Digital Debate

Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said that the proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) is running an India-backed disinformation campaign to destabilize Azad Kashmir, confirming that security forces arrested an individual spreading misleading content and that "evidence of Indian funding and links with the proscribed Joint Action Committee had surfaced." He said JAAC's refusal to participate in AJK's electoral process was itself proof of its pro-India alignment, and that Pakistan has identified numerous Indian social media accounts inciting the public against the state, calling the JAAC-India nexus "proven." @TararAttaullah separately called the Pahalgam incident an Indian false-flag operation, saying New Delhi has failed to present evidence a year on, and reiterated Pakistan's right to respond to India's Indus Waters Treaty violations, stating Pakistan "will not compromise on sovereignty." He added that Kashmir remains an internationally recognized dispute despite India's attempts to frame it as an internal matter while externalizing its own domestic issues. This follows similar allegations made three weeks earlier by AJK Information Secretary Muhammad Rashid Hanif, who cited alleged Indian funding to UK-based activist Amjad Ayub Mirza. As with that earlier claim, no public evidence substantiating the Indian funding allegation has been independently verified or presented in detail at either press conference, but now it has been confirmed by Federal Information minister's statement.

From a hunger strike to a Cabinet resignation, here's the full arc. Sonam Wangchuk's 26-day fast ended July 23 with written promises (no FIRs, a Parliament debate, possible compensation) but stopped short of its core demand. Two days later, that demand was met anyway: Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned on July 25, taking responsibility for the NEET-UG paper leak that first brought students to Jantar Mantar two months ago. The reactions are split: CJP calls it a "win for democracy," sources say students forced his hand, Congress calls it overdue. What's still missing: real reform of the NTA itself.

One ship today. A maritime industry tomorrow. Gwadar Port has completed its first commercial ship-refuelling operation, supplying 2,500 tonnes of low-sulphur marine fuel to a major LNG carrier. Dr.Farrukh Saleem explains that this marks Gwadar's transition from building infrastructure to providing high-value maritime services. If more ships choose Gwadar for bunkering, the economic gains could extend far beyond fuel sales, creating revenue, jobs, logistics opportunities, and strengthening Pakistan's blue economy. The first ship proved the capability. The next hundred will prove the commercial potential. @SaleemFarrukh

No exit clause. No legal basis. No accountability. India suspended the IWT, and the Court of Arbitration says they can't. In this episode of Digital Debate, Ahmer Bilal Soofi examines the legal and strategic implications of India's suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty. With no exit clause and no clear legal basis for unilateral suspension, what does international law actually say, and could this move redefine the dispute over shared waters? Full episode coming soon. @AhmerSoofi

The recent MOFA briefing covered seven distinct foreign policy fronts simultaneously, from Pakistan's red line on Houthi attacks against Saudi ships and Pakistani-flagged vessels, to its rejection of Amnesty International's report on Afghan strikes, its continued mediation posture on the Iran-US conflict, its restrained response on Kashmir arrests, its defence of the IFRP deportation policy, and its measured handling of questions on the EU GSP+ report and the US trade tariff dispute. Read more: digdebate.com/from-the-red-s…

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has resigned and submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi today, July 25, following weeks of youth-led protests over a series of examination paper leaks. "I have sent my resignation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi," Pradhan said. The resignation comes after the government took several steps to defuse the crisis, including a late-night message from PM Modi announcing fast-track courts and an amendment to strengthen the Public Examinations Act, with a nationwide candle march also planned by CJP for tomorrow that had further intensified pressure. Jantar Mantar erupted in celebration following the news. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke told, "Dharmendra Pradhan has resigned. This is proof that if you don't get scared, if you don't bow down in front of this government, you can take anyone's resignation. Don't be scared in democracy." The resignation marks the culmination of a movement that began with a courtroom insult, drew in climate activist Sonam Wangchuk's 26-day hunger strike (which ended Friday), and grew into one of India's largest youth protest movements in recent years.

Pakistan's July 23rd briefing shows a state trying to hold two postures at once: hardening its deterrence rhetoric by calling any Houthi attack on Pakistani-flagged ships a "red line," while simultaneously casting itself as the indispensable back-channel mediator between Iran and the US, hedging between hard security assertion and soft diplomatic leverage. At the same time, it stayed defensive on Afghanistan (rejecting Amnesty's Kabul-strike claims, justifying continued deportations) and juggled friction points like the EU's GSP+ review and looming US tariffs, classic middle-power balancing: asserting strength on its own turf while marketing itself as the region's calm, dialogue-first broker.

Economic & other issues: Pakistan pushed back on the EU's GSP+ report as "not balanced," while ongoing US tariff talks (linked to labor law compliance) remain unresolved; no final rate confirmed yet. Also, he spoke about the Afghan repatriation plan, which will continue indefinitely, with 89,000+ resettled abroad and 16,000+ granted humanitarian exemptions so far.

Diplomatic sprint: Deputy PM Ishaq Dar held back-to-back meetings in Manila (Egypt, Oman, Russia's Lavrov, Bangladesh) on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum, before heading to Kyrgyzstan for the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers. South Asia & human rights: On India's Cockroach Janta Party protests, Pakistan called it "an internal matter," declining comment. But it directly raised concerns over ~3,000 Kashmiri youth arrested in Indian-administered Kashmir, and marked seven years since the ICJ's Kulbhushan Jadhav verdict, calling him a "living emblem" of Indian-sponsored terrorism.

Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesperson used Thursday's briefing to address a packed agenda, from Houthi threats in the Red Sea to Amnesty's Kabul strike report, Kashmir arrests, Afghan deportations, and a flurry of high-level diplomacy across three continents. Here's the full breakdown; Regional security & conflict: Pakistan condemned Houthi threats against Saudi shipping in the Red Sea, warning any attack on Pakistani-flagged vessels would be met with self-defense, calling it a "red line," not a "thin line." It rejected Amnesty's report on the Kabul strike as baseless, calling the operation self-defense against terrorist bases while accusing the Taliban of sheltering the TTP and BLA. On the reported Iran-US ceasefire proposal, the spokesperson wouldn't confirm details but said Pakistan "hasn't lost hope" for peace via the Islamabad MoU.

Watch the Full Video here: youtu.be/k_g5yZvnuRQ

Israel called it "crazy love." Modi called it "motherland." Neither one will admit what it actually means. While the world turned its back on Israel, India walked in, a hug on the tarmac, a standing ovation in the Knesset, and a line most people missed: Modi calling Israel the "fatherland" and India the "motherland" of a shared civilizational project. But 800+ tonnes of military-grade steel, a submarine attack off Sri Lanka, and a "hexagon" alliance Netanyahu himself named tell a different story than the photo-ops. And facing it? Pakistan. Saudi Arabia. Turkey. The only bloc heavy enough to answer it. India isn't picking a side. It's betting it doesn't have to. @M_A_Thakur

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir inaugurated Sky47 Karakoram One in Rawalpindi on July 24, Pakistan's largest data center and first purpose-built, AI-ready Tier III/IV sovereign cloud platform. Built in partnership with China's ZTE, the facility is designed to support artificial intelligence, machine learning, and high-performance computing workloads, providing a secure foundation for cloud computing, data hosting, and digital services within Pakistan rather than relying on foreign infrastructure. PM Shehbaz called the project "a guarantee of Pakistan's future" that will provide the country "impregnable security," announcing that similar data centers will follow in Karachi and Lahore, with all government institutions eventually linked to the facility. Federal IT Minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja said the launch marks "the beginning of a new era of artificial intelligence in Pakistan," framing data as "the true economic power of the future." Sky47 CEO Hassan Abbas noted that Pakistan currently operates just 22 data centers compared to 12,000 globally, even as the country's e-commerce sector grows 25-30% annually, positioning Sky47 as a foundational step toward closing that digital infrastructure gap.

Read more: digdebate.com/the-monsoon-pu…

Pakistan's monsoon death toll has reached 72 since June 26, 21 in Punjab and 41 in KP, with 154 injured in Punjab alone from building collapses, lightning, electrocution, and drowning. The NDMA issued a nationwide High Alert on July 21 for flooding in the Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi, and Sutlej rivers, but flagged that flows depend on release decisions from Indian reservoirs, a dependency made more dangerous since India halted hydrological data-sharing 15 months ago and hasn't responded to four letters from Pakistan's Indus Commissioner. That data gap became concrete when excess water releases caused a surprise surge on the Chenab at Marala, Khanki, and Qadirabad with no warning to downstream communities. Punjab CM Maryam Nawaz and President Zardari have urged the public to avoid rivers and flood-prone areas as evacuations proceed along the Chenab, Jhelum, and Ravi, with PDMA and Rescue 1122 on high alert. The piece argues Pakistan's disaster response, while operationally functional, is working from incomplete information, issuing general warnings instead of precise, data-driven ones, and notes this monsoon is hitting communities still recovering from 2025's floods, which killed over 1,000 people nationwide.

PM Shehbaz Sharif announced the promotion of Lt. Gen. Aamer Raza, HI(M), SBt, previously Chief of the General Staff of the Pakistan Army, to four-star rank, appointing him as the country's first Commander National Strategic Command (CNSC). The post was created under the 27th Constitutional Amendment, replacing the now-abolished Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee role and taking over its nuclear-oversight responsibilities. The PM congratulated Gen. Raza and wished him success in the new assignment.