Episodes
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In this episode, Uzair talks Khurram Husain about the recent agreement between Pakistan and the IMF, which has secured a 3-year $7 billion programme. We talked about what comes next for the economy and why the hard work is only just beginning.
In addition, we focused on Pakistan’s debt sustainability, with Khurram sharing his perspective on why restructuring debt is perhaps not the right path for the country at this point in time.
The articles we referred to in our conversation are linked below:
- https://www.dawn.com/news/1859741/shaky-stability
- https://www.dawn.com/news/1861209/and-audits-for-all
- https://www.economist.com/by-invitation/2024/08/28/break-the-taboos-propping-up-unsustainable-debt-pleads-a-former-central-banker
- https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/pakistan-needs-public-debt-restructuring-by-sanjay-kathuria-1-2024-09
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
0:45 Debt restructuring for Pakistan
13:16 IMF agreement and its implications
22:55 Petrol prices and relief
29:10 Politics and the current status quo
36:25 Conclusion -
In this episode, Uzair talks to Salahuddin Ahmed about the ongoing moves to amend Pakistan’s constitution and its drivers. We focused on the role of the Supreme Court, why the government is pushing through a new ordinance to change the court’s procedures, and the impact of political polarization on the superior judiciary.
We also talked about why these proposed changes matter to ordinary citizens, and the outlook for Pakistan’s democracy.
Salahuddin Ahmed is a lawyer and former president of the Sindh High Court Bar Association. He recently wrote a must-read piece on these proposed amendments which you can read here - https://www.dawn.com/news/1859376/constitutional-package-judicial-overhaul-or-national-suicide
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
2:10 Ordinance issued by government
19:10 What does the government want to achieve?
31:00 Politics and judiciary
36:50 Patronage and the courts
42:05 Why should citizens care?
56:30 Paving the way for authoritarian rule -
Missing episodes?
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Pakistan’s parliament has historically been one of the weakest institutions in the country, but even by those standards, events that transpired over this past week have set a new low. Masked men entered parliament and took away numerous PTI legislators, who were subsequently arrested by the police. This has caused an uproar across the country, with the PTI leading the charge in terms of talking about the sustained and accelerating decimation of the rule of law and democracy in the country.
In this episode, Uzair talks to Salman Akram Raja about what happened in parliament and what comes next. Mr. Raja is Secretary General of the PTI and a senior supreme court lawyer. We also talked about coalition building and how the PTI intends to reach out to other groups who have been protesting against similar violations for years.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:45 What happened in parliament?
8:30 Ways to strengthen parliament
13:50 Situation in the judiciary
20:45 What is the PTI’s overall engagement strategy?
26:10 Gandapur, divisions, and coalition building
31:40 PTI’s outreach to PTM and others -
In this episode, Uzair talks to Tabarak Rehman who is attempting to become the first person ever to run 1,400 kilometers across the length of Pakistan to raise awareness around the country’s education crisis. His goal is to raise $1 million for The Citizens Foundation, an incredible non-profit that operates nearly 2,000 schools in Pakistan.
Tabarak is a New York-based Turnaround & Restructuring Consultant at AlixPartners, who’s also super passionate about educating Pakistani students. Through his social media, he has guided hundreds of Pakistani students toward higher education in the U.S., even helping secure over a million dollars in student loans for at least 30 of them.
His academic journey started from his boarding high school, Cadet College Hasan Abdal after which he went to IBA Karachi for his undergrad and then Northeastern University in Boston, where he earned his Master's degree. He also holds a CFA Charter.
You can support Tabarak’s cause here - https://fundraise.tcfglobal.org/fundraiser/384593207740/tabarak-runs-across-pakistan-for-education
Follow Tabarak’s run here - https://www.instagram.com/tabarakruns/
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
3:20 Tabarak’s journey
14:45 Resources for getting an education in the US
20:30 Running 1,400 kilometers
26:30 Training regimen
32:00 How to help
38:10 Reading recommendations
Reading recommendations:
- David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell
- The Richest Man in Babylon by George Clason
- Built to Last by James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras -
In this episode, Uzair talks to Dr. Ilhan Niaz about where Pakistan stands today and the nature of the status quo ruling the country. We also talked about the mainstreaming of anti-establishment views and what that means for the politics in the country.
Finally, we also talked about modernization and the role of the Protestant Reformation in kick-starting this process in Europe, and whether Pakistan has the core ingredients to modernize.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:30 Independence Day 2024
4:15 Where did Pakistan go wrong?
14:50 Assessing the status quo today
21:00 Anti-establishment views in Punjab
29:15 Protestant Reformation and modernity
39:55 Can Pakistan modernize?
51:50 Reading recommendations
Reading recommendations
- Great State – China and the World by Timothy Brook
- Asad Rahim’s essay in Dawn - https://www.dawn.com/news/1852072/the-two-partitions-polemics-purges-and-pakistans-first-opposition-party -
In this episode, Uzair talks to Amb. Shamsher Mubin Chowdhury about what led to the collapse of the Hasina regime in Bangladesh and what comes next for the country. We focused on the reasons why younger citizens were angry with the government and reports of violence against Hindus over the last few days. We also discussed whether foreign agencies led to Hasina’s ouster.
Amb. Chowdhury is a war hero who took active part in the Bangladesh War of Liberation in 1971. For his bravery and contribution in the battlefield the Government of Bangladesh conferred upon him the gallantry award Bir Bikram. He has also served as a top diplomat for Bangladesh around the world, including as Ambassador of Bangladesh to the United States of America, with concurrent accreditation to Colombia, Brazil and Mexico from 2005 to 2007.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
2:20 What just happened?
17:40 Claims of foreign involvement
29:20 Secularism in Bangladesh
40:05 What comes next? -
Balochistan’s city of Gwadar has been the center of protests for the last few days. Roads and highways leading into the city have been blocked and countless protestors have been arrested. Uzair talks to Dr. Mahvish Ahmad to figure out what is going on in the province and better understand the underlying reasons for the crisis in Balochistan.
Dr. Mahvish Ahmad is an Assistant Professor in Human Rights and Politics. Before joining LSE, she was an A.W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Humanities Research, University of the Western Cape. She completed her PhD in Sociology at Cambridge. Earlier, Mahvish was a journalist covering military and insurgent violence in the Pakistan-Afghanistan region, and co-founded the bilingual Urdu/English magazine Tanqeed with Madiha Tahir. She is currently completing a book on state violence in Pakistan’s southern province of Balochistan.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
2:05 What’s going on in the province?
7:00 Multiple issues driving protests
13:30 Missing persons
19:05 Resource extraction
25:40 Historical drivers
32:55 Baloch protestors v. TLP
37:10 Islamabad politics and Balochistan
42:05 Evolution of Baloch society
51:05 Path forward
57:20 Reading recommendations
Reading recommendations:
- https://loksujag.com/special-edition/bloch-women-long-march
- https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/items/dee93c5f-6f5e-43a8-bfd7-e79de8d2d35f
- https://caravanmagazine.in/reportage/home-front-changing-insurgency-balochistan
- https://www.scribd.com/document/554334646/The-Problem-of-Greater-Balochistan-PDFDrive -
In this episode, Uzair talks to Zaigham Khan about the ongoing polycrisis in Pakistan and the path forward. We focused on the structural drivers of this conflict, in particular the breaking down of the post-Zia social contract that has sustained Pakistan’s political economy for decades. Zaigham argues that the PTI’s popularity is a symptom of the underlying breakdown of this social contract and that repression is unlikely to yield any sustainable stability in the country.
We also discussed why fundamental reforms of the political economy are needed to even sustain the various elite factions ruling the country today.
Zaigham Khan is an anthropologist and political analyst. You can follow him on X @zaighamkhan.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:45 What is causing the crisis?
8:50 PTI’s conversion to constitutionalism
18:30 Elite conflict in Pakistan
28:50 Can same page be sustained?
33:45 Why are the elite fighting within?
42:10 Breakdown of the status quo
46:50 Establishment view on repression
56:20 Reading recommendations
Reading recommendations
- The Alif Laila and other mythological books
- Masnavi by Rumi
- Political Conflict in Pakistan by Dr. Mohammad Waseem -
In this episode, Uzair talks to Faysal Itani about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. We talked about the current state of play, the strategic goals for both sides, and the role of the United States, Iran, and other powers.
Faysal Itani is a Senior Director at the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy. He is also an adjunct professor of Middle East politics at Georgetown University. Itani was born in and grew up in Beirut, Lebanon, and has lived and worked in several Middle East countries.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:45 Current state of play
21:10 Washington’s appetite for regional conflict
29:10 Role of US politics and elections
33:25 Key risks to watch
37:40 Role of China and Russia
41:40 Reading recommendations
Reading recommendations:
- Warriors of God by Nicholas Blanford
- The Iron Wall by Avi Shlaim
- History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides -
In this episode, Uzair talks to Zahid Hussain about the latest in Pakistan, where the Sharif government has announced it will seek to ban Imran Khan’s PTI. This is a dangerous move and Zahid helps us understand why this reflects the ruling regime’s weakness.
We also talked about internal politics within the Pakistan Army and why this confrontation is headed in a very dangerous direction for Pakistan.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:45 PTI ban reasons
14:05 Surveillance in Pakistan
19:20 Supreme Court v. Establishment
28:30 Internal politics of the army
37:00 What comes next? -
In this episode, Uzair talks to Gilles Verniers about the recent French parliamentary election results. With many expecting gridlock in Paris, Gilles helps us understand what the results mean and what comes next for the country.
Gilles Verniers is Karl Loewenstein Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science at Amherst College, and Senior Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi. He also holds affiliations with the Centre for Advanced Studies of India at UPenn, and the Centre de Sciences Humaines in New Delhi. His research focuses on Indian electoral and party politics, political representation, women and minorities participation in politics and India’s democratic trajectory. He regularly contributes to various Indian media and was based in Delhi from 2005 to 2023. He graduated from Sciences Po, Paris.
You can read his recent pieces on the elections here:
- https://m.thewire.in/article/world/france-election-far-right-marine-le-pen-macron
- https://thewire.in/world/france-dodges-a-bullet-for-now-but-sinks-in-uncertainty
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
2:05 Understanding the differences in the groups
9:30 The normalization of the far-right
20:40 Lack of coalition culture in France
30:05 Personalization of acrimony
33:01 The left’s agenda and its foreign policy
38:20 Reading recommendations
Reading recommendations
- Cas Mudde, The Far Right Today (2019)
- James Shields (2007), The Extreme Right in France: From Pétain to Le Pen -
This episode is about assessing Joe Biden’s foreign policy as it relates to the ongoing conflict in Gaza. While not a whole lot has changed in terms of the substance of US policy towards Palestine and Israel, a lot has indeed changed in terms of the political discourse in Washington.
Uzair talked to Matt Duss about these developments and the long-term implications of Biden’s foreign policy choices. We also talked about the prospects for a broad agreement with Saudi Arabia, and the ways in which communities can engage at the grassroots levels to influence foreign policy.
Matt Duss is Executive Vice-President at the Center for International Policy. The Center for International Policy is a woman-led, progressive, independent nonprofit center for research, education, and advocacy working to advance a more peaceful, just, and sustainable U.S. approach to foreign policy.
Before joining CIP, Duss was a visiting scholar in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. From 2017-22, Duss was foreign policy advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt). Duss’s work has been widely published, including in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, The Nation, The American Prospect, and Foreign Policy.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
2:20 What has changed in Washington?
5:20 Role of AIPAC
8:40 America’s leverage over Israel
12:20 Impact of the presidential debate
18:35 Long-term implications of US choices
22:10 Saudi-Israel normalization
27:10 Key risks on the horizon
30:30 What can we do to change policy?
32:45 Reading recommendations
Reading recommendations
- The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes by Zachary D. Carter
- Miles: The Autobiography by Miles Davis and Quincy Troupe -
There has been a lot of confusion about the recently-announced Azm-e-Istehkam effort, which was initially dubbed as an operation but later revised to be a vision by the Sharif-led government. To talk about what the state is trying to do and to better understand the growing security crisis across Pakistan, Uzair invited Iftikhar Firdous to the podcast. Iftikhar is founder and editor of The Khorasan Diary, an organization that closely follows security issues in the region.
We talked about the role of China and the Afghan Taliban in the ongoing crisis, the regional dynamics at play, and why the political division across Pakistan is exacerbating the crisis.
If you want to stay on top of these topics, follow Iftikhar at @IftikharFirdous. You should also follow The Khorasan Diary at @khorasandiary and subscribe to their YoutTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/TheKhorasanDiary
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
2:20 What is Azm-e-Istehkam?
14:40 Militancy and illicit economy
26:20 No-go areas and growing insecurity
40:10 Chinese demands from Pakistan
46:02 Relationship with Afghan Taliban
53:10 Regional security dynamics at play -
Shehbaz Sharif’s government has put forward a new budget for the upcoming fiscal year, setting off a debate on more taxes, government spending, and economic reforms. As parliament debates the budget, some things may change about the exact numbers. But to discuss what has been put on the table, Uzair spoke to Ammar H. Khan about what this budget signals and why it pursues a “deepening” of the tax net, as opposed to a widening.
We also talked about the energy sector and why prices are being reduced for industrial consumers of electricity, as well as Ammar’s views on what he calls the heartland strategy.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:30 Budget takeaways
7:10 Pension reforms
10:30 Power subsidies
15:10 Inflation and salaried class
20:30 Digitization and taxes
26:16 Why are cash handouts criticized?
28:05 Electricity tariffs for industry
38:40 Heartland strategy and its issues -
This year has seen more record-breaking heatwaves across the subcontinent, leading to immense loss of life and economic output. Given climate change, these heatwaves are likely to be the new reality around the world, especially in Pakistan and India. Both these countries face tremendous risks from extreme weather events, especially heatwaves.
In this episode, Uzair talks to Kathy Baughman McLeod about heatwaves and how we can be better prepared to deal with them. Kathy Baughman McLeod is CEO of Climate Resilience for All, a gender-focused climate adaptation nonprofit dedicated to the protection of people and livelihoods from extreme heat and all its impacts.
Kathy brings a record of executive leadership and impact for public, nonprofit, and private sector institutions including the Arsht-Rockefeller Resilience Center, Bank of America, The Nature Conservancy, and the Office of the State of Florida’s Chief Financial Officer. She was also named by Reuters as one of 20 “Trailblazing Women in Climate for 2024.”
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
2:00 Understand heatwaves
9:50 What are places doing to deal with them
19:40 What should policymakers in Pakistan do
25:10 Adapting to the new climate
36:20 Reading recommendations
Reading Recommendations
- Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
- The Heat Will Kill You First by Jeff Goodell
- All We Can Save by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson -
The world’s largest elections are over and they have delivered a surprise in India. While we will get more detailed analysis in the coming days, what is for certain is that the elections mark a return to coalition politics in the world’s largest democracy.
Uzair spoke to Rahul Verma about what the results mean for India, Narendra Modi, and the country’s democracy. We also talked about what the BJP and Congress got right, what they are likely to do next, and the role of coalition allies moving forward.
Rahul Verma is Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, and Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science, Ashoka University, Sonipat. He has a PhD in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley. His research interests include political representation, political parties, and voting behaviour.
He is a regular columnist for various news platforms, and a regular TV commentator on elections, party politics, voting behavior, and public opinion polls. His book co-authored with Pradeep Chhibber, Ideology and Identity: The Changing Party Systems of India, develops a new approach to defining the contours of what constitutes an ideology in multi-ethnic countries such as India. He recently co-edited a volume with Sudha Pai & Shyam Babu - Dalits in the New Millennium.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:30 Key takeaways from the elections
8:30 Has Hindutva reached its peak?
21:30 Return of coalition politics
29:10 Scope for reforms in a coalition
33:50 What to look for in the near-term
38:47 Reading recommendations
Reading recommendations:
- Coalition Politics and Economic Development: Credibility and the Strength of Weak Governments by Irfan Nooruddin
- Ideology and Identity: The Changing Party Systems of India by Rahul Verma and Pradeep Chhibber
- Raag Darbari by Shrilal Shukla -
In this episode, Uzair talks to Abdul Moiz Jaferii about the ongoing cases in Pakistan’s superior judiciary. We focused on the wiretapping case being heard by Justice Babar Sattar, cases related to Imran Khan, and the broader implications of the supposed standoff between the establishment and the judiciary.
We also focused on the political ramifications of these cases through the summer and whether Imran Khan will be out of jail in the next few months.
Abdul Moiz Jaferii is a lawyer and tweets @jaferii
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:30 The latest at the courts
7:30 IHC’s letter to Justice Isa
15:00 Illegal wiretapping case
33:30 Political ramifications
39:00 Will Khan be out soon? -
In this episode, Uzair talks to Ali Khizar about the upcoming budget and the ongoing conversations between the IMF and Pakistan. We focused on why this government will only pursue incremental reforms, the issues with the power sector, and why broadening the tax base is unlikely for the time being.
Ali Khizar is head of research at Business Recorder and has over 20 years of experience in economic research and business analysis.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:55 IMF’s focus for Pakistan
9:30 Taxes in the budget
22:50 Cost of energy
36:30 Privatization outlook
47:20 Political space for reforms -
In this episode, Uzair talks to Ali Farid Khwaja about the potential of Saudi investments into Pakistan. We talked about why things were moving slowly, sectors Saudi is interested in, and why it is important for Pakistan to approach these conversations in a more professional manner.
Ali Farid Khwaja is Chairman of KTrade Securities and has over a decade of experience in the technology and financial sectors.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:35 Current state of play
12:00 What Pakistan needs to get right
19:20 Engagement with IMF
27:20 What is Saudi seeking from Pakistan?
32:30 Risks to watch for
38:20 Conclusion -
In this episode, Uzair talks to Khurram Husain about the latest decision by the central bank to keep rates unchanged. We talked about why the central bank has a credibility problem and how the IMF is influencing its choices. We also discussed the ongoing conversations between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, why it feels different this time around, and the role of geopolitics.
Finally, we also discussed the upcoming budget, the finance minister’s priorities, and how he can secure his position in the cabinet.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
2:00 Interest rates and the IMF
16:20 Saudi Arabia’s interest in Pakistan
24:45 Role of geopolitics in Saudi conversations
32:18 Budget and reforms outlook
39:05 How long will the finance minister last? - Show more
