Voting began on August 10 in four constituencies of Bagh and Haveli in Pakistan-administered Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the third phase of the 2026 AJK assembly elections; polling was postponed in seven of the eleven Poonch division seats after boycott calls and violence disrupted preparations, leaving 82 candidates contesting in an election that could determine which party, PML-N or PPP, forms the next AJK government
Pakistan's two-term Prime Minister since 2022, Sharif governs a nuclear-armed, IMF-dependent state while repositioning Islamabad as a US-Iran ceasefire mediator.
full dossier ›Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement in Makkah on August 7, capping nearly a year of trilateral talks; the pact's mutual-defence clause means an armed attack on any signatory is treated as an attack on all three; Indian outlets frame it as a potential 'Islamic NATO'; Middle East Eye called it 'first in kind' among the three states; The National (UAE) reported the agreement aims to 'strengthen collective security and promote peace'
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf rallied across Pakistan on August 5, 2026, the third anniversary of former prime minister Imran Khan's imprisonment; police in Karachi baton-charged protesters, fired tear gas, and arrested several party leaders including Dr Masroor Sial; Amnesty International called on Pakistan's government to release Khan and restore his access to family, lawyers, and medical care
Azad Jammu and Kashmir held the second phase of its 2026 general election on August 2, with PML-N emerging as front-runner in provisional results across Muzaffarabad and Jammu divisions; PPP won at least one Muzaffarabad seat; PML-N had won the Phase 1 count in Mirpur division on July 27
Pakistan's Foreign Office said on July 30 it is making its 'utmost' effort to return the US and Iran to negotiations under the Islamabad MoU ceasefire framework; the FO urged both sides to exercise maximum restraint and resume technical-level talks; the statement came as fresh US and Saudi strikes in the region added to pressure on the June 2026 ceasefire agreement
India's Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on July 26 that India would not hold talks with Pakistan except on Azad Kashmir and accused Pakistan's government of backing terrorism against India; Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif replied that India is deflecting from 'internal turmoil,' while Pakistan's Foreign Ministry condemned Singh's remarks as highly provocative and irresponsible and called on the UN to hold India accountable
India's Ministry of Home Affairs gazette-notified 23 individuals linked to Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba on July 4; 17 are Pakistani nationals, 6 are Indian nationals operating from Pakistan-controlled territory
Turkey's president and Pakistan's prime minister met at the Vahdettin Mansion on July 4, reaffirming strategic alignment on the Iran ceasefire, pledging a US$5 billion bilateral trade target and expanding defence and logistics cooperation
A new Sunni alignment is forming around Riyadh, one that excludes Abu Dhabi, positions Saudi Arabia as the Arab world's pivotal state post-Iran war, and places Pakistan's nuclear capability inside a coherent geopolitical coalition for the first time
Pakistan's PM will press Iran and Turkey on implementing the June 17 Islamabad MoU framework; Islamabad brokered the April talks where the first direct US-Iran engagement occurred and maintains a dedicated contact channel between Washington and Tehran
A nuclear-armed South Asian republic of 251 million, Pakistan is the pivot between India, China, Afghanistan, and the Gulf, and one of the world's most acutely distressed sovereign-debt cases.
Islamabad claims 29 militants killed in Paktia, Paktika and Kunar; Kabul calls it a cowardly act; the raids follow a Jamaat-ul-Ahrar attack on Karachi's Rangers headquarters
Pakistan recasts itself from war-adjacent bystander to lead mediator; Pezeshkian's thank-you visit and Nobel chatter follow a 14-point deal reopening Hormuz and extending the truce
Aurangzeb cuts salaried tax rates and scraps the surcharge while holding to the $7bn IMF programme's consolidation targets and a 17.6% higher revenue goal
June 28-29 strikes on Paktia, Paktika and Kunar killed a Taliban-claimed 36 civilians; Islamabad counts 29 militants; both sides summoned diplomats and the UN documented civilian deaths
A decade after Modi vowed to quarantine Pakistan, Islamabad signs minerals and crypto deals with Trump's circle and an 'all-weather' upgrade with Xi, and India is left protesting from the sidelines