South Asia Investor Review

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has pursued a policy of internationally isolating Pakistan for the last 8 years. Indian diplomats and mainstream media have engaged in a concerted campaign to hurt Pakistan diplomatically and economically during this period. Even the sport of cricket has not been spared.  All of the available evidence suggests that this Indian campaign has failed.   Pakistan PM with Other World Leaders at SCO Summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Source: Xinhua A prominent Indian journalist Shekhar Gupta has recently summarized the reasons for the Modi government's failure to achieve its objectives relative to Pakistan. Gupta argues that Pakistan is too important to be ignored or isolated by the international community. He says, "Pakistan is too big in terms of population, too powerful militarily, too Muslim, too nuclear and too  well located  to be isolated".  Pakistan PM Shahbaz Sharif with President and Mrs. Biden. Source: Whit...

Pakistanis have invested $10.6 billion in Dubai real estate, ranking them as the third largest investors in the city on the Gulf. Indian investors lead Dubai real estate investments with $29.8 billion, followed by British investors' $14.7 billion investment.  Wealth From Top 20 Countries Invested in Dubai Real Estate. Source: EU Tax Observatory With at least $146 billion in foreign wealth invested, the Dubai property market is now the world's largest offshore investment market for foreign investors. It is now twice as large as the  London real estate  market in terms of wealth invested by foreigners through shell companies. There are nearly 20,000 unique foreign owners of Dubai real estate from Pakistan, the third largest number behind almost 35,000 Indian owners and about 23,000 owners from the United Kingdom, according to the  EU Tax Observatory . Unique Entities From Top 20 Countries Owning Dubai Real Estate. Source: EU Tax Observatory The record flow of foreign w...

How much have US-Pakistan ties improved since President Trump's " lies and deceit " tweet on Pakistan? Has Trump completely abandoned the tough Pakistan policy recommended by the 2017  Husain Haqqani-Lisa Curtis  paper? What do the US actions such as backing Pakistan's IMF bailout and BLA terror listing suggest? What should be on top of Imran Khan's agenda when he meets President Trump at the White House on July 22, 2019?  Economy?  Investment? Trade? Energy? Security? FATF? IFI loans? How can the US best help Pakistan? Why has the  Trump administration  changed its Pakistan policy? Does it have anything to do with Afghanistan? How is Pakistan supporting the US-Taliban peace dialogue? Why has US ignored the pro-India Kabul government to move forward with the Taliban? Why has the US agreed to include China and Russia in the efforts to end its  war in Afghanistan ? Azad Labon Kay Sath host Faraz Darvesh discusses these questions with Sabahat Ashr...

Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the financial watchdog group for terror financing, has delayed any decision to put Pakistan on its watch list, according to its spokesperson Alexandra Wijmenga-Daniel.  This move was sponsored by the United States and its European allies. The  FATF statement  released after the meeting that ended on February 23, 2018 identified the following nations as being on its watch list: Ethiopia, Iraq, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Vanuatu and Yemen. FATF Decision Delayed:  It appears that the American bid failed at this month's FATF meeting. Pakistan's Chinese allies and Muslim friends among the Gulf Arabs and Turkey prevailed at the February 18-23 meeting in Paris, France. If US persists and Pakistan is placed on the FATF "grey list" at the June meeting, how will it impact Pakistan economy and the geopolitics of the region? Will it be good or bad for American interests in  Afghanistan and Pakistan ? ...