu Post, Dec 21, 2023The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority has decried the tendency of governments at all three levels to make policy decisions through the Cabinet or similar authorities at provincial and local levels to avoid investigation by the anti-graft body. Making public its 46-point suggestion to the government on Wednesday, the anti-graft body called for an end to such practice. The commission said that the suggestions were provided…
by Anwar Iqbal in Dawn, Dec 20th, 2023WASHINGTON: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Asim Munir engaged with US scholars and foreign policy experts in Washington on Tuesday on the last leg of his week-long visit to the United States. The meeting covered the regional security situation in South Asia and economic stability in Pakistan, which some of the participants thought was linked to political stability and security in the country. On Monday, the army…
report in The News, Dec 18, 2023Functioning as a security state, Pakistan has long formulated its foreign policy choices based on security needs and the aspiration to establish itself as a hard military power, says a report by a US-based think tank. According to Middle East Institute’s report, the approach has allowed the military to play a leading role in shaping both domestic and foreign policy decisions, often overshadowing civilian institutions. However, with changing global…
By Mariana Baabar in The News, December 06, 2023ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Special Representative on Afghanistan Asif Durrani and Ambassador Julieta Valls Noyes, US Assistant Secretary for Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, in their meeting at the Foreign Office on Tuesday focused specifically on Pakistan’s policy of the return to Afghanistan of all undocumented Afghans and those assured by Washington they would be eligible for consideration under the US Refugee Admissions Programme (USRAP). “It was a…
Report in The Kathmandu Post, Nov 25, 2023Almost six months after Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s visit to India, the status of progress and follow-up to the agreements reached during the four-day official trip are dismal, said lawmakers and foreign policy experts. During a roundtable discussion on Friday organised by the Centre for Social Inclusion and Federalism (CESIF), Raj Kishor Yadav, the chairman of the parliamentary International Relations and Tourism Committee, said the visit was…
Report in TOLOnews Online, Nov 23, 2023 at 9:36 PMProtests continue across the Durand Line in the Chaman area of Quetta, Balochistan, against Pakistan’s policy which stipulates passengers must have a visa. The protestors said that they will continue their demonstration until the Pakistan government rescinds its decision. They also blocked the Chaman-Quetta highway from 20th November. “They are neighboring countries, when someone wants to cross to the other side, what is the need for…
By Fatema Adeeb in TOLOnews Online, Nov 14, 2023 at 8:35 PMInternational Crisis Group’s expert Ibraheem Bahiss, in a “Q and A” released by ICG stated that Pakistan’s policy to deport Afghan refugees “could bring further trouble to the region,” notwithstanding Islamabad’s efforts to justify itself on security grounds. According to Bahiss, despite the immediate outcry from the UN and other international bodies, Islamabad seems intent on forcing all undocumented Afghans back to their home…
by Rameez Khan in The Express Tribune, Nov 13, 2023LAHORE: With the ‘powerful circles’ overtly supporting the PML-N, the PPP cannot point the finger at it, fearing the instant ramifications of annoying the ‘kingmakers’ of the time, a leader of the latter party told The Express Tribune while commenting on the political landscape of the country. A former ally of the PPP, the PML-N seems busy building a grand alliance to form a national government.Everybody…
What Went Wrong with Pakistan’s “Strategic Depth” Policy?
by Abdul Rehman in South Voices, Henry L. Stimson Center, Dec 14, 2023As Pakistan begins deporting 1.7 million undocumented Afghan refugees, Pak-Afghan relations stand at a historical low. Almost four decades ago, when Soviet forces invaded Afghanistan, four million Afghan refugees migrated to Pakistan to seek shelter. Following recent growing tensions between Kabul and Islamabad, Pakistan gave all undocumented Afghan migrants – many of which have been born and raised in Pakistan – until November…