Muhammad Umar

Assurances from Kabul haven't changed anything on the ground. Pakistan's condition is verification: arrests of TTP and BLA commanders, closed camps, handovers, third-party monitoring. My latest for @thenews_intl @geonews_english thenews.pk/print/1445244-kab…

thenews.pk/print/1437566-pow… While everything was broken, several million households rebuilt Pakistan's electricity supply. My latest for @thenews_intl @geonews_english

thenews.pk/print/1432680-abo… It is time to abolish the personal income tax. Salaried Pakistanis paid Rs633 billion last year, up from Rs585 billion, more than any other category and well ahead of exporters at Rs174 billion. Wholesale and retail trade is close to a fifth of the economy and four per cent of the tax take; of an estimated 3.5 million retailers, roughly 300,000 filed. Agriculture is another fifth of GDP and under one per cent of revenue. More than two in five of those who do file declare no taxable income at all. @thenews_intl @geonews_english

thenews.pk/print/1429212-tou… Pakistan is collecting on a debt of patience the world has owed it for two generations, and it should do so with a steady hand, a clear conscience and no apologies. @thenews_intl @geonews_english

The PIA sale broke a taboo three decades old, and the distribution companies are next. But a country cannot shrink its way to prosperity. My latest in @thenews_intl on the half of reform Pakistan is building for itself: thenews.pk/print/1424076-the… @geonews_english

Countries that matter economically are listened to diplomatically. Countries that matter only diplomatically are managed. My new op-ed in @thenews_intl on why Pakistan has ~12 months to turn military goodwill into trade flows; and why the foreign service is the place to start. thenews.pk/print/1417931-pas… @geonews_english

A nuclear state cannot be casually coerced. That single fact, more than any diplomatic skill, is what lets Islamabad now stand between Tehran and Washington — one of which just bombed the other — without being assumed to act under duress. My piece on the Chagai dividend: thenews.pk/print/1415666-the… @thenews_intl @geonews_english

My latest for The News International: Pakistan's policing crisis isn't a story of bad officers or weak morals—it's a problem of design. A system inherited from 1861, built for control rather than public service, still shapes how citizens access the law. thenews.pk/print/1411574-ord… @thenews_intl @geonews_english

The Pakistan–India rivalry is no longer just persistent. It is increasingly unproductive. As the world shifts, the region risks falling further behind. My latest: thenews.pk/print/1408907-riv…⁠ @thenews_intl @geonews_english