(By Khalid Masood) I. Introduction On 22 April 2025, the Pahalgam attack in Jammu and Kashmir claimed 26 civilian lives, triggering a brief but intense Indo-Pak conflict from 7 to 10 May 2025, codenamed Operation Sindoor by India and Muarka-e-Baqa by Pakistan in retaliation. This escalation, driven by Indian airstrikes on Pakistan and Azad Kashmir,…
(Quratulain Khalid) I. Introduction In July 2025, Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s visit to China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Foreign Ministers’ Conference in Tianjin marked the first such high-level trip since the 2020 Galwan Valley clash, a deadly skirmish that plunged India-China relations into a deep freeze. Against a backdrop of border…
(By Khalid Masood) In a bold move to deepen defence ties, Russia has proposed supplying India with its fifth-generation Sukhoi Su-57E stealth fighter and the Sukhoi S-70 Okhotnik-B unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) in a Manned-Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T) configuration, announced in early July 2025. This offer, presented by Russia’s state-owned Rostec and Sukhoi, aligns with…
(By Khalid Masood) On 12 June 2025, Air India Flight 171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner bound for London Gatwick from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, crashed moments after takeoff, claiming 260 lives, including 241 of 242 passengers and crew and 19 people on the ground. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) of India released…
(By Khalid Masood) Every year on July 13, Kashmir Martyrs’ Day (Youm-e-Shuhada-e-Kashmir) is solemnly observed across Pakistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), and by Kashmiris worldwide to honor the 21 martyrs killed by Dogra forces outside Srinagar Central Jail in 1931. This day marks a pivotal moment in the Kashmiri struggle for freedom, symbolizing resistance…
(Quratulain Khalid) India, a nation celebrated for its kaleidoscopic cultural diversity and religious pluralism, stands at a crossroads with the proposed Uniform Civil Code (UCC), a legislative ambition to standardise personal laws governing marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption, and maintenance across all communities. Enshrined in Article 44 of the Indian Constitution as a Directive Principle of…
(Ayesha Mohsin) In Saadat Hasan Manto’s 1951 short story Yazid, a Pakistani villager laments India’s ability to choke the rivers flowing into Pakistan, a fear that resonates chillingly in 2025. On 22 April 2025, the Pahalgam attack in Indian Occupied Kashmir, which claimed 26 civilian lives, prompted India to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT),…
(By Mohsin Tanveer) In the annals of Indian history, few leaders have polarised the nation as profoundly as Narendra Modi, Prime Minister since 2014. While his supporters hail him as a transformative figure, critics label him India’s “worst-ever Prime Minister.” The scathing critique accuses Modi of undermining democracy, fostering societal divisions, and promoting organised hatred…
(By Khalid Masood) Arrogance, as Dante wrote in Inferno, is one of the “tongues men know and heed, a babel of despair.” Defined as an attitude of superiority manifested in overbearing conduct or presumptuous claims, arrogance erodes humility and fosters self-obsession, blinding leaders to their weaknesses while exaggerating perceived strengths (Merriam-Webster). In the case of…
(By Ayesha Mohsin) In a seismic shift in South Asian geopolitics, China and Pakistan are spearheading an audacious initiative to replace the dormant South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) with a new regional bloc that pointedly excludes India. Advanced discussions, highlighted by a trilateral meeting in Kunming, China, on 19 June 2025, involving Pakistan,…
