Perspectives

Blood and Gold: How Sudan’s War Became the World’s Greatest Human Rights Failure:

Blood and Gold: How Sudan’s War Became the World’s Greatest Human Rights Failure

Sudan’s war is not misunderstood, it is deliberately ignored. Fuelled by a gold economy tied to foreign profiteers, the conflict has dismantled the country while the world watches in silence. As the RSF and SAF wage a war built on extraction and exploitation, millions are displaced, starved, and erased from global concern. Sudan’s suffering exposes a deeper truth: human rights protections collapse where profit thrives and African lives remain invisible.

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Afghanistan’s Trade Boycott: Strategic Miscalculation With Fiscal Consequences

Afghanistan’s Trade Boycott: Strategic Miscalculation With Fiscal Consequences

Afghanistan’s 2025 trade boycott of Pakistan exposes a strategic miscalculation. Despite efforts to shift toward Iran and Central Asia, Kabul remains structurally dependent on Pakistan’s mature trade corridors, customs revenue, labour mobility, and logistical efficiency. Alternative routes carry higher costs, sanctions risks, and operational delays, leaving the Taliban with mounting fiscal losses and regional constraints.

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Criminalising Dissent: How New Laws and “Public Order” Politics Are Shrinking Democratic Space in India

Criminalising Dissent: How New Laws and “Public Order” Politics Are Shrinking Democratic Space in India

India is witnessing a steady erosion of democratic freedoms as broad security laws, digital surveillance, and administrative restrictions redefine dissent as a threat rather than a constitutional right. From expanded use of UAPA and IT Rules to routine protest crackdowns and shrinking academic space, the cumulative impact is a quieter and increasingly constrained civic sphere.

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India’s Coercive Foreign Policy in 2025 By Farwa Imtiaz

India’s Coercive Foreign Policy in 2025

India’s foreign policy in 2025 marks a clear break from its earlier soft-power orientation, shifting toward overt coercion and interference. Once seen as a restrained global actor, India now increasingly relies on hard power, diplomatic pressure, and transnational repression to shape external outcomes. Through cases in Canada, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Türkiye, this article shows how India has adopted a more assertive—and often destabilizing—approach to protect its expanding ambitions, using tools ranging from foreign interference to military escalation and economic coercion.

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A sharp critique of Zabihullah Mujahid’s recent evasive remarks on the TTP, exposing Taliban hypocrisy and Afghan complicity in cross-border militancy.

Zabihullah Mujahid’s Bizarre Statement on TTP: A Lesson in Hypocrisy and Evasion

Zabihullah Mujahid’s recent statement dismissing the TTP as Pakistan’s “internal issue” and claiming Pashto lacks the word “terrorist” is a glaring act of evasion. By downplaying a UN-listed militant group hosted on Afghan soil, the Taliban spokesperson attempts to deflect responsibility, despite overwhelming evidence of TTP sanctuaries, leadership, and operations in Afghanistan. His remarks reveal not linguistic nuance, but calculated hypocrisy and political convenience.

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Pakistan’s Heritage and Rights Ethos: Unlocking Cultural Diplomacy

Pakistan’s Heritage and Rights Ethos: Unlocking Cultural Diplomacy

Pakistan’s diverse cultural heritage, from the hospitality of Pashtunwali and Sufi music in Sindh to folk traditions in Punjab, Balochistan, and Gilgit–Baltistan, reflects an enduring rights-based ethos. These living practices promote dignity, justice, and social inclusion. By integrating these traditions into cultural diplomacy, Pakistan can showcase its soft power while supporting custodians of heritage, artisans, and local communities.

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Dividend or Disaster? Why India’s Population Policy Needs a Jobs-first Approach

Dividend or Disaster? Why India’s Population Policy Needs a Jobs-first Approach

India’s youthful demographic profile presents enormous opportunities, but only if the country can generate enough quality jobs. While the Economic Survey 2024 highlights improvements in labour participation and unemployment, deeper structural issues persist, including informal work, regional disparities, and gender gaps. A jobs-first approach is essential to convert India’s demographic advantage into real and sustained economic gains.

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