Perspectives - South Asia Times

Safety beyond Borders: PNRA’s Contribution to a Safe and Secure World

Nazia Sheikh December 24, 2025

Pakistan’s Nuclear Regulatory Authority plays a pivotal role in advancing global nuclear safety by aligning national regulation with international standards. Through active engagement with the IAEA, multilateral forums, peer reviews, and bilateral cooperation, PNRA demonstrates how responsible nuclear governance transcends borders and contributes to collective international security.

Majoritarian Politics and the Erosion of Minority Dignity in India: The Bihar Hijab Incident

Nimra Khalil December 22, 2025

The forcible removal of a Muslim woman doctor’s hijab by Bihar’s Chief Minister was not an isolated lapse of conduct but a revealing moment in India’s evolving political culture. It underscored how majoritarian ideology increasingly normalizes the public humiliation of minorities, particularly Muslim women, and weakens constitutional guarantees of equality, religious freedom, and personal dignity.

Mercenaries or Partisans? Pro-Pakistan Forces in 1971 Bengal

Usama Khan December 16, 2025

Branded as Razakars and dismissed as mercenaries, pro-Pakistan forces in 1971 Bengal were driven by ideology. Their story of loyalty, persecution, and survival challenges the dominant historical narrative.

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

Muhammad Anas Yasir December 12, 2025

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.

Afghanistan’s Trade Boycott: Strategic Miscalculation With Fiscal Consequences

Semavia Ishtiaq December 11, 2025

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.

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

Jerome Enriquez John December 10, 2025

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.

India’s Coercive Foreign Policy in 2025

Farwa Imtiaz December 9, 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.

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

Ibrahim Khalil December 6, 2025

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.

Nuclear Technology at COP30: What It Means for Pakistan’s Clean Energy Goals

Hira Bashir December 2, 2025

At COP30, nuclear energy emerged as a key solution for global clean-energy transitions. For Pakistan, expanding nuclear power, especially through Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), offers a path to cleaner, reliable electricity, despite challenges like high costs and restricted technology access.

Pakistan’s Heritage and Rights Ethos: Unlocking Cultural Diplomacy

Muhammad Yousaf Ilyas December 1, 2025

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.