In 2024, Islamabad, Pakistan, is plagued by political uncertainty, economic instability, a deteriorating security situation, and difficult relations with neighboring countries. But it was not just these persistent illnesses that defined the year, but also the country’s inability to stand up to imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Amid political turmoil, Pakistan hosted a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar, who was the first high-ranking Indian minister to visit Islamabad in about a decade, spoke out amid the chilly relations between the two neighbors. visited Islamabad.
The last Indian foreign minister to visit Pakistan was Sushma Swaraj. She had traveled to Islamabad in December 2015 to attend the Heart of Asia conference on Afghanistan.
Speaking at an SCO event, Mr. Jaishankar said, “If friendship is not enough, if good neighborliness is lacking somewhere, there are certainly reasons for introspection and causes to be addressed.” .
He also said that if cross-border activities are “characterized” by terrorism, extremism and separatism, there is little chance that they will facilitate trade, energy flows and connectivity in parallel. .
His comments were seen as directed at Pakistan, which has troubled relations with neighboring countries.
If this year began in January with Iran’s missile attack on Pakistani soil targeting Baloch militants, this year Pakistan has carried out airstrikes on Afghanistan, targeting at least 40 people, including women and children, according to the Afghan Taliban government. It ended with him killing someone. Pakistan says the targets were militants.
Pakistan witnessed a series of terrorist attacks in 2024, one of the toughest years for security forces, particularly in the turbulent provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtankhwa.
According to details shared with Parliament by the Ministry of Interior, 1,566 terrorist incidents occurred in the first 10 months of this year, resulting in 924 deaths and 2,121 injuries. At least 573 people were killed and 1,353 injured were members of law enforcement agencies, including the military.
On the economic front, Pakistan was on the verge of defaulting on its debt in 2022, but was only able to avoid it thanks to timely intervention by the International Monetary Fund.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif takes credit for pulling the country from the brink of bankruptcy and rebuilding the economy.
In 2024, inflation fell to single digits, the policy interest rate was cut from 22.5% to 15%, foreign exchange reserves improved, and the stock market posted record gains.
But it was imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan who often grabbed the headlines.
In February’s elections, independent candidates backed by Khan’s party surprised everyone by winning more than 100 of the 226 seats in the hung parliament.
Then, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz pulled a surprise by nominating Shehbaz Sharif as its candidate for prime minister instead of Nawaz Sharif, the party’s top committee member and three-time former prime minister.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has decided to join the opposition party after the PML-N and Pakistan Peoples Party signed a power-sharing agreement to form a coalition government led by Shehbaz.
Mr Khan was arrested in August 2023 after being convicted in a corruption case and has remained in prison ever since.
Unexpectedly, his popularity rose in 2024, vindicating his words, “You become more dangerous when you lose power” before losing a confidence vote in parliament and being ousted as prime minister in 2022. This has been proven.
After a recent crackdown by authorities began after party officials marched to Islamabad, the former cricketer called for mass “civil disobedience” by supporters if key demands were not met. Threatened me.
These include “restoring” the “mandate” for running the country that he believes he won in February’s parliamentary elections.
His supporters believe 2024 will be a disaster for electoral politics and democracy, pointing to a “blatant disregard” for the will of the people as reflected on the ballot. Even some people in power admit this.
In a recent interview with Dunya News, senior PML-N leader Mian Javed Latif admitted that they “lost the election.”
Negotiations have recently begun between the PTI and the government, but few believe Mr. Khan’s demands to restore the “stolen mandate” will be met. As a result, the country may continue to face strong political headwinds in 2025.
As traditional challenges remain, the government now faces another challenge: how to tame the “cornered tiger.”
This article was generated from the Automata news agency feed without any modifications to the text.
