Uzair talks to Khadija Shahper Bakhtiar about Teach for Pakistan and the organization’s mission and vision. The conversation also focuses on the fellowship program being run by the organization and the key challenges facing Pakistan’s education sector.

Khadija Shahper Bakhtiar is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Teach For Pakistan, a national nonprofit organization that nurtures leadership to end educational inequity. Teach For Pakistan provides inspired university graduates the opportunity and support to teach for two years in low-income communities through a structured Fellowship program and develop the leadership skills and contextual understandings to affect long-term, system-wide reform for educational equity.

You can learn more about the fellowship here - https://iteachforpakistan.org

Reading recommendations:

- The Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire

Chapters:

0:00 Introduction

2:40 What is Teach for Pakistan?

10:10 What is the fellowship program?

17:20 How do fellows help improve outcomes?

23:30 Key criteria for fellows

27:55 Major issues in education

34:00 Devolving education

40:44 Focus areas for governments

46:30 Reading recommendations

In this episode, Uzair talks to Mehu Sitepu about Indonesia’s recently held presidential elections and its outcomes. These elections had a lot of similarities with Pakistan, including the use of social media to woo young voters, allegations of rigging, and questions over Indonesia’s policy towards the US and China.

Mehu Sitepu is an Associate at The Asia Group’s Southeast Asia practice, where she supports clients navigating the region’s complex political and regulatory environments to build business strategies across a variety of sectors, including banking and finance, hospitality, manufacturing, and technology. With almost a decade’s experience as a journalist in Indonesia, including three years in a senior role at BBC News, Mehu has a strong knowledge of Southeast Asia and a far-reaching network of contacts.

Chapters:

0:00 Introduction

2:40 Overview of the political landscape

24:50 Role of social media

30:01 Rigging allegations

35:28 Foreign policy implications

39:25 Economic policies

44:49 Reading recommendations

47:40 Role of the Indonesian military

Reading recommendations:

- Indonesia, Etc. by Elizabeth Pisani

- Departure: A Novel by Nh. Dini

- Indonesian Food by Sri Owen

In this episode, Uzair talks to Taimur Malik about his political campaign in NA-148, where he competed as a PTI candidate against PPP’s former prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani.

The margin of victory for the PPP’s candidate was razor thin and Taimur is currently in the process of appealing the results. We talked about the vote count, what was it like to campaign in Multan given the constraints on the PTI, and what comes next for the party, both in the courts and in assemblies.

You can follow Taimur on X @taimur_malik.

Chapters:

0:00 Introduction

2:50 Status of NA-148 election

12:30 PPP’s response to the results

19:00 Campaigning in Multan for the PTI

28:00 Overall appeals of the PTI

37:50 PTI’s alliance with the SIC

44:40 PTI’s strategy moving forward

49:38 Reading recommendations

Reading Recommendations

- The Constitution of Pakistan

- Nuskha ha-e Wafa bu Faiz Ahmed Faiz

- The Lean Startup by Eric Ries

In this episode, Uzair talks to Farieha Aziz about the ongoing curbs on the internet, with X facing recurring blocks for the last two weeks. We talk about what the courts have said about these blocks, the response from the PTA, and why the industry needs to be more vocal about arbitrary internet shutdowns.

Chapters:

0:00 Introduction

2:10 Current situation

4:30 What have the courts said?

11:05 The state’s response

20:01 The industry’s response

22:20 Legacy of past laws

29:50 Outlook for the near-term

37:00 Conclusion

In this episode, Uzair talks to Dr. Ilhan Niaz about the 2024 elections and their implications for the country. We focused on what has occurred in the past and the various scenarios that could play out.

We also talked about analog autocrats and their shortcomings, and how more repression could create further instability in the country.

Chapters

0:00 Introduction

4:45 2024 elections analysis

15:20 Failures of the analog autocrats

24:40 What can we learn from history?

41:50 Potential political scenarios

51:05 Why no one wants to rule the federation

1:01:00 Conclusion

Uzair talks to Navid Goraya about Karandaaz’s ongoing work in Pakistan and their focus on improving access to finance for SMEs and women. We also talked about the outlook for the year and the key things that have to happen after elections to rebuild confidence in the economy.

Navid Goraya is the chief investment officer of Karandaaz Capital. He has over 25 years of global experience in asset management, investment strategy, product development and corporate finance. Before joining Karandaaz as the CIO, he was leading a Strategic Advisory Firm, White Oak Advisors Inc, in New York where he was involved in serving private equity funds, family offices, banks and insurance companies in support of global investments in the US, Middle East, Southeast Asia and South Asia.

Chapters:

0:00 Introduction

1:50 What does Karandaaz do?

11:10 Barriers to financial inclusion

17:00 Role of the National Credit Guarantee Company

22:40 Bringing modern finance to women

28:40 What should happen after elections

34:10 Avoiding past mistakes

37: Reading recommendations

Reading recommendations:

- Buck Up, Suck Up . . . and Come Back When You Foul Up: 12 Winning Secrets from the War Room by James Carville

Uzair talks to Hamza Haroon, an independent candidate running in the national assembly elections in Pakistan from NA-46. Uzair talks to Hamza about his campaign strategy, the key issues facing Islamabad’s constituents, and what has he heard on the campaign trail.

You can follow Hamza on X @HamzaAliHaroon and on Instagram @hamzaaharoon.

Chapters:

0:00 Introduction

3:20 What is the election situation like?

7:50 Key issues of constituents

14:50 How people vote

24:10 Hamza’s electoral strategy

29:40 Islamabad’s governance challenge

33:30 Why younger people should enter politics

37:20 Reading recommendations

Reading recommendations:

- Leadership on the line by Marty Linsky and Ronald Heifetz

- For the Record by David Cameron

In this episode, Uzair talks to Dr. Kamran Bokhari about Iran’s unprovoked attacks on Pakistan, Pakistan’s counterstrike, and what comes next. We talked about the broader issues in the region, Iran’s own calculus, and the ways in which the regional dynamics are altered in the wake of these escalations.

Dr. Kamran Bokhari is the Senior Director of the Eurasian Security and Prosperity portfolio at the New Lines Institute. Previously, he served as Director of Analytical Development Department from 2019 to 2023. Dr. Bokhari is also a national security and foreign policy specialist at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute. Bokhari has also served as the Central Asia Studies Course Coordinator at U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute.

Chapters:

0:00 Introduction

2:30 Why did Iran attack Pakistan?

11:20 Assessing Pakistan’s response

20:20 Iran’s broader calculus

27:50 Did Pakistan strike the right balance?

43:50 What comes next?

Podcast on Iran protests - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpUPncr5Mrs

Reading Recommendations:

- https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/experts-react-whats-really-going-on-with-pakistan-and-iran-exchanging-attacks/

- https://www.usip.org/publications/2024/01/making-sense-iran-pakistan-cross-border-strikes

- https://amwaj.media/article/exclusive-inside-the-iranian-pakistani-exchange-of-fire-nbsp

In this episode, Uzair talks to Khurram Husain about Pakistan’s economic outlook in 2024, why he is concerned about the cycle of revenge, and things he will watch out for immediately after elections in 2024.

Reading Recommendations:

- https://www.dawn.com/news/1804904/reassembling-pakistan

- https://file.pide.org.pk/pdfpideresearch/discourse-2023-06-43-pakistan-and-the-imf.pdf

Chapters:

0:00 Introduction

1:50 IMF review

13:05 Caretaker reforms

19:40 Elections and legitimacy

30:30 A new triumvirate and its implications

41:50 What to look for

Welcome to the 2024 season of Pakistonomy. We begin this season with as usual an outlook episode. Uzair talks to Arifa Noor, journalist at Dawn and host of the show Newswise, about the upcoming elections, the crisis of legitimacy, and the electoral dynamics in the country right now.

Chapters:

0:00 Introduction

3:50 State of media today

17:50 Elections outlook

23:30 PML-N’s strategy

27:12 PTI’s strategy

36:20 Scenarios and hybrid regime

41:10 New mandate and legitimacy

49:40 What is the vision for Pakistan?

55:05 Conclusion

Reading recommendations:

- Zahid Hussain’s latest piece - https://www.dawn.com/news/1783550/trying-for-a-fourth-term

- Arifa Noor’s article in Dawn - https://www.dawn.com/news/1802553/the-centre-cannot-hold