BackgroundIn 1998 both India and Pakistan abandoned their ‘bomb in the basement’ policy and exploded multiple nuclear devices to announce their formal entry into the nuclear weapons club. Knowledgeable nuclear experts had then predicted that eventually the two would be involved in a nuclear arms race where production and integration of tactical nuclear weapons in…
May 11, 2013 marks my maiden successful attempt at exercising my adult franchise voting rights. My earlier two efforts in 2002 and 2007 were in vain as despite having registered in a particular polling station, I was informed on my arrival that my name was mysteriously missing from the list. Violence, threats and voter intimidations…
Despite fears of disruption and cancellation, General Elections in Pakistan has finally taken place as scheduled on 11 May 2013. Yes, there were sporadic violence, reports of vote tampering and attempts to disrupt the polls through use of force but in the given charged environment the domestic and international verdict initially was that these have…
BackgroundPolitically, the Persian Gulf (also known as the Arabian Gulf) may be termed as one of the most troubled and complicated spots on the globe. Differing economic, political and security concerns heavily laced with religious and ideological undertones make it an extremely complex region. The Palestine–Israel conflict where Iran’s support to Hamas and Hezbollah, the…
The Divine CallI finally performed Hajj, my maiden one, in October 2012 at the ripe young age of 65. The pilgrimage was not an original part of my year’s itinerary as I had planned to attend the wedding of my niece in UK in July which would have left me with little time or finances…
Although not explicitly raised for counterinsurgency operations, Pakistan Air Force since its very inception has been called upon to undertake such missions. While at the beginning of the insurgency, the threat may have been mere pinpricks, since the beginning of the current century it has assumed alarmingly dangerous proportions, challenging the very writ of the…
IntroductionSelf-reliance in the defence field is a cherished goal for all nations – it is also a very elusive goal to achieve, given the technological complexity of modern weapons especially in the field of military aviation. USA, the sole super power, is perhaps the only nation today that has come close to achieving a high…
The computerized log register at the Air House shows that an urgent telephone call for the Air Chief was received at 2:07 AM local time on 2nd May 2011. When the Air Chief came on line his land counterpart, the Army Chief was at the other end who informed him about confirmed reports of aerial…
How does one define democracy? Of the many that can be googled from the internet Google appears to have made reference books redundant my favourite is the line from Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address where he refers to democracy as a “government of the people, by the people, for the people”. The corner stone of democracy…
In matters of state, where the heart overpowers the mind, rationality is the first casualty. The deliberations by the parliamentary committee and the subsequent debate by the Parliament on the critical issue of whether NATO supply routes should be reopened were more rhetorical and emotional but the final document approved by a consensus indicates that…
