Living with the Kashmir cause on September 23, 2017Just as there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies in international relations, nations can ill afford to have permanent causes that determine relations with other countries. And causes not showing any sign of realizing become deadweight on the national psyche scarring permanently the very persona of the nation. We have been hoping against hope […]
A house in disorder on September 16, 2017 It is always a big call when one decides to put one’s house in order. It becomes all the more challenging when it is spoken in the context of a country’s policies that impinge on its very existence. And if the announcement to the effect is made by the foreign minister of a country […]
Whatever has happened to Zeenat? on September 9, 2017In August 2015, Zeenat Shahzadi, a Pakistani journalist who had been following the alleged enforced disappearance of an Indian engineer, Hamid Ansari, went “missing” from Lahore. According to Zeenat’s family, she had been receiving threatening phone calls asking her not to pursue the case before her alleged enforced disappearance. Two years later, her fate and […]
Two losers in Afghanistan on September 2, 2017 The Himalayan confrontation that the Indians very prudently decided to diffuse on the Chinese terms indicates that no matter how much help it expects to get from the US for fighting Washington’s proxy war against China New Delhi would resist the temptation of taking on its bigger and stronger neighbour at least at this […]
Nisars rejoinder on August 25, 2017“Dear Zia-ud-Din sb, Assalam-o-Aliakum You know that I have always had high regards for you both on account of your professional and personal qualities. If I go further and say that in many ways you are a role-model and an inspiration for the people in your profession it will not be an exaggeration. However these […]
Alt-facts? on August 18, 2017Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa has reiterated on a couple of occasions recently his institution’s pledge to uphold supremacy of the Constitution and the rule of law. It would not be fair not to welcome the pronouncement. But being a professional soldier one is more than certain that he would […]
Saddest part of the Nawaz saga on August 11, 2017The Sharif family had seemingly contested the Panama case in the Supreme Court as well as at the interrogation sessions by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) rather non-seriously. For the public consumption it tried, during this phase, to build a narrative blaming some face-less anti-democratic elements of conspiring to oust Nawaz from power and cause […]
Future of the Sharifs on August 4, 2017With the Article 58(2)B out of the Constitution, military takeovers out of international favour and the 18th Constitutional amendment having drastically weakened the establishment’s ability to completely halt the democratic process at will the only option that it seems to have been left with now for keeping an elected government on a tight leash is […]
A perfect storm on July 29, 2017Nawaz Sharif was caught in a perfect storm—a calamitous situation arising from powerful combined effect of a unique set of circumstances. No Pakistani agency or institution usually associated with conspiring to oust elected governments in the country seemingly had any hand in uncovering of the Panama Papers scandal. The job was done by the International Consortium […]
A perfect storm on July 29, 2017Nawaz Sharif was caught in a perfect storm-a calamitous situation arising from powerful combined effect of a unique set of circumstances. No Pakistani agency or institution usually associated with conspiring to oust elected governments in the country seemingly had any hand in uncovering of the Panama Papers scandal. It was the International Consortium of Investigative […]