Munaeem's Blog

A visual representation of successive Pakistani army chiefs from Ayub Khan to Asim Munir, illustrating how the military’s public narrative and political positioning have evolved across different historical crises.  Pakistan Army political role has never remained static. From 1958 to 2025, the military has repeatedly reshaped its public identity during periods of institutional crisis. Each transition reflects adaptation rather than retreat. From Ayub Khan’s modernization narrative to Zia-ul-Haq’s ideological framing and Asim Munir’s security-centric rhetoric, the institution has altered its justification while preserving influence. This is not a story of uninterrupted dominance. It is a story of recalibration. Ayub Khan: The Modernizer Model In 1958, Field Marshal Ayub Khan imposed Pakistan’s first martial law. He did not present the intervention as ideological. He framed it as corrective. Ayub positioned the Army as a technocratic alternative to unstable civilian politics. He ...

  The tea stall is quieter than it used to be. No laughter. Just the scrape of spoons on glass. It's not just the economy, or the heat. It's something heavier — like a silence waiting to explode You walk through Orangi Town, and something feels off. Not the roads. Not the trash. That's normal. It's the way people avoid eye contact. The way no one mentions 1986. Or 2011. Or even 2022. You begin to realize: Karachi is a city that has grown, but never grieved. Blood on the Map Every street in Karachi has a story. Some have ghosts. Qasba–Aligarh Massacre (1986) : Over 200 killed, mostly Muhajirs, in an ethnic revenge attack that most Pakistanis have never heard of. May 12, 2007 : 48 dead in one day. The Chief Justice couldn't leave the airport. Karachi was shut down — by design. Lyari Operations (2012–2013) : A Baloch neighborhood turned into a warzone. RPGs fired from rooftops. Kids ducking under sofas. These weren't random outbreaks. They we...

  "We came to Pakistan with two things: books and dignity. Both are gone now." That's what an elderly Urdu-speaking man told me in a cramped Nazimabad apartment, sunlight slanting through the dust. His voice cracked on the word “dignity.” But not with weakness. With disbelief. The strange thing is, he wasn't talking about 1947. He was talking about 1992. And 2013. And now. Partition Promises, Broken Slowly When the Urdu-speaking elite migrated from India to Pakistan, they imagined they were moving home . The land of Iqbal. The dream of Jinnah. But soon enough, the dream broke into pieces: Jobs disappeared. Civil service roles were nationalized. Preference shifted to Sindhis and Punjabis. Language became a battlefield. The 1972 Sindh Language Bill made Sindhi compulsory in schools — and Muhajirs saw it as erasure. Political power evaporated. The MQM emerged not as a political choice — but a scream. And so the Muhajir went from “founding c...

Karachi makes the money. But Lahore gets the praise. Islamabad makes the rules. And the people of Lyari, Korangi, and Baldia bear the consequences. You ever seen a factory worker sleep on a bus at 6 a.m.? That’s Karachi. You ever waited 10 days for clean water while your city exports billions? That’s Karachi too. This isn’t just an economic imbalance. It’s a moral one. And it’s been festering for decades.  Karachi: The Breadwinner with Empty Pockets Let’s start with the facts: Karachi contributes up to 54% of Pakistan’s total exports and nearly 40% of national GDP. 📌 Source: State Bank of Pakistan - Economic Data Over 70% of the country’s tax revenue comes from Karachi, according to former FBR officials. 📌 Source: Business Recorder It hosts Pakistan’s largest ports — Karachi Port and Port Qasim — handling more than 90% of foreign trade. 📌 Source: Port Qasim Authority | Karachi Port Trust And yet: Karachi ranks 5th most unlivable city in the world. 📌 Source: Economist Intelligen...

The smell hits before the street does. Garbage, sweat, diesel, and something else — burnt rubber or maybe rage. Above it all, a politician’s banner hangs limp in the heat: “Together for Progress.” The man under it carries a pistol in his waistband. He’s not a cop. He’s not hiding either. You think this is a story about ethnic violence. But really, it’s about how a city rotted from the inside out — and how blood was spilled to control trash.  The Politics of Broken Pipes Karachi didn’t collapse overnight. It unraveled, block by block, as services that were supposed to belong to the state — water, sanitation, electricity, land — were taken over by ethnic political mafias. Water tanker mafias became a law unto themselves. Garbage disposal was outsourced to Chinese firms, then botched by local contractors. Land grabs were sanitized with legal jargon, ethnic loyalty, or a bullet. You ever wonder why garbage piles up in one neighborhood but not the next? Why some areas have f...

  A boy in uniform salutes the Israeli flag while his grandmother, wrapped in a faded shawl from Gondar, stands behind him with tears in her eyes. He is Ethiopian. She is proud. And yet, even in that moment of belonging, something lingers. Something unsaid. Maybe this is what integration looks like: uniforms, Hebrew fluency, and youth protests sparked by police bullets. Maybe that’s the tragedy too. You ever wonder how a country born from persecution can build its own ladders of exclusion? When Justice Wears a Kippah but Looks Away Let’s talk about success—because it’s always the counterpoint, isn’t it? “But look,” someone says, “that Ethiopian girl just became a judge.” True. But what of the dozens of Ethiopian teenagers locked away for petty crimes at rates three times higher than their peers? And sure, Mizrahi music plays in Tel Aviv clubs. But whose accent do newscasters still mimic when they want to sound "uncultured"? Israel's founders dreamed of ingather...

  Imagine a long-running family reunion that never actually happens. That’s been the fate of SAARC – the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation – a once-promising “club” of countries that hasn’t met in years. Why? Mainly because two big members, India and Pakistan, haven’t been on talking terms. Frustrated by the deadlock, Pakistan (with an eager China by its side) is quietly working on a new regional bloc to fill the void businesstoday.in . This fresh alliance would focus on boosting trade and connectivity among South Asian nations – but notably without India as the center player. In a region that’s among the least integrated in the world (only about 5% of its trade is within the neighborhood) thediplomat.com , this development could shake things up. Let’s break down what’s happening in this geopolitical shuffle, in plain language, as if we’re chatting over a cup of chai. SAARC on Ice: A Club That Stopped Meeting It helps to know why SAARC became a zombie forum in t...