Let me be honest with you. This was not a quiet week. If you are preparing for CSS or PMS and you spent this week only reading your notes, you missed a lot. Five things happened that will almost certainly show up in your papers, your essay, or your interview. Let me walk you through each one.
Pakistan Is Now the Middleman Between America and Iran
This is the big one. On May 1, Iran sent a new peace proposal to the United States. It did not go through the UN. It did not go through Turkey or Qatar. It went through Pakistan.
Pakistani officials have been carrying messages between Washington and Tehran since the ceasefire in early April. Multiple international news outlets confirmed this. The Council on Foreign Relations called Pakistan the "unlikely peace negotiator" of the Iran war. That is a phrase worth remembering.
Here is the background. The US and Israel launched military strikes on Iran on February 28, 2026. They called it Operation Epic Fury. The strikes targeted Iran's nuclear sites and missile facilities. After 38 days, both sides stopped shooting. But the Strait of Hormuz is still blocked. Iran is stopping oil ships from leaving. The US is stopping Iranian ships from moving. The war is paused, not over.
Now, why Pakistan? Because Pakistan has something rare right now: both sides trust it enough to talk through it. Pakistan has historic ties with Iran. It also has a working relationship with the Trump administration after the India-Pakistan ceasefire of May 2025. That combination put Islamabad in a position no one expected.
On the legal side, May 1 was also the 60-day deadline under the US War Powers Resolution. This is a 1973 law that says the president must get Congress to approve a war within 60 days or stop fighting. The Trump administration said the deadline did not apply because the ceasefire had "paused" the clock. Democrats and legal experts said that is not how the law works. The Senate voted 50 to 47 to reject a resolution that would have limited Trump's war powers. Only one Republican, Senator Susan Collins, voted with the Democrats.
For your CSS paper, this story covers Pakistan's foreign policy, international law, the US constitutional system, and the geopolitics of the Strait of Hormuz. All in one week.
Inflation Is Back. And It Came Back Hard.
Pakistan's inflation rate in April 2026 was 10.9 percent. That is the highest it has been in twenty months. In March it was 7.3 percent. In April last year it was 0.28 percent. So we went from near-zero inflation to nearly 11 percent in twelve months.
The main reason is fuel prices. On April 30, the government raised petrol by Rs6.51 per litre and high-speed diesel by Rs19.39 per litre. Petrol is now Rs399.86 per litre. Diesel is Rs399.58. This was the second price increase in two weeks.
Why are fuel prices going up? Because the Strait of Hormuz is blocked. Pakistan imports most of its oil from the Gulf. When that route is disrupted, freight costs go up, insurance costs go up, and the import bill goes up. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said publicly that Pakistan's weekly oil import bill jumped from 300 million dollars to 800 million dollars. That is not a small number.
The government extended a fuel subsidy for motorcyclists and transport operators to soften the blow. But that only goes so far.
The IMF is meeting on May 8 to approve about 1.2 billion dollars for Pakistan. That meeting now matters more than it did a month ago, because the inflation numbers are already above what the IMF projected for the whole year.
The Budget Is Under Serious Pressure
On April 30, Pakistan's National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance received a briefing that should have made headlines everywhere. An economist named Ali Salman told the committee that the Middle East conflict could cost Pakistan's economy between 10 billion dollars and 68 billion dollars every year, depending on how bad things get.
Let me put that in perspective. Pakistan's entire IMF programme is worth 7 billion dollars over three years. The minimum damage estimate from this conflict is already higher than that.
In the current situation, the annual impact is estimated at 10 to 14 billion dollars. That includes an extra 334 million dollars per month on oil imports, a 333 million dollar drop in monthly remittances, a 400 million dollar hit to exports, and higher freight charges on top of all that.
If oil prices reach 150 dollars per barrel, the severe scenario kicks in. Remittances could fall by 40 percent. Exports could be cut in half. Inflation could hit 17 percent.
Pakistan's debt is already at Rs79.9 trillion. Debt repayments are eating up more than half of total government revenues. The budget for next year has to be announced in June. The government has very little room to work with.
For CSS, this is your economics paper, your Pakistan Affairs paper, and your essay all rolled into one.
Kunar Strikes: Pakistan-Afghanistan Tensions Rise Again
On April 28, military strikes took place in Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan. Seven people were killed and more than 80 were wounded. Sayed Jamaluddin Afghani University in Asadabad was among the buildings reported damaged.
Both sides dispute the details. The Taliban government claimed the strikes came from Pakistan and called for international accountability. Pakistan's government stated that its military operations are precise and intelligence-based, and denied that any civilian institution was deliberately targeted.
What is not disputed is that cross-border tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been rising for months. A ceasefire mediated by China in Urumqi was already under strain. Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi had described those talks as positive just days before the incident. That progress now looks fragile.
The underlying issue is the TTP, which continues to carry out attacks inside Pakistan from bases in Afghan territory. Pakistan has repeatedly asked the Taliban government to act. The Taliban says it cannot control every group operating in its territory. That is where the two sides are stuck.
For CSS, this story connects to Pakistan's western border security, the TTP problem, Pakistan-Afghanistan bilateral relations, and the limits of third-party mediation in conflicts where both sides have legitimate grievances.
India and Pakistan: One Year Later, Nothing Is Resolved
May 2025 was when India and Pakistan came close to a full-scale war. India launched Operation Sindoor. Pakistan responded. Four days of military exchanges. Then a ceasefire, announced by Donald Trump on social media on May 10, 2025.
One year on, Trump is still claiming credit. He told reporters this week that he stopped the conflict "through the threat of tariffs." India has never publicly acknowledged any American role in the de-escalation. That gap in narratives has quietly created friction between Washington and New Delhi.
A US think tank published a report this week warning that the conflict could reignite in 2026. The reasons are the same ones that caused it in the first place: cross-border terrorism, the Indus Waters Treaty dispute, and the unresolved question of Kashmir. None of those issues have moved.
For CSS, India-Pakistan relations come up in Pakistan Affairs, International Relations, and Essay. The events of May 2025 are now part of the syllabus in everything but name. Know the timeline, know the causes, and know why a ceasefire is not the same as a solution.
What You Should Take Away From This Week
These five stories are connected. Pakistan got its diplomatic role in the Iran situation partly because of the credibility it built during the India-Pakistan ceasefire. The same conflict that gave Pakistan that credibility is now putting pressure on its economy. The inflation rise, the budget pressure, the fuel hikes — all of it traces back to the Strait of Hormuz.
CSS examiners are not looking for students who can list events. They want students who can explain why things happened and what they mean. Why did Pakistan get chosen as the mediator? What does 10.9 percent inflation mean for the IMF programme? How does the TTP connect to the tensions in Kunar?
If you can answer those questions in writing, you are ready for your paper.
Read the news every day. Think about the connections. Write practice answers. That is how toppers are made.
Sehr Rizvi is the CEO and founding mentor of Officers Academy, Lahore. Officers Academy has been preparing CSS and PMS aspirants since 2002. For batch information and preparation resources, visit officerssacademy.com or call 0321-1333358.
