South Asia Investor Review

"Ana minkum wa alaikum" declared Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City in his victory speech on November 4, 2025. The phrase translates to "I am from you and  and I am with you".  "New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants and, as of tonight, led by an immigrant", he added. Mamdani is the first Muslim and first immigrant of South Asian descent elected  New York City Mayor. At 34, he is not only the youngest but also the first mayor of the Big Apple who was born in Africa.  Zohran Mamdani Speaking Outside the Bronx Islamic Center With his landslide victory in the mayoral race, Mandani will join London Mayor Sadiq Khan to become the second Muslim mayor of a major western city.  Mamdani became the first New York mayoral candidate to win over a million votes since the 1960s — more than Rudy Giuliani or Mike Bloomberg ever received. Mamdani has received 50.4% of the votes counted so far. Cuomo is at...

Omer Hasan and Mohammad Javed are the top donors to Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign in New York City, according to media reports. Both are former executives of Silicon Valley technology firm AppLovin. Born and raised in Silicon Valley , Omer is the son of a Pakistani-American couple who are long-time residents of Silicon Valley, California.  Omer Hasan, Top Donor to Mamdani Campaign Muhammad Javed donated $251,500 to New Yorkers for Lower Costs, a super-PAC backing Zohran Mamdani. Omer gave $250,000 to this super PAC. Other Mamdani super PAC donors include Liz Simons, Philanthropist, and daughter of hedge-fund billionaire Jim Simons, who gave $250,000 and Unity & Justice Fund, the political arm of the Council on American-Islamic Relations CAIR, that gave $100,000. But the biggest support has come from small donors to the Mamdani campaign. It has received a lot more money from small-dollar donors.  In August 2025, Mamdani's campaign had raised over $1 million from more th...

Shaikh Hasina has won a 5th term in yet another sham election which saw a mere  40%  voter turnout. Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the main opposition party, boycotted the election. Months leading up to the elections saw protests in the country suffering from economic slowdown, human rights violations and a crackdown on the opposition parties. Her longevity in office is believed to be largely orchestrated by  India . Her own Foreign Minister Abdul Momen acknowledged this fact when he made a trip to New Delhi in 2022 and said,  "I've requested Modi government to do whatever is necessary to sustain Sheikh Hasina's government".  Bangladesh PM Shaikh Hasina (L) with Indian PM Narendra Modi Upon her return from India in 2022, Sheikh Hasina  told the news media  in Dhaka, "They (India) have shown much sincerity and I have not returned empty handed". It has long been an open secret that Indian intelligence agency  RAW  helped install Shaikh Has...

Multiple polls over the years have found that the Pakistani military has traditionally enjoyed widespread  popular support  in the country. This support has been particularly strong among the urban middle class Pakistanis who have now become the backbone of Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party which has accused the Pakistani military of orchestrating an assassination attempt against the former Prime Minister. The events of the last several months, particularly this week's assassination attempt on the PTI chief's life, are forcing the people to choose sides. By-election results and huge attendance of the PTI rallies confirm that most of the people are supporting  Imran Khan  over the military.   Pakistan's Ex PM Imran Khan and Current Army Chief General Bajwa Some Pakistani political analysts have long speculated about the possibility of the loss of public support for the Pakistani military.  Back in 2019, I met  Sohail Warraich , a se...

A snap poll conducted by Gallup Pakistan on April 3 and 4 shows broad support for Prime Minister  Imran Khan 's decision to seek dissolution of the National Assembly and call fresh elections.  Support for the decision is nationwide with 66% in Punjab, 69% in Sindh and 78% in KPK province. It is the strongest among those identifying themselves as PTI voters with 95% of them approving the decision. Among the Opposition parties, 44% of PMLN voters and 50% of PPP voters agree with the decision.   Source: Gallup Pakistan Here are the key findings of the  Gallup Pakistan Poll :  1) Widespread support for dissolution of National Assembly in Pakistan Respondents were asked ‘ PM has dissolved the national assembly and called for fresh elections. Do you Support or are you against this’ To this question a wide majority 68% say they support and 32% say they oppose PM Imran Khan’s move. Source: Gallup Pakistan 2) Majority don’t believe in US Conspiracy to remove Imran K...

Hamtramck, part of the greater Detroit area, has elected its first Muslim mayor and an all-Muslim city council this month. The newly elected council members will begin their term in January,2022, according to The  Detroit Free Press .  The city's population is dominated by immigrants, including 19.7% Bangladeshi, 11% Pakistani, 10.9% Polish and 10% Arab. The rising Islamophobia in America has served as a wake-up call for all Muslim Americans to become more involved in political and civic affairs of the United States. They are now voting in large numbers and starting to win elections across the country.  L to R: Nayeem Choudhury, Amanda Jaczkowski, Mohammad Hassan,  Mohammad Alsomiri, Khalil Refai and Adam Albarmaki Nayeem Choudhury is the chairman of the Hamtramck city council while Amanda Jaczkowski, Mohammed Hassan, Mohammed Alsomiri, Khalil Refai and Adam Albarmaki  are city council members. Three of them are of Yemeni descent, two of Bangladeshi descent and ...

Thirty-eight year-old Mayor Pete Buttigieg (بو دجاج)  of a small Indiana town of South Bend has so far been the biggest surprise with his surge in Democratic Party primaries for the presidential nomination this year. His strong showing among the top two candidates in Iowa and New Hampshire has been as much of a shock to the pundits as the poor performance of former Vice President Joe Biden who is also seeking the nomination. Mayor Pete is now beginning to get more scrutiny by media pundits and commentators. Mayor Pete's Last Name: Mayor Pete Buttigieg, 38,  is Maltese-American. His last name literally means "father of chicken".  His parents came from Malta, a small Mediterranean island close to Sicily and North Africa.  His last name is in Maltese, a language strongly influenced by Arabic. It is attributed to settlers from Sicily where Siculo-Arabic was spoken after the island was conquered by the Fatimids from Egypt in the 9th century AD. Buttigieg's Sexual ...

Imaad Zuberi, a Pakistani-American venture capitalist from California who gave $900,000 to  President Trump ’s inauguration committee in 2016, has been subpoenaed by federal prosecutors in New York's Southern District. Imaad Zuberi and President Barack Obama Zuberi's donation paid for a breakfast event, which featured Trump’s first National Security Adviser, Michael Flynn, among its 60 or so guests. It also included representatives from several countries around the world, according to media reports. Prosecutors suspect Zuberi funneled money from foreign donors which is a violation of the US Elections Laws, according to media reports. Imaad Zuberi is vice chairman of private equity and venture capital firm Avenue Ventures. He has “closed over $15 billion in transactions” at the firm,  according to his Linked-in profile. His firm's clients include start-ups, major corporations and sovereign wealth funds. Prior to donating to the Trump campaign, Zuberi is known to ha...

Pakistan Tehreek e Insaaf (PTI) Chief Imran Khan became Pakistan's 22nd prime minister after his 22-year-long quest for the highest executive office in the land. What is the historic significance of this event for Pakistan's democracy? Has it finally ended the three-decade-long  dynastic duopoly  of the Pakistan Muslim League and the Pakistan People's Party which are controlled by Sharifs and Bhuttos? Will the emergence of the PTI as the 3rd political force likely reduce corruption and improve governance in Pakistan? Is Imran Khan's nomination of Sardar Usman Buzdar as Punjab Chief Minister a mistake? Will Prime Minister Imran Khan make mistakes as he begins his tenure? Will his opponents jump at every opportunity to attack him when he makes mistakes? Should he be allowed to make mistakes as he learns on the job? Is he entitled to a honeymoon period?  Do the Pakistani military and intelligence agencies call all the shots in Pakistan? Is the  military's role ...

What will be the impact of tragic terror attacks with mass casualties on Pakistan's July 25, 2018  general elections ? How does the current situation compare with the situation in 2013 elections? Will the elections proceed as scheduled? Pakistan Elections 2018 Forecast by  Intermarket and Exotix Investment Firms Which party is likely to get the most votes and parliamentary seats in Pakistan's July 25, 2018 general elections? Will one party get a clear majority? Who will form the new government? Is PTI Chief Imran Khan likely to be the next prime minister of Pakistan? Will it be a coalition government? How can a weak coalition government implement a radical reform agenda proposed by Imran Khan? Why did former prime minister of Pakistan Mr.  Nawaz Sharif , convicted recently by a Pakistani court on charges of having assets beyond income, come back to Lahore to face certain arrest? What is his strategy? What is Nawaz Sharif's future in Pakistani politics after ...

With the country's parliament completing its second term since 2008, is Pakistan truly on the road to democracy? How do the  headlines compare with the trend-lines ? Are there any significant potholes in this road to democracy? Are the persistent negative headlines justified? Do oft-repeated  dire forecasts  about Pakistani state's survivability make sense? Do Pakistani political party leaders practice democracy within their own parties? What accounts for attempts by the political party leaders and candidates to  resist full financial and other disclosures ? Why did they try to escape accountability by passing Election Act 2017? Who are the "electables"? Why are political parties trying to recruit them to run as their candidates in the coming general elections scheduled for July 25, 2018? Can such "electables" bring about much needed reforms in the political parties? What are the downsides of putting up electables in terms of widening political partici...

Pakistan National Assembly has recently completed its  5-year term  for the second time since 2008. A neutral interim government has assumed control to hold the general elections scheduled for July 25, 2018 to elect a new parliament. Media headlines about Pakistan are not good but the key trend-lines are definitely positive as the country continues its journey slowly but surely toward better democracy. While the party nomination processes for electoral candidates continue to be arbitrary, the protests erupting over party tickets are an indication of the rank and file members' yearning for internal democracy.  These complaints and protests will hopefully lead to internal reform in these parties and break the strangle-hold of their undemocratic, self-serving leaders and the "electables" who represent the status quo. Who are the Electables? Electioneering in Pakistan is rarely about  debating issues  and offering solutions; it's more about personalities, ...

Pakistan ranks among the top 10 countries in terms of tax revenue losses due to corporate tax avoidance, according to UN World Institute for Development Economics .  World Economic Forum estimates that the country lost $10.4 billion in taxes last year. Top 10 Tax Losers: The top 10 countries losing the most tax revenue in absolute terms as listed by the World Economic Forum are USA ($188.8 billion), China ($66.8 billion), Japan ($46.1 billion), India ($41.2 billion), Argentina ($21.4 billion), France ($19.8 billion), Germany ($15 billion), Pakistan ($10.4 billion), Indonesia ($6.5 billion) and the Philippines ($6.4 billion). Pakistan and Argentina top this list of 10 in terms of tax revenue lost as percentage of GDP.  Both lose 3.5% of their GDP in corporate tax avoidance, according to World Economic Forum. Tax Evasion at the Top: Tax evasion in Pakistan starts at the top. A large number politicians, including ministers and party leaders in the nation'...