Political Analysis and Global Affairs

  Pakistan booked nearly Rs2.94 trillion for power procurement over 11 months. The figure raises a deeper question about capacity costs, circular debt and who ultimately carries the burden of Pakistan's electricity system. The Bill on the Table I have looked at electricity bills in Karachi and gone back to the meter reading because the amount due seemed disconnected from the electricity consumed. First come the units. Then comes the number that really matters: the amount payable. Millions of Pakistani consumers perform some version of that calculation. They see expensive electricity and hear about capacity payments. Then they read about independent power producers, or IPPs, receiving enormous sums. It becomes easy to reach a conclusion: somebody is making a fortune while ordinary Pakistanis pay. A figure circulating online appears to confirm the suspicion. Pakistan reportedly spent almost Rs2.94 trillion on power procurement in only 11 months. The number is broadly correct. What pe...

  Pakistan received a record $41.6 billion in workers’ remittances in FY26, but turning diaspora savings into long-term investment requires stronger property rights, predictable taxation and institutional trust. A remittance message crossed my screen recently. The number looked impressive: Pakistan received about $3.7 billion from overseas workers in August 2026. I work with cross-border payments, so figures like these do not look abstract to me. Behind each transfer sits someone working in Riyadh, Birmingham or Dubai who has decided that part of his salary belongs back home. Pakistan has spent years improving the channels through which that money comes home. The harder question is whether we have become good enough at protecting it once the sender wants to do more than support his family. The $41.6 Billion Number Changes the Conversation Pakistan received $3.656 billion in workers' remittances in August 2026 , according to State Bank data reported on September 9. That was 16.5% hi...

  After 23 successful instalments, my final Bank Alfalah loan payment became a dispute when the Alfa app showed “EMI Already Paid,” but the bank later treated the instalment as overdue and imposed Rs 1,725 in charges. By early September, I thought my Bank Alfalah personal loan was almost finished. I had paid 23 of 24 instalments. For months, the repayment pattern had been familiar. Bank Alfalah would send an SMS before the due date telling me to keep enough money in my account for auto-debit. The instalment would then be collected. The final instalment did not follow that pattern. When I later tried to deal with it through the Alfa app, the screen displayed a simple message: “EMI Already Paid.” Then another Bank Alfalah system told me something very different. My loan was overdue. A late-payment charge followed. What began as a dispute over Rs 1,725 has left me with a larger question about digital banking in Pakistan: when a bank’s automated systems give a customer conflicting inf...

  Europe has expanded access to reproductive technology as parenthood moves later, but IVF cannot erase the biological limits of age or the inequalities created by cost and public policy. They arrive at fertility clinics carrying something medicine cannot manufacture: time already spent. Sometimes it was spent building a career. Sometimes housing never felt secure enough for a child. A relationship came late, or infertility was discovered only after months of trying. By the time a couple reaches an IVF clinic at 39 or 41, the story may already contain years that no laboratory can return. I used to look at IVF mainly as a medical breakthrough. The more I read about its growth across Europe, the more I saw another story underneath it. Europe has become extraordinarily good at helping people reproduce after fertility becomes difficult. It has been much less successful at asking why parenthood is happening later in the first place. IVF Is Growing, But It Is Not Yet the “New Normal” Inf...

  Flydubai flights to Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar are reappearing in late-October booking searches, but Pakistani travellers should verify their exact date before making firm travel plans. A traveller in Lahore opens the flydubai website in September and searches for a flight to Dubai near the end of October. Flights begin appearing again. The screen looks reassuring. Flydubai stopped serving Lahore months ago, so seeing late-October inventory creates an obvious impression: the suspension is ending and the airline is coming back. I would still check the exact date before paying. Flydubai suspended flights to Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar earlier this year. In May, the airline's Pakistan flight inquiry told Dawn that operations to the three cities would remain suspended until 26 October 2026 because of "operational reasons." Karachi flights continued. Now something interesting is happening. Flydubai's current fare pages are showing Islamabad and Lahore itineraries...

  A practical guide for Pakistani cardholders on reporting fraud, preserving evidence, and escalating a dispute when the bank does not give a satisfactory answer What should a Pakistani cardholder do after an unauthorized transaction? Secure the card, lodge a formal dispute, preserve evidence, obtain a written decision, and escalate through the proper complaint channel when necessary. The Fraud Alert Is Only the Beginning I saw the international transaction on my card account and knew I had not made it. My first reaction was simple: contact the bank and stop whatever was happening. Complaints were opened. Later, they were closed. The merchant eventually refunded my money, but the episode changed the way I think about card fraud. A customer can easily mistake a complaint number for a proper transaction dispute. They are not the same thing. Reporting fraud tells the bank that something has gone wrong. A card dispute asks a harder question: was the transaction authorised, and who...