This Week in Explainers: How Pakistan is set to give army chief Asim Munir greater powers

It’s been a week of elections, nuclear claims and tariffs.

Almost half of America went to the polls this week to choose new governors, mayors and vote on other ballot measures. And if these elections are an indicator of the mood in America right now — then it seems to be bleeding blue, meaning in favour of the Democratic Party.

We also saw US President Donald Trump’s tariffs case reach the Supreme Court during which the judges seemed sceptical of the levies imposed on America’s various trading partners.

The past week also charted the path to the world seeing its first trillionaire after Tesla shareholders voted in favour of the $1 trillion pay package to Elon Musk. It’s important to note, however, that this amount will only be given if he is able to achieve certain milestones for the company.

In America’s neighbourhood, Canada is also mulling to powers to cancel mass temporary visas of Indians, amid rising fraud and asylum claims.
Across the pond, there’s also news that Pakistan may be voting on a law, giving Field Marshal Asim Munir more power than before, cementing his position in the country.

And if you have missed all these stories through the week, here’ our roundup of what exactly happened.

1) On Tuesday, millions of Americans went to the polls in several notable local and statewide elections for the first time since last November’s presidential race. And among the most significant of these races was the New York mayoral race.

And New Yorkers overwhelmingly chose Indian-origin , Muslim Zohran Mamdani as their choice for mayor. Accompanying the 34-year-old on stage for his victory speech was his wife, Rama Duwaji — a Syrian-American artist with strong opinions on Gaza and Israel.

Mamdani’s historic win also created chatter among his supporters of a future presidential race. These calls have especially appeared across social media platforms, fuelled by his rapid ascent, charismatic rhetoric, and a belief that he might represent a new generation of leadership.

But this can never turn into reality. Here’s why.

2) Democrats made a clean sweep on Tuesday at the elections, scoring victories in the four major races of the night: the New York City mayoral race, the governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia and Prop 50, California’s redistricting ballot measure.

From Zohran Mamdani being elected the new mayor of New York to Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill as governors of Virginia and New Jersey respectively, it was a night of wins for the Democrats.

Many believe these elections serve as an early indicator of how midterm elections – due next year – might go. And this could spell trouble for US President Donald Trump.

Read our full report to understand the impact of these elections on Trump’s presidency and US politics.

3) Away from the elections, Trump was also in the news this week, as the US Supreme Court heard the matter of tariffs. The matter comes after a group of small companies challenged Trump’s tariffs in two separate lawsuits with Indian-origin lawyer Neal Katyal arguing against the duties imposed.

But what did the US Supreme Court justices note while hearing the case? Which way are they leaning ? Also, what happens if Trump loses the case ?

4) After metaphorically dropping a bomb last week, announcing that the United States would resume nuclear weapons testing, Trump continued in the same vein this week too. In a television interview to 60 Minutes, he touched on several topics, including his decision to restart nuclear testing after 33 years.

The US president justified his move by saying that other countries – besides North Korea – are already doing it. “Russia’s testing, and China’s testing, but they don’t talk about it,” Trump said, also mentioning Pakistan. “You know, we’re an open society. We’re different. We talk about it. We have to talk about it, because otherwise you people are gonna report – they don’t have reporters that gonna be writing about it. We do.”

But are his claims right? Can countries carry out nuclear tests in secrecy? We have the answer .

5) Away from the US, perhaps, the biggest news came from Pakistan, which is on the verge making significant changes to its Constitution. The Shehbaz Sharif-led government is on the verge of the 27th constitutional amendment in parliament soon, which, if passed, would give Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir sweeping powers.

According to Pakistani media reports, the proposed changes under the 27th Amendment include an alteration to the constitution’s Article 243 , which governs the appointment of the army Chief and command of armed forces.

Would the passage of such a legislation mean the end of civilian rule in Pakistan? That’s what many critics fear and have raised their concerns.

6) Many people dream of moving to Canada. But that dream may face a huge hurdle if you are an Indian. Why? Because Ottawa is considering granting its immigration department new powers to cancel temporary visas on a large scale, which would target applicants from India and Bangladesh.

Citing internal documents, a news report stated that a proposal was being mulled which would give the immigration department to “cancel, on a group basis” visas issued under specific circumstances, such as in the event of fraud, war. Click here to read more about this.

7) We have all heard of billionaires. But what about trillionaires? Now, we are on the path of having the world’s first trillionaire after Tesla shareholders approved a whopping $1 trillion pay package for their CEO.

While there are conditions attached to Musk acquiring this amount, many are still trying to wrap their heads around this stratospheric amount of money. So, how much is a trillion dollars?

8) We wrap up this week with news of a hug that got everyone talking. The hug between US Vice President JD Vance and Erika Kirk, the widow of Trump aide Charlie Kirk, and her glowing words about seeing “Charlie in JD”. This moment has fuelled rampant speculation about the US vice president’s personal life.

It all began as Erika made her first major public appearance since her husband’s assassination in September. While inviting the US VP on stage, she said, “No one will ever replace my husband. But I do see some similarities of my husband in JD.”

This single statement raised eyebrows, and it was further fuelled when Vance and Erika shared an intimate embrace on stage . It got many speculating about whether there was something romantic between Vance and Kirk.

And that’s it for this week. Keep reading and keep enjoying our explainers !