ISLAMABAD: The next government in Pakistan will face myriad challenges from unsustainable population growth to simmering extremism, all complicated by the decades-long tussle between civilian and military leadership.
No matter who is voted into office on July 25, the new rulers will have to make hard choices, and quickly.
Here's a rundown of the biggest hurdles Pakistan is facing.
Security has dramatically improved across Pakistan following a military crackdown in recent years.
However analysts have long warned that Pakistan is not getting to the root causes of extremism, and that the militants can still carry out spectacular attacks -- an ability they demonstrate periodically.
That includes during this campaign, with a string of bombings at political events killing 175 people, including the second deadliest militant attack in Pakistan's history -- an Islamic State-claimed blast in Balochistan on July 13 which killed 149 people.
Analysts have warned that insurgents may be regrouping and seeking to reassert themselves after years of setbacks.
Pakistan's next government faces growing fears of a balance of payments crisis, with speculation mounting it will have to seek its second IMF bailout in five years.
The central bank is burning through foreign reserves and devaluing the rupee, including another five-percent dive this week, in a bid to bridge a widening trade deficit.
Pakistan, which has long relied heavily on imports, increased its procurement of materials to help build a string of Chinese-backed infrastructure projects after inking a multi-billion dollar investment package with Beijing -- the terms of which are opaque, leading to fears over how Islamabad will pay for it.
The economy has also been stung by higher oil prices.
Meanwhile, meagre exports such as textiles have taken a hit from cheaper Chinese-produced goods, while foreign remittances have also slowed.
The winners of the election will have "limited time" to act, Fitch ratings agency warned earlier this month.
Conservative Pakistan, with its limited family planning, has one of the highest birth rates in Asia at around three children per woman, according to the World Bank and government figures.
That has led to a fivefold increase of the population since 1960, now touching 207 million, draft results from last year's census show.
The boom is negating hard-won economic and social progress in the developing country, experts have warned.
To add to the problem, discussing contraception in public is taboo in Pakistan.
Analysts say unless more is done to slow growth, the country's natural resources -- particularly drinking water -- will not be enough to support the population.
Pakistan is on the verge of an ecological disaster if authorities do not urgently address looming water shortages, experts say.
Official estimates show that by 2025 the country will be facing an "absolute scarcity" of water, with less than 500 cubic metres available per person -- just one third of the water available in parched Somalia, according to the UN.
Pakistan has massive Himalayan glaciers, rivers, monsoon rains and floods -- but just three major water storage basins, compared with more than a thousand in South Africa or Canada.
As such, surplus water is quickly lost.
Political initiative will be essential to building infrastructure to reverse the course of the impending crisis. There is also little in the way of education on water conservation.
Pakistan has spent roughly half its nearly 71-year history under military rule, and the imbalance of power in civil-military relations has long been seen as an impediment to democracy and progress.
Hope surged in 2013 as the country moved through its first ever democratic transition of power.
But since then experts have warned of a "creeping coup" fuelled by tensions between the generals and the government of three-time premier Nawaz Sharif, largely attributed to his desire to assert civilian supremacy and seek warmer relations with arch-rival India.
Sharif, ousted in 2017 and arrested for corruption earlier this month, says he and his party are being targeted by the military.
Media, analysts, and other politicians have also widely decried what one think tank described as a "silent coup" against Sharif, with cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party the obvious beneficiaries.
This week, Pakistan's Human Rights Commission warned of "blatant, aggressive and unabashed attempts to manipulate the outcome of the upcoming elections", with "alarming implications for Pakistan's transition to an effective democracy".
The next government will be tasked with meeting the country's challenges without upsetting this delicate balance of power.
Pakistan's five biggest post-election challenges
Pakistan's five biggest post-election challenges
- The next government will be tasked with meeting the country's challenges without upsetting this delicate balance of power
- Political initiative will be essential to building infrastructure to reverse the course of the impending crisis
Tufts says international student taken into US custody, visa revoked
Trump and his top diplomat Marco Rubio in particular have pledged to deport foreign pro-Palestinian protesters, accusing them of supporting Hamas militants
WASHINGTON: Federal authorities have detained an international student studying at Tufts University near Boston and have revoked their visa, the university said in a statement Tuesday night.
Tufts said the graduate student was taken into US custody from an off-campus apartment building in Somerville, Massachusetts and that it had no further details about the incident or the circumstances surrounding the student’s status.
Representatives for the US Department of Homeland Security, US Customs and Border Protection and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement could not be immediately reached for comment on the university’s statement.
A lawyer representing the student could also not be immediately reached.
The detention is the latest move by Republican US President Donald Trump’s administration targeting international students as it seeks to crack down on immigration, including ramping up immigration arrests and sharply restricting border crossings.
Trump and his top diplomat Marco Rubio in particular have pledged to deport foreign pro-Palestinian protesters, accusing them of supporting Hamas militants, posing hurdles for US foreign policy and being antisemitic.
At Columbia University, student protester and lawful permanent resident Mahmoud Khalil was arrested this month. He is legally challenging his detention after Trump, without evidence, accused him of supporting Hamas, which Khalil denies.
Federal immigration officials are also seeking to detain a Korean American Columbia University student, who is a legal permanent US resident and has participated in pro-Palestinian protests, a move blocked by the courts for now.
Earlier this month, a Lebanese doctor and assistant professor at Brown University in Rhode Island was denied re-entry to the US and deported to Lebanon after Trump’s administration alleged her phone contained photos “sympathetic” to Hezbollah. Dr. Rasha Alawieh said she does not support the militant group but held regard for its slain leader because of her religion.
Trump’s administration has also targeted students at Cornell University in New York and Georgetown University in Washington.
Funding shortages may halt global child malnutrition programs, WFP warns
- “If we fail to act, we are condemning millions of children to a lifetime of suffering,” said WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain
- The US provided $4.5 billion of the $9.8 billion budget last year for the WFP
GENEVA: Programmes to help prevent malnourishment in children in Yemen, Afghanistan and Syria could be suspended within months if urgent funding is not found, the UN’s World Food Programme warned on Wednesday.
“If we fail to act, we are condemning millions of children to a lifetime of suffering,” said WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain in a statement ahead of a summit in Paris on Wednesday where governments and charities will discuss tackling growing global malnutrition and hunger.
The WFP has suffered severe financial setbacks after the US, its single largest donor, announced a 90-day pause on foreign aid assistance while it determines if programs are aligned with the Trump administration’s “America first” policy.
The US provided $4.5 billion of the $9.8 billion budget last year for the WFP, which gives food and cash assistance to people suffering from hunger due to crop shortages, conflict and climate change worldwide.
The organization called on Wednesday for $1.4 billion to deliver malnutrition prevention and treatment programs for 30 million mothers and children in 56 countries in 2025, saying malnutrition is worsening worldwide due to war, economic instability and climate change.
It did not give details on its financial shortfall or mention the US
Prevention programs in Yemen, where one-third of children under the age of 5 are malnourished, could stop from May if additional funding was not received, the WFP said. The UN children’s agency UNICEF said on Tuesday that western coastal areas of Yemen are on the verge of a catastrophe due to malnutrition.
McCain said that the WFP is being forced to make tough choices such as prioritising treatment over prevention due to lack of funds. Programmes in Afghanistan could also be stopped by May, while in Syria and the Democratic Republic of Congo programs could be reduced from June unless money is found.
Earlier this month, the WFP announced potential cuts to food rations for Rohingya refugees, raising concern among aid workers of rising hunger in the overcrowded camps.
The WFP said the reduction was due to a broad shortfall in donations, not the Trump administration’s move to cut foreign aid globally.
But a senior Bangladeshi official told Reuters that the US decision most likely played a role, as the US has been the top donor for Rohingya refugee aid.
Magazine publishes entire US attack plan mistakenly shared in chat group
- Magazine said it was now publishing details after the Trump administration confirmed it was genuine and denied any classified information had been included
WASHINGTON: The Atlantic magazine on Wednesday published what it said was the entire text of a chat group mistakenly shared with a journalist by top US national security officials laying out plans of an imminent attack on Yemen.
The stunning details, including the times of strikes and types of planes being used, were all laid out in screenshots of the chat, which the officials had conducted on a commercial Signal messaging app, rather than a secure government platform.
The magazine, which initially only published the broad outlines of the chat, said it was now publishing the details after the Trump administration confirmed it was genuine and repeatedly denied that any classified information had been included.
The scandal has rocked President Donald Trump’s administration, which for now is reacting defiantly — attacking The Atlantic and denying any wrongdoing.
National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes had said Monday the chain cited by The Atlantic appeared to be “authentic.”
However, Vice President JD Vance, who was on the Signal chat, said The Atlantic had “oversold” the story, while White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said “the entire story was another hoax.”
National Security Adviser Mike Waltz likewise insisted on X that the Signal chain revealed “no locations” and “NO WAR PLANS.”
However, the depth of detail in the now published chat will fuel a furious outcry from Democrats in Congress who are accusing the Trump officials of incompetence and putting US military operations in peril.
The House of Representatives was set to discuss the scandal in a hearing Wednesday.
The story first broke Monday when Atlantic journalist Jeffrey Goldberg said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sent information in the Signal chat about imminent strikes against the Houthi rebels on March 15.
For reasons unknown, Goldberg’s phone number had been added to the group, also including Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe, among others.
Goldberg also revealed disparaging comments by the top US officials about European allies during their chat.
The Atlantic initially did not publish the precise details of the chat, saying it wanted to avoid revealing classified material and information that could endanger American troops.
But on Tuesday, Ratcliff and other officials involved in the chat played down the scandal, testifying before Congress that nothing critical had been shared or laws broken — and that nothing discussed was classified.
Trump himself brushed the breach off as a “glitch” and said there was “no classified information” involved.
The Atlantic said on Wednesday that it therefore asked the government whether in that case there would be any problem in publishing the rest of the material. It got no firm indications to the contrary.
The Atlantic said its full publication Wednesday included everything in the Signal chain other than one CIA name that the agency had asked not to be revealed.
The text discussion includes Hegseth laying out the weather conditions, times of attacks and types of aircraft being used.
The texting was done barely half an hour before the first US warplanes took off and two hours before the first target, described as “Target Terrorist,” was expected to be bombed.
The details are shockingly precise for the kind of operation that the public usually only learns about later — and in vaguer terms.
“1410: More F-18s LAUNCH (2nd strike package),” Hegseth writes at one stage.
“1415: Strike Drones on Target (THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP, pending earlier ‘Trigger Based’ targets).”
A short time later, Trump’s National Security Adviser Mike Waltz sent real-time intelligence on the aftermath of an attack, writing “Building collapsed. Had multiple positive ID” and “amazing job.”
The Houthis, who have controlled much of Yemen for more than a decade, are part of the “axis of resistance” of pro-Iran groups staunchly opposed to Israel and the US.
The Trump administration has stepped up attacks on the group in response to constant Houthi attempts to sink and disrupt shipping through the strategic Red Sea.
Austria to stop refugee family reunification in EU first: govt
- Austria has already halted family reunification for Syrians since the ouster of Syria’s leader Bashar Assad last December
- Syrians make up the bulk of family reunifications
VIENNA: Austria announced on Wednesday that it would pause family reunifications for those with asylum status from May, becoming the first in the European Union to do so.
Several EU countries are mulling stopping or tightening the right for people, who cannot safely return to their home countries, to bring their families, but so far no bloc member has a complete halt in place.
Austria has already halted family reunification for Syrians since the ouster of Syria’s leader Bashar Assad last December, arguing it has to reassess the situation and threatening their deportation.
Syrians make up the bulk of family reunifications, but a newly formed conservative-led government — under pressure with anti-immigration sentiment high — has insisted that it needs to stop all.
Integration Minister Claudia Plakolm said the government would make a legal change to allow the interior ministry to issue a decree to halt family reunification.
“By May, so in just a few weeks, the stop is expected to become reality,” Plakolm of the conservative People’s Party (OeVP) told reporters.
“On one hand, our systems have reached their limits and, on the other hand, the probability of successful integration decreases massively with each new arrival,” she added.
The pause is for six months but can be extended until May 2027, she said, adding it was a “mammoth task” to integrate those who have arrived, many of whom struggle to learn German and find jobs.
In 2023, almost 9,300 people arrived due to family reunification; last year it was almost 7,800 people, according to government figures.
Most of them were school-aged minors, placing a burden on schools, the government said.
Rights organizations have criticized the government’s plans in the country of nine million, with one of the main asylum support groups saying they would challenge the decree once issued in court.
“There must be an emergency (to allow the government to pause family reunification), which in Austria is not the case,” Asylkoordination Oesterreich spokesman Lukas Gahleitner told AFP.
The anti-immigration far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) topped parliamentary elections for the first time ever last November, gaining almost a third of the votes.
It failed to form government, with the election runner-up long-ruling OeVP cobbling together a coalition with the Social Democrats (SPOe) and the liberal NEOs.
War ignited record-breaking wildfires in Ukraine last year, scientists say
- Satellite data showed nearly 9,000 fires torched a total of 965,000 hectares in Ukraine in 2024
- Ukraine has around 10 million hectares, or 100,000 sq km of forest
BRUSSELS: Last year was Ukraine’s worst year for wildfires in more than three decades of record-keeping, as shelling along front lines in the war with Russia triggered an unprecedented number of blazes, scientists said.
Forest fires in Ukraine in 2024 burnt more than twice the area destroyed by fire in the entire 27-country European Union in 2024, the EU’s Joint Research Center — its independent science research service — said in a report published this week.
Satellite data showed nearly 9,000 fires torched a total of 965,000 hectares in Ukraine in 2024. Ukraine has around 10 million hectares, or 100,000 sq km (38,610 sq miles), of forest. Around a third of the area burned last year was farmland.
For comparison, the EU member state with the most land burnt last year was Portugal, which lost 147,000 hectares — its worst annual total since 2017.
The JRC said satellite data showed the fires were concentrated in Ukraine’s east, in areas apparently in close proximity to front lines of the war.
Ukrainian forests have incurred severe damage as both Russian and Ukrainian armed forces blast thousands of shells at each other every day, shredding the earth.
Maksym Matsala, a forest researcher at Sweden’s University of Agricultural Sciences, said the main cause was artillery and falling shells igniting fires.
He said the jump in fires last year was partly because of a large build-up of dead and damaged trees since Russia’s invasion in 2022, which had created plentiful fuel for fires during extremely dry weather in 2024.
“If war is continuous, then sooner or later there will be a lot of inaccessible areas and a lot of areas with accumulating dead wood,” Matsala told Reuters.
Ukraine’s forests are also riddled with land mines and unexploded ordnance that can detonate during fires — making it impossible for firefighters to control the flames.
The EU data only goes back to 2020, but when cross-checked with data from researchers at Ukraine’s National University of Life and Environmental Sciences, 2024 was the worst year for forest fires in Ukraine since at least 1990.
Climate change is exacerbating wildfires by increasing the hot and dry conditions that help them spread faster, burn longer and rage more intensely, scientists say. Hotter weather saps moisture from vegetation, turning it into dry fuel.
Ukraine’s fires mostly occurred during summer, when this kind of fire-prone weather is more frequent.
