(By Quratulain Khalid) The Warm-Water Obsession For over a century, the Kremlin has harboured a singular, unyielding geopolitical ambition: to reach the warm waters of the Arabian Sea. It is a dream that has shaped empires, triggered wars, and redrawn the map of Eurasia. In December 1979, that dream drove the Soviet Union to send…
(By Khalid Masood) I. The Internet Shutdown Rebellion In late 2025, Hibatullah Akhundzada did what he had done a hundred times before. From his compound in Kandahar, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan issued an edict. This one was sweeping: a nationwide internet shutdown. The reasoning was characteristically theological. The digital realm,…
(By Khalid Masood) I. Background: From Aid Recipient to Defence Partner The United States-Israel Defence Technology Cooperation Initiative did not emerge from a vacuum. It is the culmination of a seven-decade military relationship that has evolved from arms sales and financial aid into something approaching structural fusion. Understanding this trajectory is essential to grasping why…
(By Khalid Masood) 1. Introduction & Background On 7 August 2026, the geopolitical landscape of the Muslim world shifted perceptibly when the Makkah Al-Mukarramah Summit for Joint Defence culminated in a trilateral defence pact among three of the most consequential Sunni-majority military powers: the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Republic of Türkiye, and the Islamic…
Youm-e-Istehsal-e-Kashmir | 5 August 2026 (By Khalid Masood) I. The Night the Lights Went Out On the evening of 4 August 2019, Srinagar fell silent. Not the gentle silence of a winter snowfall, but the suffocating, terrifying silence of a prison. Within hours, telephone lines were severed. The internet was switched off. Television screens went…
(By Khalid Masood) In the perennial search for governance reform in Pakistan, a new constitutional blueprint has emerged that promises nothing less than a root-and-branch restructuring of the state. Titled “Pakistan ke Liye Naye Subay aur Naya Intizami Dhancha”—New Provinces and a New Administrative Structure for Pakistan—the proposal envisions twenty administrative units, a powerful directly…
Riyadh has assembled a maritime alliance to secure the world’s most critical oil chokepoint. The Houthis have declared “full escalation.” And 8,000 Pakistani troops, fighter jets, and air defence batteries are already inside the kingdom — bound by a defence pact that could drag South Asia into the Middle East’s widening war. (By Khalid Masood)…
How Tehran Turned the World’s Oil Artery into a Sword — and Why Neither Side Can Afford to Keep It Open (By Khalid Masood) On the morning of 28 February 2026, the first cruise missiles arced across the Persian Gulf and the war with Iran began. Five months later, the Strait of Hormuz is no…
A Strategic Analysis of India’s Domestic Politics, Regional Security, and the Future of South Asia (By Khalid Masood) Introduction Relations between India and Pakistan have once again entered a period of heightened tension. Speaking on the occasion of the 26th Kargil Vijay Diwas, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh adopted a hardline stance, declaring that any…
kistan-China Pharmaceutical and Health Care B2B Investment Conference Historic $850 million in deals signals Pakistan’s bold bid for pharmaceutical self-reliance (By Quratulain Khalid) In the sprawling landscape of global pharmaceuticals, one fact stands above all others: China is the world’s largest manufacturer. But what fewer people realise is that China is rapidly becoming the world’s…
