Pakistan

Pakistani democracy is on the brink

18 February 2024 10:16 pm

A senior official in Pakistan has publicly confessed to vote-rigging in the country’s general election earlier this month. It is…

Hanif Kureishi – portrait of the artist as a young man

13 January 2024 9:00 am

Descriptions of the gifted author tearing up the literary landscape of the late 20th century are deeply poignant when set alongside Kureishi’s recent despatches from hospital

A Hindu Cromwell courteously decapitates hundreds of maharajas

28 October 2023 9:00 am

Through a mix of charm, diplomacy and coercion, Sardar Patel, Nehru’s uncompromising deputy, ensured that 565 princely states vanished from the map of India in 1947

Has Bazball rescued — or ruined — cricket?

21 October 2023 9:00 am

Thanks to Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, English Test cricket has been revolutionised – at the expense of the gentle, contemplative game

Pakistan is on the brink

26 August 2022 3:30 pm

On Tuesday I speculated that Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan, now the opposition leader, was so popular that he…

Is Imran Khan Pakistan’s Donald Trump?

23 August 2022 6:05 pm

Imran Khan, the cricketing hero, legendary lothario and deposed prime minister of Pakistan, is in trouble again. His political opponents…

What next for Imran Khan, Pakistan's ousted leader?

12 April 2022 9:20 pm

On Sunday, Imran Khan became the first prime minister in Pakistan’s history to be ousted by a no-confidence vote. Followers…

Can Imran Khan cling on to power in Pakistan?

9 April 2022 9:00 am

Can Imran Khan cling on to power in Pakistan?

Is this the end of Imran Khan?

1 April 2022 11:05 pm

Imran Khan’s innings as the Pakistani Prime Minister may be coming to an end. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement, one of…

Ahmad Shah Massoud was Afghanistan’s best hope

11 September 2021 9:00 am

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

24 August 2021 10:10 pm

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

18 August 2021 8:16 am

‘Everyone is getting out – and fast’, the man tells me over a crackling line. He is tired, clearly subdued.…

Pakistan's profane blasphemy laws

11 August 2021 11:21 am

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

20 July 2021 12:05 am

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?

12 June 2021 9:00 am

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

29 April 2021 4:00 pm

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

8 April 2021 9:28 pm

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?

3 February 2021 2:03 am

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?

21 January 2021 3:22 am

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

8 August 2020 9:00 am

China has its sights on the Bay of Bengal

The National Theatre’s live-streaming policy is bizarre

16 May 2020 9:00 am

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

1 April 2020 8:48 pm

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

31 August 2019 9:00 am

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

17 August 2019 9:00 am

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

15 June 2019 9:00 am

There are plenty of much-anticipated contests in the 2019 Cricket World Cup. But nothing to compare with this Sunday’s match…