Salvaging the situation on October 26, 2015In Pakistan, wide circles of public opinion think that security and foreign policy matters are being decided by the military establishment. However, the contrary view is that the civil and military leaderships are on the same page in this regard. Even in mature democracies, political leaderships take decisions on the basis of the information provided […]
It was a tremendous ruling on October 19, 2015On October 19, 2012, exactly three years ago, the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan handed down the verdict of the century in the famous Asghar Khan case. An epoch-making ruling it was in every manner and fully eventful it must become by being carried to its logical conclusion in line with the roadmap the apex […]
The US deep states rethinking on October 12, 2015David Ignatius, an opinion writer for The Washington Post, in a recent treatise, was of the view that the US had decided to work out a nuclear deal with Pakistan akin to the deal with India. There are reports or rumours suggesting that Pakistan will agree to some restrictions on its nuclear programme and weapons’ […]
UNSC reforms and G-4 countries on September 28, 2015Before September 2005’s UN General Assembly (UNGA) session, the G-4 group had lobbied to become members of the UN Security Council (UNSC) and had held a summit before the session. After the opposition by the majority of the countries against new islands of power by Group Four — Brazil, Germany, Japan and India — the […]
Recipe to protect democracy on September 18, 2015The PPP’s senators have alleged that there is disconnect between the civil and military leaderships and that they were not on the same page. Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani seems to have realised, though belatedly, that the constitutional safeguards against military takeovers vis-à-vis Article Six have become redundant. Addressing the Senate at the end of a […]
Bridging the deficit on September 8, 2015On Friday, the advisor to the Prime Minister (PM) on foreign affairs and national security, Sartaj Aziz, visited Kabul to attend a regional economic conference and also held meetings with the president, foreign minister and national security adviser there. “The main thing that we both agreed upon was to restore trust, end the blame game […]
Conspiracy against Pakistan foiled on August 28, 2015A section of the print media carried the news that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his recent visit to the UAE had told the authorities: “If all the Arab countries including Saudi Arabia show indifferent attitude to defence cooperation with Pakistan, then India will extend full cooperation to Arab countries on all defence-related matters […]
Post-Mullah Omar on August 3, 2015Afghanistan’s premier intelligence agency claimed on Thursday that Mullah Omar had died in a Karachi hospital in April 2013. On the other hand, the statement from the Taliban confirmed the death of their leader Mullah Omar, saying that his condition had deteriorated in the last two weeks. The statement contradicted the Afghan government’s stance that […]
IS presence in Afghanistan on July 21, 2015Islamic State (IS) has been able to muster the support of a few Afghan Taliban, Uzbeks, Tajiks and Chechens previously associated with al Qaeda and some of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) thugs that are ensconced in Kunar. Yet IS militant presence in Afghanistan is insignificant. Afghan legislators complained last September that IS was active in […]
Its now or never! on July 10, 2015The Sindh government issued a notification in the early hours of Thursday, extending special policing powers assigned to the Rangers in the province for a month. Chief Minister (CM) Qaim Ali Shah said that the provincial Assembly would later deliberate on the confirmation of their powers and deployment in urban centres under Article 147 of […]