Zainab Akhter

Research Associate under the Pakistan News Digest Project, IDSA, Dr Zainab Akhter’s article on Indo-Pak relations post Pulwama attack, titled ‘The India-Pakistan conundrum: Sending the wrong signals’ was published by the Asia Dialogue Journal, an online Journal of the University of Nottingham, Asia Research Institute.

Analysing whether Pulwama has sent India-Pakistan relations into an uncertain quagmire and if the mixed signals will push the relationship further towards uncertainty and chaos, Dr Akhter insists that it is high time that both the countries started to send the right signals.

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• Published: 29 March, 2019

Research Analyst, under the Pakistan News Digest Project, IDSA, Dr Zainab Akhter’s article on FATF and Pakistan, titled 'FATF Tightens Scrutiny On Pakistan' was published by The AIR World Service, an external serviced division of All India Radio (AIR), on March 07, 2109.

Pakistan has to demonstrate to the FATF advisory that measure is taken to shut down infrastructure and finances of terror groups in word and spirit, not just as a delaying tactic, lest it would surely be blacklisted in FATF next review meeting, writes Dr Akhter.

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• Published: 7 March, 2019

Research Associate, under the Pakistan News Digest Project, IDSA, Dr Zainab Akhter’s article, titled ‘Pakistan’s Strategy Post Pulwama’ was published by the All India Radio (AIR) World Service, an external services division of AIR on March 01, 2019.

Post the Pulwama attacks under international pressure Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan directed the concerned organizations to ante up action against the extremist outfits in the country. As a result, the religious seminaries related to JeM were taken under government control. At this mere eyes wash, India launched a scathing pre-emptive air attack and targeted the JeM terror camps in Balakot, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Amid escalation between the two nations, the reaction of Pakistan needs to be accounted for, analyses the article.

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• Published: 1 March, 2019

State sponsorship of terrorism is a complex and often ignored subject in contemporary security studies discourses. As stated by the British military historian Adrian Weale and noted in the foreword of Islamism and Intelligence in South Asia, ‘[i]nternational terrorism rarely happens without a state sponsor, directly or indirectly’ (p. x). Covert and overt support to terrorist groups to fulfil the state’s interest was a feature of international terrorism in the 1960s and 1970s.

• Published: March 2019
• Strategic Analysis

Research Assistant, under the Pakistan News Digest Project, IDSA, Dr Zainab Akhter’s article on India-Iran stand on Pakistan, titled ‘India And Iran Need To Come Together Against Pakistan’ was published by The AIR World Service, an external services division of All India Radio (AIR) on February 25, 2019.

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• Published: 25 February, 2019

Research Assistant, under the Pakistan News Digest Project, IDSA, Ms Zainab Akhter’s commentary on Aasia Bibi, titled ‘The Acquittal of Aasia Bibi’ has been published in AIR World Service, an External Services Division of All India Radio on February 03, 2019.

The commentary analyses blasphemy law in Pakistan, in wake of the violent protests by religious hardliners following Aasia Bibi’s acquittal.

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• Published: 3 February, 2019

Although the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement has been able to mainstream the Pashtun issue and has inspired popular empathy, its anti-establishment thrust has made it a soft target for the pro-establishment media and political actors.

• Published: January 28, 2019
• IDSA Comments

Research Analyst, under the Pakistan News Digest Project, IDSA, Ms Zainab Akhter’s commentary on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects, titled ‘Is Pakistan Cost-Cutting The CPEC?’ was published in AIR World Service, an External Services Division of All India Radio, on January 17, 2019.

The article analyses the PTI Government’s plan to remove hundreds of projects from the CPEC priority list, terming them as ‘politically motivated’. The decision to shelve a major coal-based power plant, the ‘Yar Rahim Khan Project’ is perceived as a major jolt to the overall Belt and Road Initiative by China (BRI or OBOR), especially CPEC.

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• Published: 21 January, 2019

Research Consultant, under the Pakistan News Digest Project, IDSA, Ms Zainab Akhter’s commentary on Imran Khan’s maiden visit to China, titled ‘Imran’s China Visit: In Search Of An Economic Package?’ was published in AIR World Service, an External Services Division of All India Radio, on November 05, 2018.

Imran’s China visit focused more on sorting the internal issues of the two countries, especially related to CPEC and is more of a signalling tactic to reiterate that all is well between the “all-weather friends”. Nevertheless, Pakistan’s policy of seeking loans over the decades has brought it to the brink; and if this pattern continues for a few more years, experts predict that the country’s economic crash cannot be ruled off, writes Ms Akhtar.

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• Published: 5 November, 2018

Research Consultant, under the Pakistan News Digest Project, IDSA, Ms Zainab Akhter’s article on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), titled ‘Pakistan and the Politics of CPEC: A Rethink on the Anvil?’ was published in ‘South Asian Voices’ on October 21, 2018.

The new debate on CPEC not only brings China’s ‘debt-trap diplomacy’ to the forefront but also emphasizes Pakistan’s dilemma of being between the dragon and the dollar. If Pakistan continues the CPEC project without transparency, it risks losing the US support for an IMF bailout and a further deterioration of relations with Washington. On the other hand, if Pakistan tries to renegotiate CPEC with China, it may become an irritant in Islamabad’s all-weather friendship with Beijing and compromise its future economic growth, writes Ms Akhtar.

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• Published: 21 October, 2018