Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Junaid S. Ahmad
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Zohran or Zion: The future of world order
They say history swings on a hinge—on moments that demand a reckoning, not a retweet. Today, we stand at such a crossroads. One path leads to ‘Zohran’: a world built on egalitarian liberation, where justice is not a marketing slogan but a lived reality, and where the commons are rescued…
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A mad dog and a muzzled empire: Israel, Iran, and the limits of strategic patience
There are moments in history when diplomacy dies with a whimper, not a bang. But this time, it may die with both. Israel, drunk on decades of unpunished aggression, has now hurled itself off the ledge of military recklessness, dragging its American enablers and the wider Middle East into yet…
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The silence of the sultans: Muslim regimes and the holocaust of our time
Tel Aviv is no longer content with turning Gaza into a graveyard—it now flies its missiles eastward, striking Iranian soil with the kind of psychotic bravado usually reserved for Bond villains and colonial empires on their last legs. Over the past year, Israel has escalated its shadow war on Iran…
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The empire’s playpen: Nukes, nationalism, and manufactured madness in South Asia
More than a month has passed since the deadly terrorist attack in Pahalgam, deep in the restive terrain of Indian-occupied Kashmir. Yet, the region has not exhaled. That attack was the spark; the explosion was narrowly averted—this time. Fighter jets scrambled, missiles were mobilized, and once again the world held…
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Gaza in the Himalayas: Modi’s fantasy war and the Kashmir proving ground
Over the past week, the world did not witness counterterrorism—it witnessed bloodlust masquerading as statecraft. On April 22, a deadly attack in Pahalgam claimed the lives of 26 Hindu tourists in Indian-occupied Kashmir. No group claimed responsibility, no investigation followed, no evidence was released. But New Delhi, undeterred by the…
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The Indo-Pak war: recklessness and diversion in the service of pharaohs
It began, as it so often does, with a blast in Indian-occupied Kashmir. A terrorist attack—brutal, tragic, and all too familiar—left carnage in its wake. Without missing a beat, the Indian government did what it has made into a political reflex: it pointed its righteous finger at Pakistan, evidence optional.…
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The art of distraction: War drums, dictatorships, and the dance of nuclear madness
What was feared has happened. India has launched military strikes deep inside Pakistan, and Islamabad claims to have retaliated in kind. The spark? A terrorist attack over a week ago in Indian-occupied Kashmir. As has become tradition, New Delhi wasted no time in pointing the finger at Islamabad, offering no…
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Kashmir and the spectacle of manufactured crises
It was an old script, dusted off and recycled with all the subtlety of a Bollywood B-movie plot: an attack on tourists in Pahalgam, Kashmir—tragic, condemnable, and as predictable as New Delhi’s response. Within hours, India’s government, with its reflexes honed more for propaganda than forensics, pointed a convenient finger…
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The generals of Islamabad and their Zionist daydream
The generals in Islamabad—ever resplendent in starched uniforms and an exaggerated sense of self-importance—are once again casting furtive glances toward Tel Aviv. Their ambition? To inch closer to the sanctum of global approval, to gain access to the corridors of Zionist power and, perhaps, to be recognised as respectable players…
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Nasrallah in Pakistan
Two weeks after the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, political movements throughout the world, and especially in the Global South, continue to mourn what they believe is a monumental loss. Revered as a religio-political leader par excellence, Nasrallah’s fighting spirit, sense of justice and deep integrity became an inspiration globally.…
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Whither regime change in Bangladesh?
Recent events in Bangladesh have been momentous. The developments have sparked a stimulating debate about whether what has transpired is a popular and organic uprising, or if it is a Western-backed regime change engineered from outside. Serious, robust and nuanced analyses have been rendered of the domestic causes of the…
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Pakistan is becoming the world’s most irrelevant nuclear power
Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shahbaz Sharif, declared 28 May to be a public holiday. The House of Sharif, the family in control of one of the two dynastic political parties (the PML-N) of Pakistan, chose to remind the population that this was the day, in 1998, when Pakistan openly launched tests…
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Khan v the generals
Pakistan’s election lived up to some expectations, but didn’t live up to other expectations. What was predicted was that there would vote rigging and outright fraud as a central feature of the Pakistani generals’ plan, and there was. What was not anticipated was that former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party,…