The phrase “may you live in interesting times” is a Chinese curse heaped on an enemy. Frederic Coudert quotes an unknown British diplomat in 1936, “no age has been fraught with more insecurity than our present time”, three years later the Second World War ravaged the world between 1939 and 1945. We in Pakistan have…
The US agenda with Pakistan pre-9/11 was, in order of priority viz (1) nuclear non-proliferation (2) terrorism and (3) drugs, with the Taliban government in Afghanistan figuring prominently in the last two issues. The reason for our nuclear assets and the means to deliver them is not complicated, we live in a very tough neighbourhood…
Dear Readers,Not too long ago, former President Pervez Musharraf was called ‘America’s most important ally in the war on terrorism’ by the Bush administration. Since then many things have changed and for Musharraf it has been downhill all the way after his return to Pakistan from self exile. By ignoring pleas and warnings by his…
The Nov 26, 2011 Salala incident when 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed on an attack by US Apache helicopters, an AC-130 gunship and two F- I5E fighter aircraft on two Pakistani border outposts capped a hard six months after Osama Bin Laden was disposed off in a US raid on his secret hideaway in Abbottabad…
Pakistan has gone through a period of trial and tribulation for the last fifteen years or so, It was expected that the exit of Gen Pervez Musharraf would have ushered in a new era of peace and prosperity and the democracy that dawned would herald in a new beginning but that dream has remained elusive,…
National Security can be undermined because of the socio-political environment prevailing and its dependencies, viz the roles of viz (1) state and the political system, representative democracy, basic values, ideology, economy and the decision – making process. Because they impact beyond the boundaries of single society, socio-political issues require ethnical and responsible solutions. However if…
If ethnic and sectarian strife were not enough to go with terrorism, we are now facing religious strife. One is under no illusion that this is not being deliberately fomented to aggravate the deteriorating law and order situation, slipping beyond the control of the civilian law and enforcement authorities (LEAs) into anarchy, the creeping kind….
The deliberate hash of local govt to reflect the diverse demographics of the ruling Coalition, PPP in the rural areas and MQM in the urban, Sindh Peoples Local Government Ordinance (SPLGO) was essentially a hybrid measure. The vertical integration of local govts with the Provincial level was never resolved. Condemned outright as a sell-out of…
The good governance for which “Tahir Square” reverberated last month is what the great silent majority of Pakistanis earnestly desire, a genuine grassroots democracy in place of the elaborate farce in place. Dr. Qadri surfed the public imagination by advocating this with his “Dharna” in Islamabad last month. Despite the moral merit of their plaints,…
Dear Readers,Since its inception in 1947 Pakistan has been surrounded by numerous issues that have stemmed efforts towards progress. The new State was established as a nation-state with democracy as its polity with the people to be the sole arbiters of power exercised through an elected sovereign parliament. All other institution were to be subservient…
