Tom Hussain

Tom Hussain is an Islamabad-based journalist and Pakistan affairs analyst

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan during a visit to Saudi Arabia. Photo: AP

South Asia

Pakistan’s Khan slams IMF, then seeks bailout. Why the change?

15 Oct 2018 - 9:03am 8

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor port in Gwadar. Photo: Reuters

Opinion

Pakistan risks Chinese anger by courting Saudi Arabia

6 Oct 2018 - 10:12am 25

Pakistan’s new government is leading the pushback against the China Pakistan Economic Corridor. Photo: AFP

Geopolitics

In Pakistan, Chinese money grapples with a Karachi-Lahore divide

20 Sep 2018 - 11:20am 11

Favourable deals under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor are in the spotlight as Pakistan’s ruling party looks to uncover corruption under the previous administration

Geopolitics

Where does Pakistan’s new government stand on Belt and Road?

12 Aug 2018 - 1:02pm 53

A currency dealer in Quetta, Pakistan. Photo: AFP

Politics

Why is US trying to bully Pakistan with empty China threats?

4 Aug 2018 - 1:51pm 19

The election of the former cricketer as prime minister of Pakistan leaves plans for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor on a sticky wicket

Politics

What will Pakistan’s new leader Imran Khan deliver for China?

28 Jul 2018 - 12:20pm 24

Pakistani politician Imran Khan, chief of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, addresses supporters during an election campaign in Lahore, Pakistan. Photo: AP

Opinion

Pakistan’s new boss will be bossed just like the old boss

22 Jul 2018 - 2:40pm 2

Having racked up unsustainable bills in supporting Beijing’s infrastructure master plan, Islamabad is bailed out by China to the tune of US$1 billion – leaving it more dependent than ever on its ‘all-weather ally’

Geopolitics

Pakistan’s currency crisis: China’s the problem and solution

7 Jul 2018 - 1:23pm 21

With Islamabad heading for a third consecutive elected government, a long history of military rule appears to be in the past. So why do some fear a ‘creeping coup’ has entered its final stages?

Politics

Pakistan and the art of making dictatorship look like democracy

13 May 2018 - 8:02am 4

Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping. Photo: Reuters

Geopolitics

Should Pakistan be alarmed as BFF China gets pally with India?

29 Apr 2018 - 12:06pm 90

Former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing earlier this year. Photo: AP

Geopolitics

How China’s key project in Pakistan got trapped in politics

28 Oct 2017 - 2:30pm 32

Beijing used BRICS summit to send its all-weather ally a message: it’s time for Islamabad to rethink its self-defeating narrative on Afghanistan and India

Opinion

Pakistan should drop the pretence on cross-border terrorism

9 Sep 2017 - 2:30pm 4

As the US president sends an ultimatum to Islamabad over its support for terrorist groups, experts say Pakistan is no longer so vulnerable to American pressure

Geopolitics

Is Trump driving Pakistan deeper into China’s orbit?

26 Aug 2017 - 12:38pm 21

Pakistan has being upheld as a model for the deeper, expanding security relationships China is seeking to establish around the world, but Beijing will now be concerned about stability. Photo: AP

Politics

What happens to China’s investments in Pakistan now?

29 Jul 2017 - 10:00am 12

Pakistani army would like to leverage the face-off near Bhutan to settle old scores with India, but Beijing has its own calculations. Then there is the US

Geopolitics

Is China turning up heat on India through Pakistan?

20 Jan 2018 - 1:40am 17

As the Trump administration gears up for a renewed campaign in Afghanistan, US military actions are spilling over the border to the Pakistani province of Balochistan – home to a centrepiece of Beijing’s Belt and Road project

Geopolitics

What China has to fear from US drones

6 Jul 2017 - 11:22pm 13

A soldier stands guard near the site where two Chinese-language teachers were kidnapped by gunmen in Quetta, Pakistan. Photo: Reuters

Geopolitics

Islamic State killings: worse to come for Chinese in Pakistan?

29 Jun 2017 - 6:29pm 20

A US$55 billion programme to link the routes of China’s Belt and Road plan through Pakistan has revived a relationship that began with the Karakorum Highway – even if critics blame it for mischief in Kashmir

Geopolitics

$55b trade route, and a rekindled China-Pakistan love affair

30 Jun 2017 - 10:36pm 3

A Pakistani naval personnel stands guard beside a ship carrying containers during the opening of a trade project in Gwadar port, some 700km west of Karachi. The port is a key component of a trade route linking the Gwadar to the Chinese city of Kashgar. Photo: AFP

Geopolitics

China’s trade corridor dream caught in India-Pakistan espionage saga

15 Apr 2017 - 11:00am 6

India and its neighbour have had a historically tumultuous love affair in the world of cinema, often torn asunder by real-world border tensions. A recent attack in Kashmir has their film-industry romance once again on the ropes

Society

Pakistan’s forbidden romance with Bollywood

26 Feb 2017 - 8:00pm

Pakistani rights activists hold images of bloggers who have disappeared, during a protest in Lahore on January 12. Photo: AFP

Politics

Pakistan’s feeling spooked over missing activists

23 Jan 2017 - 12:01pm

Afghan security forces patrol following an operation against Islamic State militants in Pachir Wa Agam district of Nangarhar province. As in Syria, Russia is casting its increased involvement in Afghanistan in the context of the growing Islamic State presence there. Photo: AFP

Geopolitics

Is Putin hoping for ‘another Syria’ in Afghanistan?

8 Jan 2017 - 10:00am 2

Pakistani opposition leader Imran Khan. Photo: Reuters

People

Imran Khan may have met his match

17 Dec 2016 - 6:02pm

Taliban fighters react to a speech by their senior leader in the Shindand district of Herat province, Afghanistan. Photo: AP

Geopolitics

Taliban may offer ceasefire in Afghanistan to contain I.S.

5 Dec 2016 - 10:42pm 1

A Pakistani vendor arranges morning newspapers featuring front-page news of the US presidential election at a roadside news stand in Islamabad. Photo: AFP

Politics

Anti-Muslim rhetoric adds to Pakistan’s anxiety over Trump’s Afghanistan policy

9 Nov 2016 - 9:39pm

Bed frames are strewn in a burnt-out dormitory of the Balochistan Police College in Quetta on October 26, 2016, a day after the militants' attack. Pakistan mourned the killing of at least 62 people in a brutal gun and suicide bomb assault on a police academy, the deadliest attack on a security installation in the country's history. / AFP PHOTO / BANARAS KHAN

Geopolitics

Al-Qaeda and Taliban meet Islamic State here, and knock on China’s door

31 Oct 2016 - 10:25am

Plans to disarm Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba come after two deadly attacks on Indian military bases – and amid Beijing’s security fears for its investments

Geopolitics

Has Chinese pressure forced Pakistan U-turn on anti-India terror groups?

17 Oct 2016 - 5:02pm

Pakistani protesters shout anti-Indian slogans during a demonstration in Peshawar on October 4, 2016. Photo: AFP

Geopolitics

How India-Pakistan tensions (and US-China rivalry) are raising nuclear stakes

8 Oct 2016 - 8:02pm 12

Pakistani volunteers use a stretcher to move an injured lawyer after the suicide bomb in Quetta. The regional arm of Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack. Photo: AFP

This Week in Asia

Karachi to Kashgar: how Islamic State poses a threat to China

6 Jan 2017 - 1:41pm 2