EditorialThe TT Take
“For the 21st-century globalist”: Founded in 2020, The Thursday Times has set out to reimagine journalism with fresh, well-researched perspectives that resonate globally. Each day, our editorial board crafts insights that reflect today’s dynamic world, engaging readers who seek clarity, diversity, and depth in coverage across both local and global landscapes.
KP misrule, Punjab momentum
From Haripur to Lahore, the ballot box has rebuked anti-state theatrics and KP misgovernance, tightening PML-N’s grip on a weary electorate, as PTI’s agitation and foreign-amplified campaigns collide with reality and by-election voters turn to order over unrest.
Breaking Pakistan’s four walls
Devolution that stops at the provincial secretariat is not devolution; it is merely colonialism with a different accent. A Mirpuri airport, a Multani university and a Gwadar harbour are not vanity projects; they are stress tests of whether the new map actually serves the periphery.
عمران خان کی افغان پالیسی: خود فریبی کی انتہا اور تباہی کی داستان
عمران خان کی افغان پالیسی نے قومی سلامتی کو شدید خطرے میں ڈال دیا۔ سفارتی احتیاط اور ریاستی حکمت کے بجائے انہوں نے قومی مفاد کو ذاتی مقبولیت کے تابع کر دیا، یوں وہ تمام رکاوٹیں کمزور ہو گئیں جو دشمن کی واپسی کے راستے میں حائل تھیں۔ آج جو کچھ ہم دیکھ رہے ہیں، وہ پالیسی کی اصلاح نہیں بلکہ تاخیر سے شروع ہونے والا ایک مشکل اور ناگزیر ریسکیو مشن ہے۔
A house of ashes
A state which refuses to distinguish between the vulnerable and the weaponised is not compassionate: it is careless with its own survival. Imran Khan, the former prime minister of Pakistan, wagered the nation's security on charisma and sentiment, where leverage, verification, and distance were required. In pursuit of his own love affair with the Taliban, he was blind to all three.
پاکستان نے طاقت کے بعد سفارتکاری کے ذریعے اپنا موقف منوایا اور خطے میں نیا نیو نارمل اپنی شرائط پر قام کردیا
پاکستان نے طاقت کے مظاہرے کے بعد سفارتکاری سے اپنا مؤقف منوایا اور خطے کا نیا نارمل اپنی شرائط پر قائم کر دیا۔ دوحہ میں اسلام آباد کا واحد مطالبہ تھا کہ افغان سرزمین سے پاکستان مخالف دہشت گردوں کی حمایت بند کی جائے، اور اگر وہاں سے حملے ہوئے تو ذمہ دار کیمپ جائز ہدف سمجھے جائیں گے۔
Steel in silk gloves
Pakistan came with one demand and departed with verification, guarantors and a timetable; Kabul kept its face, Islamabad kept the substance. A new regional normal now bears Pakistan’s imprint.
Outcomes over optics
Critics insist that Pakistan’s sympathy for Gaza is performative. They are wrong. It is historical, ethical, and intensely practical. War does not stop at borders. It migrates into prices, into power cuts, into classrooms, into the psychology of a young man who has seen too many funerals and too few pay cheques.
India’s killer cough syrup
India cannot claim the title Pharmacy of the World while children die from poisoned cough syrup. Pride means nothing without transparent regulation, lot-by-lot testing, and accountability from factory floor to cabinet table.
Hospitality is not a carte blanche
For fifty years Pakistan sheltered millions of Afghans while richer capitals sermonised from afar. If promises are paused in the West, do not scold the neighbour for enforcing its borders; honour your pledges and share the burden.
The pity Nobel
The Nobel Peace Prize risks turning from conscience into stagecraft when nominees with alleged militant proximities are amplified by friendly institutions, eroding the firewall of secrecy and trust.
The season of institutions
Anchored by the Hafiz effect, Pakistan has shown that deterrence with restraint, tighter borders, cleaner markets, and a geo-economic push via the SIFC have recast the state as reliable, ensuring that routines, not miracles, move the country forward.
Hugs that draw borders
Israel's attack tried to shrink Qatar, and Pakistan answered with presence, not bluster, drawing a hard line for sovereignty. In Doha, mediation became infrastructure: solidarity turned from pose to policy.
Bullets abroad, bullets at home
Charlie Kirk built his career defending guns at home and Israel abroad; yet he died by the very force he glorified. His death reveals the brittleness of ideologies that mistake force for security.
America is in Pakistan’s pocket—yet again
Trump may be isolating the U.S. from the world, tearing up alliances and redrawing the map on his own terms, but as others scramble for relevance, Pakistan has walked out the front door of the White House with an oil deal in hand, signalling a comeback for Pakistan's place on the American mantle.
