South Asia Investor Review

The summit meeting of the leaders of China and the United States in Washington appears to signal a rapprochement between the two superpowers.  President Trump has repeatedly referred to what he calls "G2", without mentioning "G7" or "G20", the groups that include many more countries. This development is seen as positive for world peace but it diminishes India's significance as a "counterweight to China" and the benefits Indians expected to flow from the US-China confrontation in Asia.  President Trump Personally Welcomed President Xi at Andrews Air Force Base The fact that President Trump personally received President Xi at Andrews Air Force Base upon his arrival is yet another indication that the US now recognizes China as a peer competitor. President Xi, for his part, has talked about the need for the two superpowers to avoid the "Thucydides Trap", a reference to the potential for war between an established superpower and a rising...

Like many other countries, Pakistan has a geographic digital divide. Residents of remote areas of the country have significantly lower access to the Internet than those in the urban centers. While the mobile internet usage in the urban areas has reached 65%, only 50% of those living in rural areas have access to it, according to a recent GSMA report titled "State of Mobile Internet Connectivity 2026".  Digital Connectivity in Rural Pakistan To bridge this rural-urban digital divide, Pakistan government is expanding telecom and high-speed internet services in remote and rural areas through the proposed National Connectivity Plan, satellite broadband integration, and multi-billion-rupee Universal Service Fund (USF) projects. Fiber optic cables and satellites will provide backhaul high-capacity communication link to solar-powered 4G/5G cell towers in rural communities.  Solar power is being used to bridge the digital divide in the country by providing reliable off-grid electrici...

Pakistani auto industry, currently dominated by Japanese automakers building ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) vehicles, is expected to be transformed with the arrival of Chinese new energy vehicles (NEV) manufacturers. Beyond Your Dreams (BYD), Chang'an, Great Wall Motors (GWM) and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) are planning to build plants in Pakistan.  Coming on the heels of the ongoing  solar revolution  in the country, these new EV entrants are helping accelerate Pakistan's  transition to clean energy.   These auto plants also create an opportunity for Pakistan to become a significant exporter of electric vehicles to developing nations.  BYD EV. Source: CNBC BYD, operating in Pakistan through a partnership with Mega Motor Company (a subsidiary of Hubco), has started building a $150 million assembly plant in Gharo, Sindh. Its initial target is to produce 25,000 units annually, with the capacity to scale up to 50,000 units a year. It...

"When you claim that your civilization is superior, is older, is the mother of democracy, is the mother of science....you  antagonize  others".   Christophe Jaffrelot , French Political Scientist, speaking to Indian journalist Karan Thapar after expressions of outrage against BAPS Hindu leader’s recent visit to Eiffel Tower.  In an  article  published by Carnegie Endowment, Jaffrelot explained that "the majoritarian inferiority complex is to some extent irrational—in India like elsewhere. The Hindu complex of inferiority vis-à-vis others (including the Muslims) crystallized in the 19th century when the British not only emphasized the division of Hindus along caste lines and sectarian lines but also invented communal stereotypes". He has noted that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has close ties to BAPS which is building massive temples around the world. Many of these temples have been inaugurated by Mr. Modi. BAPS Guru’s Photo at Eiffel Tower, Paris, Fra...

What is the difference between intelligence and consciousness? As AI agents becoming more intelligent and some are even going  rogue , can they attain consciousness like human beings? To answer this question, it is important to define "intelligence" and "consciousness".  Yuval Harari on Intelligence vs Consciousness Israeli public intellectual Yuval Harari defines Intelligence as the capacity to pursue and achieve material goals, while consciousness is the ability to feel pain, joy, love, and suffering. For example, AI can win chess games or process data without experiencing any feelings or emotional states. AI can also convincingly imitate emotions to build deep personal relationships, even though it remains entirely devoid of consciousness. What distinguishes humans from artificial intelligence is that consciousness and intelligence go together in humans. In interview with  Economist  magazine's chief editor  Zanny Minton Beddoes , Harari s...

Northern Pakistan is home to over 13,000 glaciers which pose a risk of catastrophic flash floods similar to the recent flash floods in Nepal. Pakistani officials have warned that shifts in glacier behavior are increasing the risk of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOF), particularly in Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where communities face growing exposure to sudden flooding and landslides.  Glacial Lake in Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan Region. Source: AIGEO360 Pakistan is actively monitoring its glaciers using real-time weather tracking and roughly 350 sensor devices installed by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) to mitigate glacial flash flood risks.  This year, the PMD reported record-breaking summer heat across northern valleys (such as Chilas reaching 48.5°C and Bunji hitting 46.1°C), accelerating ice melt in Gilgit-Baltistan region and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The heat triggered two major GLOF eve...

Recently, I saw a news story suggesting that “more and more seniors are using Tesla FSD (full self drive)”. This prompted me to share my own experience with my readers. Tesla FSD Warning My wife and I have been regularly using  Tesla  Full Self Drive (Supervised FSD) software for several months now. It is a subscription costing us $108.16, including tax, per vehicle. Our experience has generally been positive. We set our destination in the navigation system and let FSD drive us. It pulls out of our driveway, takes us wherever we want to go, and parks on the street, in a parking lot, or in a garage. On occasion, though, we have had to take control when we felt it was necessary, often in response to Tesla warning to “take over immediately”. Tesla Sensors. Source: Car and Driver Magazine Both of our Tesla Model Y vehicles use hardware version 3 (HW3). In addition to a computer, HW3 includes 7 cameras and four ultrasonic sensors. We get frequent Tesla software updates, downloaded ...

The Russia-Ukraine war and the US-Israel-Iran war have recently demonstrated the effectiveness of drone warfare. Is the Pakistani military learning lessons from them to prepare for future conflicts? Let's examine the answer to this question based on recent announcements.  Pakistan's Long Range Drone D-248 Pakistan has revealed a 3,000-kilometer range one-way drone in July this year. The state-owned Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT) displayed two new long-range loitering munitions – the D-248 and the S-369 – at the 2026 Indus Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) Expo on July 22–23, 2026 in Islamabad.   The D-248 drone uses a tailless delta configuration – similar to  Iran ’s Shahed-136 – and carries a maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of 240 kg, a wingspan of 3.3 m, a payload of 30-50 kg, a maximum speed of 225 kph, a cruise speed of 185 kph, an endurance of 12-14 hours, and a flight ceiling of up to 4,500 m.  Iran's Shahed drones have been used in both the Ukraine-Rus...

After installing over 50 GW of solar panels as of early 2026, Pakistanis are now adding batteries at a rapid pace. The country has imported nearly 7.6 GWh of batteries, with nearly 60% of that total arriving during 2025 alone. Pakistanis are now installing batteries at a rate exceeding 5 GWh annually, according to a recent report by  Renewable First . Batteries enable consumers to store excess solar electricity generated during daylight hours for use at night and to smooth out demand on the grid. Batteries also contribute to national grid stability, reducing costs and improving overall energy security for energy-import-dependent Pakistan.   Pakistan's Battery Boom. Source: Renewable First By FY25, 7.3 million households in Pakistan had solar installed on their rooftops; out of a total 40 million households in the country, that makes nearly 1 in 5 of all Pakistani homes, the report says. With the battery boom gaining pace, around 282,000 solarized households, roughly 4%, now ha...

Pakistan has historically enjoyed close friendly ties with Saudi Arabia and Turkey. So why did the three nations feel the need to formalize these ties with a mutual defense agreement in Mecca this week? Many answers to this question can all be traced to a fundamental change in the security environment in the Middle East. Foremost among these changes is the extremely reckless behavior of the state of Israel which has had full political, military, economic and diplomatic backing of the West. This unqualified western support began with the  Gaza genocide  and culminated in the launch of joint US-Israeli assault on Iran in February this year.   The entire Middle East region and the Islamic world has helplessly witnessed as the Israeli military butchered innocent civilians in Palestine and Lebanon and threatened to expand the war to the entire region. Some Israeli politicians issued warnings to Turkey and Pakistan. During this period, the West not only failed to restrain Israe...

Pakistan has long sought to  balance  its foreign policy between China and the United States through a pragmatic hedging strategy, gaining economic, military, and diplomatic benefits from both superpowers while maintaining strategic autonomy. But the relationship between Pakistan and China is not the same as the one between Pakistan and the United States. Pakistan's ties with China are strategic while those with the United States remain tactical and transactional. What has changed recently is that Pakistan is no longer waging war to help the United States as it did during the " Cold War " and the " War on Terror ". Instead, Pakistan has emerged as a peacemaker between the US and Iran.  Both China and US Are Courting Pakistan In a piece titled " Pakistan's Great Game ", French political scientist Christophe Jaffrelot has explained what he sees as Pakistan's "tactics and strategy" in dealing with the two superpowers. Here's a quote ...