International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine

How a regional warmonger came to host US-Iran peace talks

Farooq Sulehria — 2026-04-25T07:07:33Z

Mainstream Pakistan is basking in (self)glory. As host of the US-Iran negotiations — rumours of a second-round abuzz — Islamabad is upbeat. From talk show hosts to YouTube influencers, the one-dimensional message is clear: Pakistan has finally been assigned the role it deserves in the global hierarchy.

- IVP615 - April 2026 / United States (USA), Pakistan

Neither Islamabad nor Kabul: A Left Perspective on the Pakistan–Afghanistan War

Farooq Sulehria — 2026-03-01T17:27:07Z

As cross-border strikes intensify and Pakistan's defence minister declares “open war” against the Afghan Taliban government, the long arc of Islamabad's Afghanistan policy appears under severe strain. Is this merely another episode in a volatile frontier relationship — or the blowback of decades of militarised strategy and proxy politics?

- IVP614 - March 2026 / Pakistan, Afghanistan

Far-right has created a climate of racism, Islamophobia and fear

Farooq Sulehria, Håkan Blomqvist — 2023-10-22T06:24:00Z

“Sweden has been making global headlines owing to a litany of Quran burnings earlier this year. Angry protesters in Baghdad burnt and ransacked the Swedish embassy in July while Iraq expelled the Swedish ambassador. Elsewhere in the Muslim world, agitation was recorded against the burnings of the Quran in Sweden.”

- IV585 - October 2023 / Sweden, Racism and Islamophobia

Anti-imperialism of fools: The case of Imran Khan

Farooq Sulehria — 2023-09-24T18:34:33Z

“The politics of Khan have not benefitted anti-imperialism by an iota in Pakistan. On the contrary, his politics have gravely undermined, for the years to come, the gains made by the women's movement, democracy activism and the trade union struggles.”

- IV584 - September 2023 / Pakistan

Shipwreck in Greece: Why were half those onboard Pakistanis?

Farooq Sulehria — 2023-06-22T20:04:29Z

“The fact of the matter is that poverty and an utter lack of hope drives young people to hand over their parents' life savings to human traffickers and hop on overcrowded boats leaving the Libyan coast in the dead of night.”

- IV581 - June 2023 / Pakistan, Migration

Left resists as Sweden tilts at NATO membership

Bella Frank, Farooq Sulehria — 2022-05-01T09:30:26Z

“Many Swedes are still firmly against a NATO membership, but I think big sections of Swedish citizenry are simply trying to educate themselves more on the pros and cons regarding NATO.”

- IV568 - May 2022 / Sweden, NATO

Abandoned and Betrayed

Farooq Sulehria — 2021-08-30T06:55:15Z

“Life no doubt was bad under the US occupation. Taliban suicide missions further compounded the misery bombed onto Afghan villages by the US war jets. The latter claimed more civilian lives. However, under the Taliban it will go from bad to worse. Once consolidated, Taliban will start deploying their horns more ruthlessly.”

- IV559 - August 2021 / Afghanistan

Afghanistan's bravest woman: Sudaba organized first anti-Taliban demo

Farooq Sulehria — 2021-08-28T09:20:23Z

“Small in size but Himalayan in courage, this protest began to dominate the TV screens and blogosphere. ”

- IV559 - August 2021 / Women, Afghanistan

Progressive MPs yet again target of state oppression

Farooq Sulehria — 2018-12-03T07:36:16Z

On November 30th, two members of Pakistan's federal parliament (National Assembly), Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar, were stopped from boarding a UAE flight at Peshawar airport. They were detained for over six hours by the state agencies to make sure that they cannot travel abroad. This is the latest action of the military establishment to target comrades Mohsin and Ali merely because both these parliamentarians have been leading a mass grass roots civic and socioeconomic rights movement, critical of state's “war on terror” policies.

- IV527 - December 2018 / Pakistan

Pakistan elects mini-Trump in military-rigged elections

Farooq Sulehria — 2018-08-22T17:42:41Z

First off, some simple arithmetic about the July 25 general elections in Pakistan, the sixth most populace country in the world. In a house of 342, 272 members are directly elected. The rest of the seats are reserved for women and religious minorities allotted on the basis of the parliamentary representation every party achieves in the elections. In the polling conducted on the British pattern of first-past-the-post system, the Pakistan Justice Party (PTI) pocketed 115 out of 272 seats (up from 26 in 2013) and emerged as the largest party. For a simple majority, the PTI required 137 mandates. Hence, a coalition government has been constituted.

- IV523 - August 2018 / Pakistan