Dr Zafar Khan Safdar, Author at Pakistan Observer

Importing energy and exporting poverty

The war that began on February 28, 2026, between the United States, Israel and Iran has triggered the largest disruption to global oil supplies…

Pakistan imports its energy and exports its poverty

THE war that began on 28 February 2026, between the United States, Israel and Iran has triggered the largest disruption to global oil supplies…

Pakistan railways: A journey into decline

FOR millions of Pakistanis, a train journey is an exercise in patience and uncertainty. Trains run late, schedules lose their meaning and passengers often…

Defiance without a strategy

PAKISTANIS may soon find that a war thousands of miles away can cost them dearly at home. Petrol at Rs700 a litre or even Rs1,000,…

The stabilisation trap

PAKISTAN has done what the International Monetary Fund asked. It has raised electricity tariffs, cut subsidies, tightened monetary policy, and let the rupee find…

Enough of this political theatre

THERE is something deeply exhausting about watching a country remain permanently trapped in political conflict. Governments change, oppositions protest, leaders negotiate and then walk…

Missing commitment for education

IN Halimzai tehsil of Mohmand, Government Primary School Yaseen Kor Kamali has around 300 students and just one teacher. One person is expected to…

And they preach austerity from business class

THERE is a word in Urdu, beyhisi, that has no precise English equivalent. It means something between numbness and indifference, the condition of a…

We are at war and no one said so

PAKISTAN and Afghanistan are at war. Neither government wants to use the word. The international community prefers not to hear it. But words cannot…

Caught in loop of endless political cycle

PAKISTAN has become remarkably good at surviving political crises and remarkably bad at ending them. Governments change, leaders are removed, arrested or returned to…