بے نظیر انکم سپورٹ پروگرام پر تنقید کرنے والوں کو سوشل پروٹیکشن, سوشل سیفٹی نیٹ اور ان کنڈیشنل کیش ٹرانسفر کی اے بی سی بھی معول نہیں ہوتی۔ جس ملک میں ہر سال غریبوں سے دولت امیروں کی طرف منتقل ہوتی ہے وہاں غریب ترین لوگوں کو ملنے والا یہ واحد جھونگا بھی بہت لوگوں کو برداشت نہیں ہوتا۔
I think it is a pill that Pakistan has been avoiding to swallow for the longest time. Because of our past support to Afghan Taliban, we have conveniently avoided to make the distinction between Afghan Taliban and Afghans. Time to be upfront about it. Afghans are our brothers
Yes, agreed, humanitarian medical visas for cancer patients from Afghanistan who are either already undergoing treatment or seek such medical care in Pakistan’s hospitals should be issued! This would be in keeping with Pakistan’s longstanding open-door, warm-hearted tradition of hospitality, be it neighboring Afghans, or beleaguered Bosnians or oppressed Palestinians! Humanity should trump Politics!
Attended a friend’s birthday where they had Raees Khan, a violinist from Pakistan, play.
When it comes to music selection, Pakistani gatherings fulfill me much more than indian ones, I feel, because Pakistani ones have an equal mix of Indian and Pakistani songs, while Indians, even if they do play Pakistani songs, have a limited repertoire, and a different taste (Ghulam Ali, for instance, who rarely makes it to Pakistani setlists).
Anyway, I decided to document every song he played, and I feel it’s an accurate representation of how seamless and nationality-blind the Pakistani experience is when it comes to the enjoyment of music.
1. Tajdaar-e-Haram (CS version) P
2. Sadaa Hoon Apnay Pyaar Ki (Noor Jahan) P
3. Aa Jaa Sanam Madhur Chandni mayn (Lata) I
4. Ik pyaar ka Naghma Hai (Lata, Mukesh) I
5. Mujhe Tum Nazar Se Gira (Mehdi Hasan) P
6. Sar e Raah Chalte Chalte (Lata) I
7. Daachi Waaleya Mor Mohaar Ve (Rubina Qureshi) P
8. Sunn Vanjli DiMithri Taan Ve (Noor Jahan) P
9. Tum Hi Ho (Arijit Singh) I
10. Aa Bhee Ja (Lucky Ali) I
11. Babu ji Dheere Chalna (Geeta Dutt) I
12. Aaj Phir Jeenay ki Tammanna (Lata) I
13. Chann Kithaan Guzaari Aai Raat Ve (folk by various artists from India and Pakistan. Pre-partition)
14. Mundeya Dupatta Chadd Mera (Noor Jahan) P
15. Chale tau Kat hee Jaae ga Safar (Musarrat Nazir) P
16. Kehnday Ne Naina (Noor Jahan) P
Medley 17. (Pukaarta chala hoon mayn (Rafi {I)}, 18. Beqaraar Kar Ke Hamayn Yuun Na Jaaiye (Hemant Kumar {I}), 19. The Pink Panther tune (Henry Mancini), 20. Kisi Ki Muskuraahaton Pe Ho Nisaar (Mukesh {I})
9 Pakistani songs and 11 indian. Love how balanced that is.
This young man was at the regular Tuesday sit-in outside Adiala jail, where Imran Khan is held. He carried this poster with a photograph of Field Marshal Asim Munir saluting Imran Khan, with the caption:
"He will always be a leader,
You will always remain a servant”
He was quickly arrested
Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir is so scared of the Pakistani Shia community that he censored an article of The New York Times printed in Pakistan today about Pakistani officials scrambling to contain rising domestic Shia anger in Pakistan about the US war and Pak mediation.
ایم 6 موٹروے کی تعمیر کے لیے ایشیائی ترقیاتی بینک اور این ایچ اے کے درمیان معاہدہ خوش آئیند ہے جس پر پوری قوم کو مبارکباد۔ جو منصوبہ 30 سال میں شروع نہ ہو سکا اللہ کے کرم سے 2 سال کے عرصہ میں ہی شروع ہونے جا رہا ہے۔ یہ شاہراہ کراچی تا سکھر کوریڈور کا "مسنگ لنک" ہے جو پاکستان کی معاشی ترقی کے لیے ناگزیر ہے۔ اس کی تعمیر سے کراچی پورٹ سے ٹریفک پشاور اور گلگت تک موٹروے کے ذریعے باآسانی جا سکے گی۔306 کلومیٹر طویل چھ رویہ موٹروے پر 15 انٹرچینج اور 10 سروس ایریاز تعمیر کیے جائیں گے۔اسلامی ترقیاتی بینک اور اوپیک فنڈ پہلے ہی تین مختلف سیکشنز کی فنانسنگ منظور کر چکے ہیں۔ انشاءاللہ اسے صرف 2 سال کے عرصہ میں مکمل کیا جائے گا۔
If you’re looking for a polite take, this isn’t it.
I’ve said it repeatedly on the Conflicted podcast: Pakistan was never a neutral mediator between Washington and Tehran. Not for a second. What we’re watching now is not diplomacy, it’s pure manipulation dressed up as statecraft.
Let’s call things by their proper names. Under field marshal Asim Munir, Pakistan isn’t some balanced civilian democracy playing honest broker. It’s a military system with a democratic façade, pursuing its own interests with a level of cynicism that should surprise no one who has followed its behavior over the past two decades.
What did they sell to Donald Trump? A fantasy. A pipe dream. That the Islamic Republic can be reasoned with. That it is pragmatic, not ideological. That it is capable of compromise if only you flatter it enough and give it incentives. In short: that you can extract “the deal of the century” from a regime whose entire strategic doctrine is built on resisting precisely that outcome.
And Trump - obsessed with the optics of a deal - bought it.
Meanwhile, senior voices inside Pakistan weren’t even pretending neutrality. A defence minister pushing conspiratorial narratives, blaming the “Zionists,” portraying Iran as a victim, while 6,000 missiles and drones were raining down on GCC states that host millions of Pakistani workers. That alone should have been disqualifying.
If a country is willing to throw its own economic lifeline (the Gulf) under the bus for ideological or tactical alignment with Tehran, what exactly makes anyone think it would safeguard American interests?
And here’s the uncomfortable part: this isn’t new.
We’ve seen this movie before. The United States spent years, treasure, and blood in Afghanistan, only to discover that Osama bin Laden, and his network, were living comfortably in Pakistan all along - while Pakistan was simultaneously cashing in on US counterterrorism billions in funding. They didn’t fail to find the target. They bloody managed it.
Why end the hunt when the hunt itself pays and pays pretty well?
Fast forward to today, and the pattern repeats, only this time the battlefield is Iran. At the very moment the regime was under maximum pressure (militarily strained, economically cornered, strategically exposed) Pakistan steps in, not to mediate, but to buy Tehran time. Time to regroup, breathe, and ultimately survive.
That’s not mediation. That’s intervention - on one side.
From a cold, historical lens, this may well be remembered as the pivot point. The moment when pressure was lifted prematurely. When momentum was lost. When a winnable strategic position was traded for the illusion of a negotiated breakthrough that was never going to materialise, ever!
Five years from now, looking back, this could read like a familiar chapter:
First Afghanistan - undermined from within.
Now Iran - diluted from without.
In both cases, Pakistan didn’t just mislead Washington. It shaped the battlefield to its advantage, all while claiming partnership with a clueless US administration.
And Washington, once again, chose to believe what it wanted to hear.
We often romanticize mediation as resolution. But in today’s strategic environment, diplomacy is less about ending conflicts and more about preventing their collapse into something far worse. Pakistan’s role, then, is not to solve the Middle East. It is to help ensure that crises remain manageable rather than catastrophic. That may not sound ambitious. But in a region where escalation pathways are shortening, and misperceptions are accelerating, it is precisely the kind of diplomacy that matters.
BREAKING
Pakistan has formally requested both Iran and the US to consider extending the ceasefire.
The appeal comes from Pakistan's FM after meeting with US acting Ambassador to Islamabad just a while ago.
"He (Dar) stressed the need for engagement between the United States and Iran, urged both sides to consider extending the ceasefire, and to give dialogue and diplomacy a chance," the FO quoted Dar as saying.
اڑتالیس گھنٹے اہم ہیں ۔وہ آنے والے ہیں۔آرہے ہیں۔ چند گھنٹوں میں آرہے ہیں۔وینس آئیں گے۔۔نہیں وہ نہیں آئیں گے ۔ٹرمپ نہیں آئیں گے۔وہ کہہ رہے ہیں آئیں گے۔کچھ دن بعد معاملات دیکھ کر آئیں گے۔ایک گھنٹے میں پہنچنے والے ہیں۔ابھی تک امریکہ سے نکلے ہی نہیں۔کچھ دیر میں امریکہ سے نکلیں گے۔
انٹرنیشنل میڈیا
سورس۔صدر ٹرمپ۔وائٹ ہاؤس۔
پچھلے چار دن پاکستانی صحافیوں پر بڑی تنقید ہوئی کہ یہاں کسی صحافی کو صدر پرائم منسٹر کال کرکے کچھ بتاتے ہیں۔
اللہ کا شکر نہیں بتاتے 😂😂😂