Taj Hashmi

On the eve of the 10th anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq on March 21, one wonders, if in accordance with the neo-con philosophy, The US will be invading more ‘crappy little countries’ in future in the name of ‘War on Terror’. Neo-con guru Michael Ledeen not only justifies punishing crappy little countries like […]

Since its occupation of Mosul and parts of northern Iraq last June, Islamic State (IS) has emerged as the most dreadful terrorist organisation in the world. Al Qaeda and its ilk seem to have receded into the background. Now IS is not only the most organised terror outfit but is also the most powerful insurgent […]

It is good news that within three weeks of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s (ISIL’s) takeover of Mosul, Tikrit and some other towns in northern Iraq, know-little analysts in the east and west have taken a break from their sensational speculations about the future of Iraq and the entire region in the […]

The celebration of the seventieth anniversary of D-Day on Friday June 6 at Normandy was very interesting and significant. Scores of World War II veterans from the US, Britain, Canada and elsewhere graced the solemn ceremony. We expect a fewer number of WWII veterans will show up at Normandy next June before the whole bunch […]

Ishtiaq Ahmed’s interesting book demonstrates how and why a weak and apolitical army evolved into the most powerful institution in Pakistan, virtually having de facto veto power over politics. It also controls Pakistan’s nuclear weapons and formulates its domestic and foreign policies. The circumstances that turned the Pakistan army into one of the most pampered […]

Ishtiaq Ahmed’s latest book is another outstanding piece of scholarship by an erudite scholar. This intellectually stimulating work is an important addition to the corpus of writings on modern and contemporary Pakistan, which by design and default has emerged as a ‘Garrison State’. While Farzana Shaikh’s Making Sense of Pakistan helps us understand why political […]