Huma Yusuf

1 month ago | dawn.com | Huma Yusuf

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio may have made the crucial calls that helped de-escalate recent hostilities between Pakistan and India, but China remains the regional diplomatic powerhouse. This was highlighted last week with the trilateral Islamabad-Kabul-Beijing meet aimed at restoring Pak-Afghan ties, spurred by China’s BRI being extended to Afghanistan. For Pakistan to sustain its ties with China, it must remain actively engaged with Beijing’s evolving diplomatic ambitions.

1 month ago | dawn.com | Huma Yusuf

WHILE Pakistan and India were caught in an ‘escalation dominance’ spiral last week, Islamabad received some good news. Despite Indian efforts to derail the IMF facility, the next drawdown was approved, along with an additional $1.4 billion disbursement to support climate resilience. The additional financing under the IMF’s Resilience and Sustainability Facility aims to build resilience against natural disasters and growing climate vulnerabilities.

2 months ago | dawn.com | Huma Yusuf

IN a rambling conversation this week, another parent and I shared concerns about how to raise children in an era of climate change, resource scarcity, zero-sum competitiveness and war. We focused on things we could control and action to benefit our children. That’s when it transpired that the other parent, a father of three aged between eight and 12, still had not activated parental controls on any mobile device or online app.

2 months ago | dawn.com | Huma Yusuf

WHEN tour guides in Egypt describe how ancient Egyptian tombs were robbed of their treasures, they include a clarification: we mean by indigenous grave robbers, not the Western archaeologists who took the antiquities to museums and private collections abroad. On a recent trip to Egypt, I was struck by several guides’ lack of ambiguity that Western exploration was tantamount to theft, and their confidence in the rightful place of Egyptian antiquities.

2 months ago | dawn.com | Huma Yusuf

AS the BNP’s Sardar Akhtar Mengal marched towards Quetta last week, the idea recirculated: establish a truth and reconciliation commission for Balochistan. Political commentators, journalists and activists alike rightly highlight that at the core of the Balochistan crisis is the state’s lack of acknowledgement that legitimate grievances underpin militancy and anti-state violence. It is a truth easily accepted in other contexts but not entertained closer to home.