- 30 April, 2024
Geopolitics & National Security
Sushant Sareen
Sushant Sareen is Senior Fellow at Observer Research Foundation. An expert on Pakistan and Terrorism, his published works include Balochistan: Forgotten War, Forsaken People (2017), Corridor Calculus: China-Pakistan Economic Corridor & China’s Comprador model of investment in Pakistan (2016).
Articles Lists
Pakistan’s Muddled Political Scene: Denouement or Drama?
One way or another, history is in the making in Pakistan. One of two things which have never happened before, could happen in the next few weeks and months. If the opposition parties are able to carry through a no-confidence motion (NCM) against the ‘selected’ Prime Minister Imran Khan, it will
Pakistan I.M.F’d
Pakistanis were ecstatic when Prime Minister Imran Khan said ‘absolutely not’ to a question on whether his country will give bases to US to carry out operations in Afghanistan. Imran’s harangues against the West, including his remarks about how Taliban have ‘shaken off the shackles of slaver
Pakistan and The Paradox of Power
One of the immutable, if also somewhat counter-intuitive, laws of Pakistani politics is best described as the Paradox of Power. According to this, the stronger a politician appears, the weaker he becomes; conversely, the weaker a politician gets, the more power and strength he gains. In the former c
Pakistan: Cooking Up Half-Baked ‘Raw’ Stories
In recent days, the Pakistani state and military establishment has had to make two stunning U-turns to kowtow before ‘Indian agents’. The first was a humiliating surrender to the Tehrik-e-Labbaik (TLP); the second was the verbal and intellectual gymnastics to justify an even more humiliating dea
Labbaik Long March: Pakistan Between Scylla and Charybdis
On October 6, relations between the military and the civilian government in Pakistan took a tumble after Prime Minister Imran Khan refused to issue the orders appointing Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum as the new ISI chief despite him being picked for the post by the Army Chief Gen Qamar Bajwa. Nearly two weeks
‘Insufficient Actions Against Terrorists’-FATF Verdict Continues to Bleed Pakistan
There were no surprises coming out of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plenary which concluded in Paris on October 21. Pakistan had hoped that it would be taken out of the ‘jurisdictions under increased monitoring’ or the grey list, but also expected was that it might take some more doing
Imran Khan-Pakistan Army Tensions: A Mexican Standoff
What was supposed to have been a routine transfer and posting in the top echelons of the Pakistan Army has now become a full-blown civil-military crisis. When the reshuffle in the top brass was announced by the ISPR on 6th October, the only issue of interest was that the incumbent DG ISI Lt Gen Faiz
US-Pakistan Relations: What Sanctions?
When the first reports came of 22 Republican senators in the US Senate moving a bill to sanction the Taliban and other persons/entities assisting them, alarm bells started ringing in Pakistan. Among other things, the proposed law titled ‘Afghanistan Counterterrorism, Oversight, and Accountability
Imran Khan Being His Vacuous, Vapid and Vituperative Self in UNGA
As much as Imran Khan’s cult (which includes obsequious retired Pakistani generals, diplomats and ‘serving’ journalists) might like to imagine that the world comes to a stop when Taliban Khan speaks on a global platform, the fact of the matter is that other than a handful of people who are Pak
Imran Khan’s Winter of Discontent Approaching
The great paradox of Pakistan politics is that the stronger a leader appears, the weaker he becomes; conversely, the weaker a leader appears, the more stable his government becomes. The latter, because he isn’t seen as a mortal threat to anyone. To survive he keeps compromising. This removes the u
Faiz Hameed’s Mission Imposition in Kabul
The visit of Pakistan’s spymaster, DG ISI Lt Gen Faiz Hameed, to Kabul in full public glare has not only re-confirmed what the world has known for long – the strings of the Taliban are being pulled by the boys in Aabpara (ISI Headquarters in Islamabad) – it has also raised questions over the m
#SanctionPakistan
Twitter trends normally have a fairly short shelf life – a few hours or a day at best. But sometimes these trends last for days and become metaphors for a sentiment, and a clarion call for action. For nearly a week, #SanctionPakistan has been trending on twitter, making tens of millions of ‘impr