Pakistan
Ahmad Shah Massoud was Afghanistan’s best hope
Ahmed Shah Massoud was described as ‘the Afghan who won the Cold War’. While famous in France (he was educated…
Pakistan’s masochistic support for the Taliban
Taliban flags are already flying in Islamabad. Among those hoisting the white flag of the group is the women’s madrassa…
Pakistan is the true winner from the Afghan debacle
‘Everyone is getting out – and fast’, the man tells me over a crackling line. He is tired, clearly subdued.…
Pakistan's profane blasphemy laws
An eight-year-old Hindu boy is currently in custody in the southern Punjab. He is the youngest person in Pakistan to…
China is the latest victim of Pakistan's Islamist problem
Nine Chinese engineers were killed in an explosion near Pakistan’s Dasu hydroelectric dam last Wednesday. The government initially said that their…
Death by negligence: why did no one diagnose my sister’s TB?
In 2016, Arifa Akbar’s elder sister, Fauzia, died suddenly in the Royal Free Hospital, London at the age of 45.…
Imran Khan’s dangerous bid to export Pakistan’s blasphemy laws
Imran Khan appears to want to impose Islamic blasphemy laws across the world. ‘I want the Muslim countries to devise…
Imran Khan’s cowardly response to Pakistan's rape crisis
Pakistan’s prime minister Imran Khan has once again blamed women for an appalling rise in rape cases. Khan used a televised question…
When will Pakistan take a stand against terror?
Last week, Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered the release of UK born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh who was accused of kidnapping…
When will Britain take a stand against Pakistan?
Well, now that we’re all fired up about Britain’s moral role in the world courtesy of Theresa May, who is…
Sea change: China has its sights on the Bay of Bengal
China has its sights on the Bay of Bengal
The National Theatre’s live-streaming policy is bizarre
The National’s bizarre livestreaming service continues. On 7 May, for one week only, it released a modern-dress version of Antony…
Islamists are frustrating Pakistan's fight against coronavirus
The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Pakistan currently sits at 2,042 alongside 26 deaths. With only limited healthcare facilities, the country…
History will soon judge this fraught time
Good stories have a dénouement. The Act III moment when all is revealed and the narrative comes in to land…
From Hong Kong to Kashmir, a new authoritarianism is on the rise
Frank Johnson, editor of The Spectator until cruelly sacked to make way for Boris Johnson, never wasted ideas. He liked…
It’s not just cricket: India vs Pakistan is the greatest rivalry in world sport
There are plenty of much-anticipated contests in the 2019 Cricket World Cup. But nothing to compare with this Sunday’s match…
Delhi notebook: Nuclear war is not around the corner
India is not preparing for war, but picking up the newspapers in Delhi you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise.…
Portrait of the week: Resignations galore, Honda’s announcement and Islamic State’s brides
Home Seven MPs resigned from the Labour party and sat in the Commons (next to the DUP) as the Independent…
Who’s really to blame for Pakistan’s terror attacks?
Islamabad Six months into Imran Khan’s premiership and the new Pakistan prime minister has been plunged into his first major…
‘Theresa May has failed Pakistan’s Christians’: An interview with Asia Bibi’s lawyer
Saif ul-Malook greets me in the hallway of his daughter’s home. Pakistani hospitality dictates that a guest should not go…
Shashi Tharoor’s book is a polemic, says Kapil Komireddi – beware of Hindu nationalism
Most religions bind their adherents into a community of believers. Hinduism segregates them into castes. And people excluded from the…
My trip to Pakistan’s ‘Jihadi Disneyland’
Not so long ago, Barack Obama called Waziristan ‘the most dangerous place in the world’. It was the losing front…
Death in the streets as anti-government unrest sweeps Iran
Home In a message for the New Year, as though it were an immemorial custom, Theresa May, the Prime Minister,…
Imran’s biggest test
It’s been a long journey for Imran Khan. He founded his political party, PTI (Pakistan Movement for Justice), in 1996,…
Portraits of Pakistan
By his own admission, Isambard Wilkinson’s memoir of his experiences in Pakistan a decade ago as a foreign correspondent has…
