While I was in uniform on Sep 6, 1965 it was in the relative safe confines of the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) Kakul. It was quite emotional witnessing the gentleman cadets (GCs) of the 32nd and 33rd PMA Long Courses graduate in a ceremonial “Passing Out” parade under the cover of PAF combat aircraft on Sep…
That India is confronted with a large number of separatist movements is not surprising given its ethnic and religious diversity alongwith a history of multiple sub-nationalisms. Webpage “Quora” counts 135 different separatist movements in India in 2017. Many of those movements being small or even dormant only proves the multiple tensions that such a large…
An updated document called the National Register of Citizens of India (NRC) has declared 1.9 million Assamese foreigners and will deport them. A state in northeast India Assam situated south of the eastern Himalayas. It is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur to the east; Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram and…
A day before the planned Sunday secret negotiations between President Trump, President Ghani and representatives of the Taliban at Camp David, it was cancelled. The meeting was meant to eliminate the disagreements that the Afghan president and parts of the US leadership had with the draft peace agreement, the result of almost a year’s negotiations…
A serving officer of (Lieutenant Commander’s rank) of the Indian Navy (commissioned 1991) involved in subversive activities inside Pakistan, Indian RAW agent Kulbhushan Yadav was captured in Balochistan in March 2016. During videotaped interrogation, Kulbhushan explained his motivation for working for RAW as the attack on the Indian Parliament in December 2001. He admitted in…
In an increasingly globalised world, we are geographically very beneficially at the crossroads separating South Asia with Central Asia and the Middle East, this must be converted to our geo-political advantage. The new nation state of Pakistan felt quite vulnerable because of Indian hostility on its eastern borders and by Afghanistan’s obstinate refusal on the…
The Soviet invasion in 1979 precipitated a large influx of Afghans into Pakistan, mainly from the Kabul elite, the affluent bought up residential homes and even small businesses, mainly in transportation. As the war reached the countryside the not so affluent started to cross over to escape being caught in the cross-fire. The Afghans (mostly…
Dear Readers, The Indian govt’s decision to revoke Article 370 of India’s constitution that ensured the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) its own constitution and independence over all matters except foreign affairs, defence and communications, is undoubtedly the most controversial political move in the last seven decades that will have serious repercussions. Human rights abuses in…
The three-day historic visit of the Pakistani PM Imran Khan to the US has come to an end. The overwhelming perception one gets from the visit is that a closer relationship between the two countries than during the last five years looks possible. The future will show if that hope is justified. While Mr. Trump’s…
Historically gold prospects always attracts adventurers, the sites are usually fought over, not only by individual prospectors and/ or mining companies but by nations. Possibly the biggest copper and gold deposit in the world, why should Reko Diq be an exception? In 2010 the Reko Diq Mining Project was calculated to be a US$ 3.3…
