After Pakistan’s military “win” in the May 2025 confrontation with India, the army under Asim Munir as field marshal has even greater power over the state, the civilian government and the judiciary
The economist discusses the impact of proposed US tariffs on exports, balance of payments and debt in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and other Southasian countries
This week in Himal
This week, Salman Rafi Sheikh writes about the warm reception Pakistan’s army chief received in Washington DC, as the US courts Pakistan as a potential
The United States and Donald Trump are courting the Pakistan military as an ally in a war against Iran, but Pakistan’s present problems and hard lessons from the US-led invasion of Afghanistan should offer grave warnings
Women are leading protests against disappearances and demanding equal participation in the Baloch struggle, but Mahrang Baloch and others face repression by the Pakistan government amid an intensified crackdown in Balochistan
Pakistan’s paranoia over India suspending the Indus Waters Treaty after the Pahalgam attacks is unfounded, lacking an understanding of geography, hydrology or its water security
Operation Sindoor, India’s strikes on Pakistan after the Pahalgam attack, set off unprecedented warmongering, with the media, the Hindu Right and even the opposition baying for an India–Pakistan war
A century on from the publication of Virginia Woolf’s ‘Mrs Dalloway’, a young writer recounts how Clarissa Dalloway’s famous walk has spanned London and Karachi, and continues evermore
Kashmiri Muslims have been the major victims of the gun from both sides – the militants and security forces – and yet they have been alienated by India, the veteran journalist says
Pakistan’s flawed domestic and foreign policies – especially its mishandling of Afghanistan – have led to a deterioration in its relations with both the rival superpowers of China and the United States
While trying to secure their competing interests, India and China will both help bring investment into Afghanistan and legitimacy to the Taliban government
