Shahzad Chaudhry

We Pakistanis thrive on abstractionism. No, not the poor commoner, he hardly has time to look beyond his daily survival — if anything he remains the world’s most fastidious realist since for him his world exists in the tangibility of what he possesses — the spirit being the furthest from his mind. Such luxuries are […]

For the last about three years, every Zaid, Bakar and Hamid of this country has gone hoarse shouting for the army to restrict itself to the barracks, euphemism for leaving the country’s politics alone. And yet, despite the bickering and mudslinging that goes on unabashedly, the troika not only survives but also stands reinvigorated. The […]

In my article, ‘Pakistan’s strategic roadmap’ (January 17, 2011) on these pages, I had suggested that terrorism and its various manifestations, including extremism and militancy, the economy, Pakistan’s stance on the Fissile Materials Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT), and societal dissent in the aftermath of Salmaan Taseer’s murder, will impose themselves as Pakistan’s compulsive strategic agenda in […]

President Obama has had many a war to fight in his short presidency beyond the likely nemesis, the ongoing Afghan war. Bob Woodward’s book, Obama’s Wars, details the nature of those wars; infighting, soothing frayed sentiment, holding off military’s sway, the persistent bickering between and amongst the intelligence communities. It could have well been located […]

In a unique twist of events, 2011 may stand out as the beginning of the period that will see Pakistan’s internal and external dynamics converge into a single set of compulsions that should drive policy and consume strategic thinking. Not only that internal and external dynamics feed into each other and gain sustenance, these remain […]

This week we must reminisce the ultimate price paid by Salmaan Taseer in holding aloft the fundamental rights of any human being to think, speak and associate with freedom. As a consequence of his murder, Pakistan once again stands at the crossroads, challenged by forces that sponsor obscurantism and bigotry and take away from the […]

Let us accept. On this day in the last week of the year gone by, our politics descended to the depths of infamy and shame. If we have ever attempted discerning why this hapless nation cannot get its direction right and what real malady afflicted its political class, the PML-N and MQM public spat said […]

This question hangs heavy on every thinking soul’s conscience as we stand engaged with the Bad Taliban in South Waziristan, and as Hillary Clinton bucks us up for finally taking the plunge. On Waziristan, perhaps there wasn’t a choice; not because the Americans were breathing down our necks, it was simply because we had through […]

As Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi returns from Washington, the political climate that he lands himself into will be far different from the one that existed on his departure. How that factors into the strategic context of his planning with the Americans and the Afghans during the consultative meetings and whether the obtaining environment under […]

There has been consistent noise about the military option available to India following the Mumbai attacks in the Indian establishment, media, and, surprisingly, from within the military hierarchy. The effort to appease certain quarters is more than obvious and understood, but for military professionals to join in the rhetoric, especially when they are aware of […]