For every narcotics bust Pakistan’s maritime forces announce, a convenient coincidence lurks in the background – a Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meeting, an IMF review, or a diplomatic overture to Washington. The choreography is rarely subtle. The hashtags change, the photo-ops repeat, and the narrative remains constant: a state performing diligence under the gaze of international lenders.

Between 2019 and 2024, the Pakistan Navy and the Maritime Security Agency (MSA) claimed at least eighteen major narcotics seizures in the Arabian Sea. The timing of most was instructive. A haul of 2,500 kilograms of methamphetamine announced in January 2020 preceded FATF’s on-site visit by barely three weeks.

Another high-profile operation in April 2022, complete with joint imagery featuring Combi

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