Hurmat Ali Shah

Hurmat Ali Shah is currently a postdoctoral researcher. He writes on socio-political issues and is particularly interested in core–periphery relations in Pakistan.

Pashto poetry’s journey from love to war and resistance

With Pashtuns suffering massive violence from the Taliban, Islamist militants and the Pakistan state, Pashto poetry today reflects the community’s new blood-soaked reality

Oct 16, 2023

Pashtuns will not be pawns in Pakistan’s dangerous game with the TTP and Taliban

Recent protests in Swat and Waziristan highlight discontent with rising militancy and the Pakistan military

Feb 17, 2023

The anatomy of Urdu

How the language of state-making in Pakistan contributes to the erasure of regional languages.

Apr 12, 2021

Silence in Swat

Memory, militancy and the military in Swat Valley.

Sep 28, 2020

Redefining citizenship in Pakistan

The PTM movement envisions an alternate relationship between citizen and state.

Apr 28, 2020

Latest Articles

Podcast: Uttar Pradesh’s halal ban, Myanmar’s armed groups expose military junta’s weakness, and more

Your Southasia news roundup from 20 Nov - 1 Dec 2023, plus an interview with Aung Kaung Myat on Operation 1027 in Myanmar

India’s slow-burn affair with Israel heats up

Azad Essa’s 'Hostile Homelands' explores the ideological convergence of Hindutva and Zionism, and the consequences for Kashmir and Palestine – but there is much more driving India and Israel’s deepening ties

Disillusioned with the Taliban, Pakistan reverses its four-decade Afghan policy

As Kabul refuses to act against the TTP and Baloch militant groups, Pakistan is ending the support it has extended to the Taliban since 1994 and its welcome to refugees from Afghanistan since the 1980s

The limited genius of Geoffrey Bawa

‘Geoffrey Bawa: Drawing from the Archives’ allows an exploration of the rift between the celebrated architect’s vision for nation-building in Sri Lanka and the country’s present reality