S M Hali

US President Donald Trump delivered his much awaited address outlining the ‘new’ US strategy on Afghanistan. In a halting and stuttering manner, he displayed a total reversal of his long-held objection to the very idea of having a US military presence in the country. Trump’s rationale was that “decisions are much different when you sit […]

Even 29 years after the death of General Ziaul Haq, there is little clarity as to who was behind the incident that claimed his life. General Ziaul Haq had perished along with 30 other people when the C-130 Hercules aircraft he was flying in crashed on August 17, 1988 at Basti Lal Kamal. The casualty […]

The #NotInMyName protests in New Delhi and other cities of India are snowballing into a massive movement. Carrying placards saying ‘Not In My Name’, ‘ No place for Islamophobia’ and ‘Shed hate not blood’, scores of people gathered at Jantar Mantar in Delhi last month, and in at least 20 other cities across India, including […]

Mian Nawaz Sharif has been disqualified by the Supreme Court. He has lost his position in the government and the parliament. An interim Prime Minister has been elected by the house with overwhelming majority. Political pundits who had predicted that the rats would be the first to jump a sinking ship and abandon the ruling […]

Cyber weapons are directed towards targeting the enemy’s computers and networks used for espionage, denying the enemy the use of its cyberspace, stealing classified data clandestinely or introducing malware, which can dupe its operators. Cyber warfare involves a battle space and is recognised as a form of warfare involving both offensive and defensive operations pertaining […]

Malabar 2017, a massive tri-nation naval exercise held in the Bay of Bengal from July 10-17, 2017, involved the United States, Japan and India deploying their warships, submarines and aircraft carriers. Prima facie. the war-game involved maritime training focusing on high-end war-fighting skill sets, combined carrier strike group operations, surface and anti-submarine warfare, explosive ordnance […]

The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) has submitted its report on the Panama Papers case. The JIT deserves appreciation for its perseverance and non-stop working, which sometimes came under intense criticism. There may be human errors in the report because after all, it was prepared by humans and not angels, but the ball is now in […]

As the early harvest projects of CPEC near fruition, detractors are stepping up their propaganda to denigrate the mega project. Christine Fair, of the Foreign Policy magazine has jumped into the fray to disparage CPEC. Christine Fair is an associate professor at the Centre for Peace and Security Studies (CPASS), within Georgetown University’s Edmund A. […]

Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building in Asia (CICA) turned twenty five this year. It was promoted by Nursultan Nazarbayev, the President of Kazakhstan, at the UN General Assembly in 1992. At that time, the world situation was undergoing great changes — the collapse of the Soviet Union, drastic changes in Eastern Europe and the […]

During the recently concluded ICC Champion’s Trophy – which Pakistan won despite being ranked at the bottom – some foreigners were asking “Who is Ramazan?” They had apparently overheard numerous Pakistanis claiming that Pakistan won the tournament because of Ramazan. The holy month of Ramazan plays a very important role in Pakistan’s destiny. The creation […]