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Terrorist havens

DESPITE the use of both carrots and sticks by the international community, the Afghan Taliban refuse to cut their ties to terrorist groups such as the TTP. This poses a particular problem to Afghanistan’s neighbours, including Pakistan, which has borne the brunt of terrorist violence ever since the Taliban’s return to Kabul in 2021 . Both KP and Balochistan are currently in the grip of violent insurgencies, with the elements responsible for the bloodshed finding safe havens in Afghanistan. Pakistan raised the issue at the UN Security Council on Wednesday, with this country’s permanent representative highlighting the “increasingly permissive environment” for terrorist groups in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover. He urged the Taliban to fulfil their obligations and ensure Afghan soil is not used against neighbouring states. China’s representative at the same forum echoed these concerns, urging the Taliban to take action, whilst supporting Pakistan’s counterterrorism efforts. The C...
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Hormuz shipping prospects remain uncertain

• Tanker reports fresh explosions in strait; US naval blockade remains in place • US imports of Middle East crude set to cross 0.6m barrels per day • Vance, Ghalibaf trade barbs over ‘messy negotiations’ WASHINGTON / TEH­RAN: Despite an understanding between Iran and Oman, fresh security incidents in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday highlighted the continued risks for regional shipping in the critical waterway. While the agreement would be a step towards reopening the key energy route, Iranian media stressed that any easing still hinged on Washington ending its own naval blockade of Iran’s ports. On Thursday, Centcom said it continued to enforce the naval blockade of Iran, redirecting 49 commercial vessels, disabling two, and boarding two. Highlighting the risks to ships, the captain of an oil tanker reported hearing two explosions while transiting the strait, nine nautical miles southeast of Kumzar in Oman, Britain’s maritime securi...
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Need for dialogue

THE interior minister’s comments at an Islamabad seminar last week have sparked many a conversation about the state of the ‘system’. Political leaders, as well as commentators, are all weighing in on the significance of his remarks, as he is seen to be close to those that matter in Pakistan. At the event, Mohsin Naqvi had spoken, among other things, of the need for political parties to start a dialogue, and for national leaders to put aside their differences and discuss governance issues. Picking up on this thread, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, while addressing an event in Quetta on Tuesday, stressed the need for holding a multiparty moot to discuss national problems, though he was critical of Mr Naqvi’s call for new provinces. Speaking before the interior minister’s comments, the PTI had last month similarly called for a ‘grand national dialogue’ involving political parties, the establishment and civil society. As the maulana said, “force alone ...
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Islamabad raises Afghan terrorism concerns at UN Security Council

WASHINGTON: Pakistan on Wednesday informed the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) that multiple terrorist groups continued to operate from safe havens inside Afghanistan, posing a growing threat to regional security. Speaking at a UNSC briefing on threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad also highlighted Islamabad’s concerns over Jammu and Kashmir, as the Council met on the seventh anniversary of India’s August 5, 2019, decision to revoke the region’s special constitutional status. Ahmad described the measures imposed on that day as a new phase of repression against the Kashmiri people and accused India of committing what he called “state terrorism” in the disputed territory. He said the international community must show “zero tolerance” for such actions and should not allow counterterrorism efforts to be used as a pretext to suppress what Pakistan describes as legitimate s...
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Rethinking governance in Pakistan

EVERY few years, Pakistan revisits the debate on creating new provinces. The interior minister’s recent proposal to establish smaller administrative units has again raised an important question. Yet the real issue is not how many provinces Pa­­kistan should have. It is whether government is close enough to serve its citizens effectively. Adm­inistrative boundaries matter only because they influence how quickly people receive education, healthcare, justice, infrastructure and disaster relief. If governance remains distant and unresponsive, merely redrawing maps won’t improve lives. With over 240 million people spread across nearly 796,000 square kilometres, Pakistan is one of the world’s largest federations. Its administrative challenges vary enormously — from the mountains of Gilgit-Baltistan to the deserts of Thar and the vast expanse of Balochistan. A governance model suited to Lahore or Karachi cannot automatically meet the needs of Kech, Upper Kohistan or Astore. The real challen...
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State of confusion

FROM the looks of it, America has no exit strategy to extricate itself from the disastrous war with Iran. US President Donald Trump has alternated between issuing bombastic threats to the Iranians, to claiming that peace was at hand, sometimes making a sharp U-turn within hours. This is not how responsible statecraft plays out. In the past, he had threatened to destroy Iranian civilisation, while more recently he said the US was ready to use “Military Terror … not seen since World War II” against the Islamic Republic. In his latest pronouncement, the US leader has given Iran a “last chance” to choose between a “deal [or] total surrender”. The five-month-old war has shown that the Iranians have mostly remained unfazed by Mr Trump’s threats. The chaos at the White House is understandable. Mr Trump jumped headfirst into the war on Feb 28 at Israel’s persuasion, without doing his homework. Perhaps if he had studied the mistakes his predecessors had made i...
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Cotton production jumps 32 per cent

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Textile mills have become reliant on imports amid falling cotton output.—PPI/file LAHORE: Phutti (seed-cotton) arrivals at ginning factories rose by more than 32 per cent year-on-year by July 31, driven by a sharp increase in Sindh despite a slight decline in Punjab, according to the figures released by the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) on Monday. The PCGA fortnightly report revealed that phutti arrivals reached 785,822 bales by July 31, up 32.33pc from 593,821 bales received during the corresponding period last year. It showed that Punjab’s arrivals stood at 298,150 bales, down 1.1 per cent from a year earlier, while Sindh recorded 487,672 bales, marking a record 66.82pc increase despite recent monsoon rains. Balochistan also posted a 52.67pc rise in arrivals to 22,900 bales. Cotton Ginners Forum Chairman Ihsanul Haq pointed out a significant discrepancy between the PCGA figures and the Punjab government’s Crop Reporting Service (CRS). While...
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