America’s Favourite General: A Pakistani Service Record Pakistan’s military strongmen have perfected a peculiar job description: indispensable abroad, unaccountable at home. The foreign customer receives strategic cooperation. The Pakistani citizen receives a lecture on national security. The general receives the photograph. Yahya Khan: Opened China, Lost East Pakistan Yahya helped arrange Kissinger’s secret journey to Beijing in 1971, facilitating a historic opening between Washington and China. Meanwhile, his own rule ended in the catastrophic breakup of Pakistan and the emergence of Bangladesh. An extraordinary diplomatic service: opening communications between two foreign powers while presiding over the destruction of your own country’s union. For Washington: a bridge to Beijing. For Pakistan: a country that needed a new map. His own final chapter was not imperial grandeur. After his removal, he was placed under house arrest, suffered a disabling stroke and died in 1980. History proved considerably less accommodating than his foreign guests. Zia-ul-Haq: Democracy Suspended, Deliveries Uninterrupted Zia made Pakistan the essential conduit for the American-backed war against Soviet forces in Afghanistan. Arms and assistance could move through Pakistani channels. Democratic authority, apparently, required indefinite security clearance. Under his military regime, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged in 1979. In 2024, Pakistan’s Supreme Court finally concluded that Bhutto had not received a fair trial. Justice arrived forty-five years late—an impressive delay even by the standards of a system that calls every interruption of democracy temporary. Zia died in the 1988 aircraft crash that also killed the American ambassador. Musharraf: Enlightened Moderation, Emergency Edition Musharraf supplied cooperation and logistical access for Washington’s post-9/11 war. Pakistan was once again strategically essential: a country whose usefulness abroad seemed to increase whenever its citizens’ authority at home diminished. Then Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in 2007. The UN inquiry found that his government had failed profoundly to protect her and that the subsequent investigation involved deliberate failures. That is damning enough without pretending the inquiry proved that Musharraf ordered her murder. The state could help sustain an international war. It could not adequately protect a former prime minister facing known threats. Musharraf eventually died in a Dubai hospital in 2023 after a prolonged illness, while living in self-imposed exile. No need to ridicule his sickness: the political contrast is sufficient. A man who had claimed authority over Pakistan’s future spent his final years outside it. Asim Munir: Deliverables Pending, Publicity Available Munir’s chapter comes with the familiar foreign access and the unfamiliar difficulty of producing a durable result. At home, Imran Khan’s imprisonment is not merely a controversy manufactured by his supporters. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found his detention arbitrary, while the UN torture mandate has raised serious concerns about prolonged solitary confinement and his treatment in custody. An awkward advertisement for international mediation: offering to help negotiate between hostile states while your entire justice system has to be shut down because of one unarmed man in a torture cell. Perhaps the next confidence-building measure could begin at home? RESIGN. And What Fate Awaits Munir? Nobody knows. A plane crash is not an argument. Illness is not a verdict. Death does not establish guilt, and no flight into the Himalayas can hide his guilt. The question is whether Munir will face accountability while it can still mean something: independent scrutiny, lawful proceedings where warranted, and a public record that spells DISASTER. No foreign compliment can settle the argument over legitimacy at home. The institutional fantasy continues @OfficialDGISPR

SECRETARY RUBIO: No country in the world does more to go after terrorism than the United States. It was the United States, under President Trump, that destroyed ISIS in the Middle East. It was the United States that eroded al-Qaeda. It's the United States that went in and eliminated bin Laden. It's the United States that's gone in now, and has unfortunately had to go into, parts of Africa and take on these elements as well. I don't think any country in the world has shown a greater commitment to go after global terrorism than the United States has.

Now that the Epstein Coalition is preparing to attack Iran and Pakistan is under pressure from Trump to shut its border with Iran, why the sudden wave of anti-Iran bots and coordinated 'Pakistani' accounts attacking Iran? Are they Pakistani or just Saudi backed takfiri accounts?

“Social media has democratised Pakistan. It has given people a voice. Anyone with a phone has a voice now.” — Imran Khan My uncle, Imran Khan @ImranKhanPTI recognised long before many others the extraordinary power of social media — its ability to unite people, challenge the ruling elite, break the monopoly on information and give ordinary citizens a voice. As early as 2014, he spoke of the “remarkable role” social media had played in uniting people. In 2019, he acknowledged how social media had empowered ordinary Pakistanis to challenge the dominance of established political parties: “Had there been no social media, probably we would not have been able to beat the established parties.” In April 2022, he thanked his social media supporters for carrying the struggle forward, calling them “our frontline warriors.” As attempts to suppress those voices intensified, his message remained unwavering: “Now nobody can shut their mouth.” “This is the era of social media. You cannot suppress the truth.” “Will you put millions of people in jail?” Even from behind prison walls, he continued to defend the voices of ordinary Pakistanis. In July 2024, he reminded those in power that social media is the voice of the people and that criticism and dissent must not be branded as digital terrorism. In 2025, when questioned about posts on his own X account, he reaffirmed that no one could take away his right to raise his voice for the people. For the past four years, his words have carried greater significance than ever. To every social media vlogger and every independent voice that continues to speak out, expose injustice, challenge oppression and stand for what is right despite intimidation, censorship and persecution — never underestimate the difference you make. You are the voices of those who have been silenced, the eyes of those who cannot bear witness and the strength of those who have been denied their freedom. Even from his death cell, Imran Khan has never stopped raising his voice for you, your rights, your freedom and the future of your children. Never stop raising yours. Raise your voice for him, as he has raised his for you. Raise your voice for his incarcerated sisters, who continue to fight for him. Raise your voice for every political prisoner, every journalist, lawyer, judge, human rights activist and every Pakistani punished or made to disappear for speaking the truth or standing up against injustice. Above all, raise your voice for the Pakistan we all deserve — a country where justice is not a privilege, freedom is not a favour and no citizen must fear speaking the truth. Every voice matters. Every act of courage matters. Every truth shared matters. They may silence individuals, but they cannot silence millions. Keep raising your voice. Keep standing for the truth. Never surrender the power of your voice. #imrankhan #FreeImranKhanAndFamily

My statement on the state of democracy in Pakistan.