:: London Instituete Of South Asia ::


Home	Articles Published	Lisa Books	Lisa Journal	Contact Us	E-Correspondence

Articles Published


	What went wrong in Kashmir? by Rekha Chowdhary	31/07/2010
What went wrong in Kashmir? This is one pertinent question that needs to be addressed seriously before any corrective measures can be applied. Situation would certainly normalise after some time, but apparently 'normal' situation in case of Kashmir does not indicate anything. The vibrancy of ordinary life and the day-to-day routine followed for days and even months, takes only moments to break it. Underneath the normalcy, the turbulence is ever present and can surface at any point of time. Every turbulent period however provides clues to the real problem, and one should hold on to these clues, if one really wants to do something about it. More....
	The Failure of the Western Way of War by Andrew J. Bacevich	30/07/2010
“In watching the flow of events over the past decade or so, it is hard to avoid the feeling that something very fundamental has happened in world history.” This sentiment, introducing the essay that made Francis Fukuyama a household name, commands renewed attention today, albeit from a different perspective. More....
	Instability in South Asia due to insurgent movements: causes and remedies	26/07/2010
Insurgency is widespread in the entire region. From Burma to Afghanistan and from Kashmir to Sri Lanka, nations are either still locked in bloody conflicts or are poised for one or have just come out of it. Potential cold-war situation has existed between India and Pakistan, despite simulated expression of good intentions and carefully orchestrated aggressive official policy of promotion of friendship. Still worse situation exists in many other countries in Africa and the rest of Asia. The first question to be asked is easy enough to ask and is as easy to answer. Stronger than even the ill-will encouraged by the diversity of regions, the multiplicity of races and languages, a man-made factor may be seen at the root of the conflicts that have flared up in many countries in the recent past. Many ills of humankind can be seen to date back to October 24, 1648, when, ironically, the Peace Treaty of Westphalia became a reality after long-lasting warfare and tortuous, protracted negotiations involving most of the European powers (except England and a few others). More....
	General Kayani’s Extension by Brigadier ® F.B Ali	26/07/2010
The 3-year extension of Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani’s term as army chief has aroused considerable comment. Many media pundits have pontificated gravely, using many words to say little. Others have criticized what they term a sell-out due to personal ambition. Quite a few well-meaning people have expressed regret that he did not follow the example of Gen Abdul Waheed (Kakar) and decline the offer. In view of the outsized role that the army chief plays in Pakistan, it matters a great deal what lies behind his acceptance of the extension. More....
	India at war with itself by Alan Hart	18/07/2010
The starter question I asked myself when I was thinking about what I might usefully say here today was this: How serious a threat to stability, and perhaps even democracy, are India’s insurgency movements? More....
	Time to End Military Occupation of Middle East by Gordon Duff Senior Editor Veteran News, USA	17/07/2010
For the last decade, America has been shuffling its entire military, including hundreds of thousands of private contractors, in and out of the Middle East on little more than a “snipe hunt.” Time for a reality check. Iraq never attacked the US. Reports say Al Qaeda may have fewer than 30 men in Afghanistan. More....
	Kashmir: Answering Bullets with Stones by Usman Khalid	11/07/2010
More than fifteen civilians, mostly youngsters, have been killed in police firing in past three weeks of civil unrest in Kashmir and yet the government is still of the view that like erstwhile princes they could continue to rule as long as they have a blank cheque from New Delhi. More....
	Load Shedding in Pakistan is Avoidable by Usman Khalid	06/07/2010
The Sectarian and Ethnic groups, who are a small proportion of the population, are playing havoc in the country with target killings in Karachi and Quetta and suicide bombs in Lahore and Peshawar, while the overwhelming majority is frozen into inaction. This is a time for us to show our power and strength. More....
	Self-defeating attitude of the Taliban by Usman Khalid	04/07/2010
Among many stories that come out of Afghanistan I read one which is remarkably similar to the experience of the people of Swat and Waziristan. In the village of Hiratian in Afghanistan's Helmand province, locals found the body of eight-year-old Dilawar hanging from a tree of a small fruit farm. The Taliban fighters had accused the boy of spying for the American forces; they kidnapped him, strung him up and left his body to sway in the wind for hours for all to see. More....
	Worse Than a Nightmare by BOB HERBERT in New York Times June 27, 2010	29/06/2010
(If the USSR could not occupy a contiguous Afghanistan after being its sole provider from 1949 to 1979, there is no hope for the USA to succeed. Against the Soviet Union, the Afghans had support of the USA, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and much of the Muslim world. Against the US the Afghans have no foreign support. Yet, more than 70 % of the territory is not under the control of Kabul. The first thing the USA has to realise is that there is no prospect of a military victory in Afghanistan - surge or no surge. The second is that the earlier they stop killing Afghans inside Pakistan and Afghanistan, the better the prospects for a deal. The third is that the Afghans, like Americans, believe in deals; deals (not Islam) are their ideology. A ‘deal' is not just possible, it is the only exit strategy. The Americans wanted to make a deal with Afghans after the exit of USSR. They did not know, who with and on what terms. Pakistan was unhelpful because it did not know either; it had a Sindhi Prime Minister and a fauji President who was already unpopular. More....
	Dire Need to Counter Sate Terrorism by India’s Intelligence Agency - RAW by Asif Haroon Raja	27/06/2010
It is now an established fact that no South Asian state has ever indulged in covert operations or cross border terrorism against its neighbours. The only culprit is India which resorts to this evil practice against all its neighbours, be it Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives, Bhutan, China and Myanmar. It has dovetailed clandestine operations into its war strategy to apply it against its foes during peace time for harassment, intimidation and blackmailing purposes and for weakening them from within. Afghanistan has been used by Russia and India to raise the bogey of Pashtunistan, render support to Pakistani runaways and rebels and to launch covert operations against Pakistan. Karzai has belatedly assured Pakistan that it would not allow its soil against Pakistan. Hopefully he sticks to his commitment. Marching orders given by Karzai to his intelligence chief and interior minister, both venomously anti-Pakistan and favourites of Washington are positive signs though some more steps are needed to scatter away clouds of distrust built over nine years. More....
	Pakistan Is Said to Pursue a Foothold in Afghanistan by Jane Perlez, Eric Schmitt and Carlotta Gall	26/06/2010
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — is exploiting the troubled United States military effort in Afghanistan to drive home a political settlement with Afghanistan that would give Pakistan important influence there but is likely to undermine United States interests, Pakistani and American officials said. More....
	Asif Zaradri’s Formula for Perpetual Power by By Usman Khalid	22/06/2010
Asif Zardari (AZ) thinks of himself as a political genius. He may well be right. After all he has managed to obtain complete control over the reins of power even though he is supported by no more than 15% of the electorate. It is rare to get an insight into his thinking; he makes his best political speeches from the grave site of his beloved wife – Benazir Bhutto – in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh. Yesterday, 21 June, the country was celebrating the 57th birthday of his wife. Celebration may not be the right word to describe an event linked to a person who is dead – particularly one who was brutally assassinated in full public view. But it was indeed an occasion to celebrate by AZ. If she had not been assassinated, AZ would have been kept out of sight of the public because of his reputation. After all his only link with politics was his renown as the commission agent who charged 10% for every permit and sanction given by his dear wife. However, it is also well known that the couple were leading separate lives. If Benazir had been alive, she would have been a popular Prime Minister and he would have been confined to Dubai the same way as the mother of Benazir, Begum Nusrat Bhutto. With such dubious political background, AZ has come to own every thing that belonged to the Bhutto family. Even Benazir’s seat in the National Assembly is occupied by AZ’s his sister – Faryal Talpur. He has to be a political genius to accomplish such feats. More....
	‘Discovery’ of Afghan Riches a Pro-war PR Scam? by Daniel Tencer "RawStory"	15/06/2010
A New York Times report announcing the US has found $1 trillion-worth of mineral deposits in Afghanistan has some observers wondering if the news is part of a public-relations effort to bolster support for the Afghanistan war as the mission's death toll continues to climb. More....
	‘Mad Dog’ Diplomacy by By Jonathan Cook in Nazareth	04/06/2010
Moshe Dayan, Israel’s most celebrated general, famously outlined the strategy he believed would keep Israel’s enemies at bay: “Israel must be a like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother.” More....
	Is Israel Planning Act Of Desperation? by By Gordon Duff	04/06/2010
Whenever the gang that has seized power in Israel wants to move forward their agenda—their plan to use American lives to dominate not only the Middle East but Central Asia—they reach into their bag of tricks. Sometimes it’s a simple story: “rockets from Gaza” or another phoney bin Laden audio tape. However, too often, as we have learned time and time again, something very bad happens at just the right time. Some imaginary terrorist group with no planning ability, no logistics, and no influence or history of being able to move men or material shows up in New York, Detroit, London, Dubai, Madrid or Mumbai. The signature is always the same: help through airports, high quality documents and timed perfectly to advance the Israeli agenda. This time, with two stolen nuclear weapons in play, bombs built by South Africa and Israel available for detonation in a shipping container at any American or European port, we wonder, “Would Israel really go this far?” More....
	Does Israel rule the world? by Linda S. Heard, Special to Gulf News	01/06/2010
Yesterday, the Israeli military attacked and boarded one of the Turkish aid ships sailing to Gaza as part of a flotilla, killing 19 and injuring many more. As this occurred in international waters, it is not only an act of piracy but could also be construed as an ‘act of war'. This attack on unarmed civilian men and women illustrates the moral depths to which the Jewish state has sunk. More....
	Time for the UN to assemble a force to lift the Siege of Gaza or its members should pack up in New York and relocate the UN in Europe	31/05/2010
Demonstrators in Istanbul protested against Israel in front of the Israeli consulate on Monday. More....
	Politicians are the Problem by Dr Nasir ,Flint, Michigan, USA	27/05/2010
The message is about the mess our electricity is in. Not surprising, for all our people's basic needs and fundamental rights are either non-existent or wanting (except, of course, for democracy, such as it is) because our rulers deliberately deprive them to create justifications for doing unnecessary projects to take huge kickbacks and commissions and buy flats abroad. More....
	Obama's Drone Blitz by Brian Cloughly	21/05/2010
They seek him here, they seek him there, More....
	Creeping Terror: The New American Way of War by Chris Floyd	21/05/2010
May 20, 2010 "Empire Burlesque" -- The American way of war is a marvelously ingenious thing. And thoroughly modern too. No more of that "don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes" jazz; your modern "warfighter" (they aren't called "soldiers" anymore, you know) prefers to view his targets through, say, a computer screen safely ensconced back in the Homeland or thousands of feet in the sky, or else through the unearthly greenish glow of night-vision scopes. And open combat? Forget it. The new American way is the sneak attack on civilian homes in the dead of night. You creep up, you break in, you cap a few ragheads, then you run away. What glory! What magnificent valor! More....
	Nobody is Indispensable? Not Always!	21/05/2010
When the TV anchors started to say that the real government of Pakistan was the GHQ, I wrote to the press and any one willing to listen that it was patently untrue and very damaging to the country. If General Kiani was shown special deference in Washington DC, it was for a reason. When TV anchors in Pakistan took the line of our perennial enemy, India, one could see what that reason might have been. Thankfully, they stopped parroting that line. More....
	The failure of the American Jewish establishment by Peter Beinart	20/05/2010
In 2003, several prominent Jewish philanthropists hired Republican pollster Frank Luntz to explain why American Jewish college students were not more vigorously rebutting campus criticism of Israel. In response, he unwittingly produced the most damning indictment of the organized American Jewish community that I have ever seen. More....
	All Kayani’s Men by Anatol Lieven	10/05/2010
Voltaire remarked of Frederick the Great’s Prussia that “where some states have an army, the Prussian Army has a state!” The same can easily be said of Pakistan. The destruction of the army would mean the destruction of the country. Yet this is something that the Pakistani Taliban and their allies can never achieve. Only the United States is capable of such a feat; if Washington ever takes actions that persuade ordinary Pakistani soldiers that their only honourable course is to fight America, even against the orders of their generals and against dreadful odds, the armed forces would crumble. More....
	How US Weapons Grade Uranium Was Diverted to Israel by Grant Smith	10/05/2010
The 2010 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is underway at UN Headquarters in New York. A working paper calls for a nuclear-free Middle East. It would require member states of the NPT to disclose in their national reports on the implementation of the resolution on the Middle East all information available to them on the nature and scope of Israeli nuclear facilities and activities, including information pertaining to previous nuclear transfers to Israel. On May 6, 2010, the Government Accountability Office (formerly known as the General Accounting Office) released the previously secret 1978 report Nuclear Diversion in the U.S.? 13 Years of Contradiction and Confusion [.pdf]. It fills in important historic gaps about weapons-grade uranium diversions from the U.S. to Israel. More....
	Why Pakistan keeps exporting jihad by Fareed Zakaria	10/05/2010
Faisal Shahzad, the would-be terrorist of Times Square, seems to have followed a familiar path. More....
	Palpable fraud	10/05/2010
THE report of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry into the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, published on April 15, 2010, is an unprecedented product of an unprecedented process, vitiated by lack of transparency, political motivation, brazen partisanship, and a deliberate violation of its own terms of reference and the settled rules of natural justice and fair play. It is demeaning to those who initiated the process and to those who responded and produced a patently political inquiry document on a terrible tragedy which demanded a thorough professional probe. More....
	The Ghosts of Gandamak by William Dalrymple in New York Times	09/05/2010
THE name Gandamak means little in the West today. Yet this small Afghan village was once famous for the catastrophe that took place there during the First Anglo-Afghan War in January 1842, arguably the greatest humiliation ever suffered by a Western army in the East. More....
	New angle to BB’s assassination by Ghayur Ayub	09/05/2010
The UN report on the late Benazir Bhutto’s assassination has opened up a Pandora's Box once again. Some of the electronic media, in a bid to win the ratings race, have surpassed ethical limits and present the case the way they want it to fit. One of the reasons for this is the changing statements the near and dear ones of the late BB have given. Two people top the list; Asif Ali Zardari and Rehman Malik. Without going into the logic of their interests, I want to focus on three points; first, the cause of death; second, the target in the eyes of the West; and third, the Faith as a common link between the accused. More....
	Paying for Pakistan by Mohsin Hamid	09/05/2010
Here’s the great secret about Pakistan: we aren’t as poor as we like to think. Over the years I’ve traveled a fair bit around our country. I’ve ridden on the back of a motorbike in Gwadar, walked down streets in Karachi, explored bazaars in Peshawar. More....
	Objective View of the Times Square Fizzler by Usman Khalid	08/05/2010
By all accounts Faisal Shehzad – the Time Square Fizzler – was a loser looking for a lost cause. He found one in Pakistani Taliban – a creation of Indian RAW and Israeli Mossad. What is the cause the Pakistani Taliban? They say that Pakistan is ruled by collaborators of the USA who are worse than Kafir (infidels). They say they are fighting a war against Pakistan – its government, its employees particularly the Armed Forces and the Police, and those who acquiesce or support them – to establish a ‘true’ Islamic State where Sharia is the law, Khilafa the system, and Jihad the objective. Since Sharia, Khilafa and Jihad are well established institutions of Islam, Muslims react favourably to upholders of Sharia, Khilafa and Jihad. It is only on closer examination that it becomes apparent that they subvert all three; they are actually harbingers of ‘collective suicide’ . That is why most researchers who have spent much of their life studying and exposing the methods of Illuminati and the Zionist Movement of Jews and Christians, believe that the modern day ‘Islamists’ work for advancing the agenda of the Zionists. More....
	Indians Seize NYC Terror to Peddle Anti-Pakistanism by Sadanand Dhume	06/05/2010
( A Rejoinder published Thursday, May 6, 2010 ) More....
	Who murdered Benazir Bhutto? by Christina Lamb	04/05/2010
Across fields of cotton and baked mud in the village of Garhi Khuda Bakhsh in southern Pakistan rises a white marble mausoleum with Mughal-style cones that shimmer in the heat. More....
	Rifah Party of Pakistan	05/05/2010
Need For a New Party More....
	In a Ditch by Nicholas Schmidle	04/05/2010
Corpses have been showing up on roadsides in North and South Waziristan for years. Some of the time they are headless; almost all of the time they display a note alleging that the deceased was a spy. Khalid Khawaja’s death was no different, except that he never hid the fact that he had once worked for Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency, the ISI. The association gave him credibility in many circles. Khawaja’s generation of spooks, after all, trained local and foreign jihadis in Afghanistan during the 1980s, frequented Taliban-controlled Afghanistan during the 1990s, and continued—at least unofficially—to support some insurgents in Afghanistan (and Pakistan) throughout the past decade. Between his intel background and his continued devotion to the cause, Khawaja was an important, outspoken player on the jihadi scene. More....
	Now Is Pakistan in Line of Fire as the Next Evil Doer? by Jeff Gates	04/04/2010
Who was surprised to find Pakistan associated with a “significant terrorist event” in New York? Was anyone surprised that this “car bomb” incident occurred in the same city as the last significant event? Or that news reports promptly featured the Taliban of Pakistan? More....
	Exposing the Politics of Terror in the Age of Imperialism and Zionism by Feroze Mithiborwala	29/04/2010
"This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears, he is a protector." - Plato More....
	January 27, 2010: Watershed in the History of Bangladesh by Usman Khalid	25/04/2010
The day – January 27, 2010 – will go down in the history of the South Asia as a black day on which five patriotic officers of the Army who saved Bangladesh from becoming the colony of India 35 years ago, were hanged. It was not surprising because the Prime Minister of Bangladesh – Hasina Wazed – is the daughter of the traitor – Sheikh Mujib – who was the President of the country against who the 15 August 1975 coup d’etat was carried out. It was vendetta, not justice; its shadow will loom large over the country until the legacy of the traitor is disowned and discredited in Bangladesh. It took Sheikh Hasina 35 years to discredit the heroism of the best sons of the soil as mere murders. It will not take that long to discredit Hasina – the lap dog of India - who has since become so bolds as to wear her father’s treachery as a badge of honour. It would not be long before Sheikh Mujib is seen as the worst traitor in the sub-continent since Mir Jaffer. More....
	Shaking Hands by Agha Zafar Hilaly	23/04/2010
A man who looks you straight in the eye, particularly if he adds a firm handshake, is hiding something. And that is what Manmohan Singh was doing when he grasped Mr Gilani’s hand at the recent Nuclear Summit in Washington. He was quintessentially, “The smiler with the knife under the cloak.” More....
	The Doomsday Weapon by Uri Avneri	20/04/2010
IT IS already a commonplace to say that people who don’t learn from history are condemned to repeat their mistakes. More....
	Neo Martian’s Notes about Baluchistan by Moign Khawaja	17/04/2010
I’ve travelled across Pakistan several times. I’ve been to the plains of Punjab, the Indus valley, the foothills of Karakorum, the delta of Indus river and the coastal region of Makran. Every region has its attraction and charm but if one asks me honestly, Balochistan is by far the most interesting and fascinating region of Pakistan. Why? It is because the land of Balochistan is blessed with a spectacular terrain that includes mountains, deserts, plateaux, sea, valleys, oases, and so much more. More....
	Message of Rifah Party to the People of J& K by Usman Khalid	16/04/2010
It gives me great pleasure to address this seminar on the subject of the "Role of pro-freedom leaders vis a vis the Kashmir Issue". More....
	Proposal for Peace in Afghanistan by British Foreign Secretary David Miliband	12/04/2010
The Proposal made by David Miliband, verbatim, is as follows: More....
	US Puppet Cuts His Strings by Eric Margolis	11/04/2010
(It is still shrouded in mystery, perhaps due to legitimate need for secrecy, what decisions were taken during the ‘strategic dialogue’ between the USA and Pakistan. Indications are that an ‘exit strategy’ was agreed upon. That India is so anxious shows that the USA has been persuaded to abandon its support to Indian strategy for the break up of Pakistan. If that is indeed the case, it is in Pakistan’s interest to support the formation of a national government in Afghanistan and a smooth transfer of power to it. During the current visit of Pakistani Prime Minister to Washington DC, it would be right and proper that President Obama and Prime Minister Gilani declared that to be their common objective. + Usman Khalid, Secy Gen. of Rifah Party+) More....
	Room for optimism by Mohsin Hamid	11/04/2010
EVER since returning to live in Pakistan a few months ago, I’ve been struck by the pervasive negativity of views here about our country. Whether in conversation, on television, or in the newspaper, what I hear and read often tends to boil down to the same message: our country is going down the drain. More....
	War or peace on the Indus? by John Briscoe	08/04/2010
Anyone foolish enough to write on war or peace in the Indus needs to first banish a set of immediate suspicions. I am neither Indian nor Pakistani. I am a South African who has worked on water issues in the subcontinent for 35 years and who has lived in Bangladesh (in the 1970s) and Delhi (in the 2000s). In 2006 I published, with fine Indian colleagues, an Oxford University Press book titled India's Water Economy: Facing a Turbulent Future and, with fine Pakistani colleagues, one titled Pakistan's Water Economy: Running Dry. More....
	Was Israel Ever Legitimate? by Jeff Gates	08/04/2010
The history of Israel as a geopolitical fraud will fill entire libraries as those defrauded marvel at how so few deceived so many for so long. Those duped include many naive Jews who—even now—identify their interests with this extremist enclave. More....
	Indian-American group asks US to declare Pak a terrorist state by Times of India, March 31, 2010	02/04/2010
WASHINGTON: Arguing that Islamabad is using terrorism as a tool for its foreign policy, especially against India, an Indian-American group on Wednesday asked secretary of state Hillary Clinton to declare Pakistan as a terrorist state and seize all its nuclear weapons. More....
	Don’t Treat the Military as a Political Pawn by Usman Khalid	01/04/2010
I am horrified that TV anchors of Pakistani channels mouth the same line of propaganda that has been the bread and butter of the Indian media. The line of India has been that ‘unlike most countries that have an Army, Pakistan has an Army which has a country’. The ‘Rogue Army’ title was not invented as a prelude to the ‘Strategic Dialogue’ between the USA and Pakistan; it was a part of the plan to defeat armed resistance in Jammu and Kashmir decades ago. The difference now is that the objective is not just to undermine the struggle for self-determination in Jammu and Kashmir but also to undermine US-Pakistan efforts to bring peace in Afghanistan. India is surprised that Pakistan is saying to the world that India is its enemy whose role is that of a regional trouble maker. India is peeved that its ‘friend’ Asif Zardari has allowed the Pakistan Army Chief to articulate that – something that even Nawaz Sharif had not dared do. More....
	There should be a Hazara Province also by Saeed Qureshi	28/03/2010
The Stance taken by Mian Nawaz Sharif, the leader of Pakistan Muslim League (N) is right and reasonable. The population of Hazara is ethnically, culturally and linguistically different from the Pashto speaking population mostly living along the Durand Line. More....
	Obama Won't Restrain Israel - He Can't by	18/03/2010
( The Muslim World, particularly the Arabs, can see it clearly that when it come to a difference between the USA and Israel, it is resolved by submission by the US. Israel will continue to destablise the Middle East on its own and South and South East Asia through India and Singapore. If the USA really wants to restrain Israel, it does not need to put phoney pressure, it just needs to look the other way when neo-imperialist states of India and Israel suffer the consequences of their policies. Usman Khalid ) More....
	What ‘Punjabi’ Taliban? by Ahmed Quraishi	16/03/2010
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—South Waziristan is an Indian outpost on Pakistani soil with a religious version of Mukti Bahini in place, the terror militia created by India in 1969 before its full-fledged and unprovoked invasion of East Pakistan two years later. The similarity is in using proxies. This is not an outlandish theory but an emerging fact anchored in hundreds of pieces of information and intelligence that Pakistani security forces have gathered from the western strip of Pakistan stretching from Balochistan and all the way to the tribal agencies in the north. More....
	Zardari & Gilani: Who are they Working for? India? by Brig (R) Usman Khalid	12/03/2010
Every time the Afghan President in dressing gown visits Pakistan, the people become very apprehensive. Who does this fellow - Karzai - represent? Not Afghans! Who does he work for? Not Afghanistan! He will be on the first plane out of Afghanistan when the US withdrawal, if its disorderly, begins. Why is President Zardari so eager to please him? Does he want to secure a seat on the same plane? But it does not matter what either of them wants because the people of Pakistan see Zardari’s role to be to frustrate every effort to safeguard Pakistan’s national interests and to advance India’s agenda. More....
	Salman Bashirs Kashmir Talk: A Point of Concern by Dr Syed Inayaullah Andrabi	27/02/2010
Mr Salman Bashir, Foreign Secretary, Government of Pakistan held a press conference in New Delhi at the conclusion of foreign secretary level meeting held between India and Pakistan on 25/02/2010. A little earlier, his Indian counter part, Nirupama Rao also addressed the press, saying we talked about Kashmir but very briefly. More....
	Plight of Muslims under Terrorism by Mustafa Khan	21/02/2010
Never before was the situation for the Muslims in India so awful as today. An accused in terror attack in Mumbai 26/11 Fahim Ansari wants bail to come out and search a lawyer who can defend him. More....
	Damn The Dialogue by Sohaila Salam	15/02/2010
Since our independence 63 years ago, India has not accepted us as a sovereign State. This, therefore, precludes any possibility of being accepted as a neighbour, what to talk of being accepted on equal terms. The Indian dream of “Akhand Bharat” (Greater India) has turned into a nightmare. Their strategy of coercion has evolved from one form to another without check, transcending into a state of frenzy. They have done well on a number of accounts though. More....
	New form of Nuclear Blackmail? by Shireen M Mazari	12/02/2010
It seems that even when some Americans manage to understand Pakistan, their proclivity towards niggardliness destroys any advantage they may have gained through this insight. So it has always been with analyst Christine Fair, who knows Pakistan well in terms of being a frequent visitor and interacting with a varied number of Pakistanis. But at the end of the day she has been unable to rise above traditional American prejudices and suspicions about Pakistan. In her article in the Wall Street Journal she has recognised that “nuclear cooperation could deliver results where billions of American aid have failed”. But then she goes on to suggest that the US offer Pakistan “conditions-based” cooperation in the civilian nuclear field whereby Pakistan would get “fundamental recognition of its nuclear status and civilian assistance” but would have to meet two criteria”. This is where Fair stumbles back to traditional US misconceptions and suspicions about Pakistan. The first condition would be to provide the access and cooperation on nuclear issues sought by the Kerry-Lugar-Breman Act and the second condition would be for Pakistan to demonstrate “sustained and verifiable” commitment to combating “all terrorist groups on its soil” including “freedom fighters” - an obvious reference to Kashmiri Mujahideen. More....
	Civil Society in Pakistan: A wake up Call -A time to rebuild the Nation by Brigadier Samson Simon Sharaf	11/02/2010
Pakistan’s political establishment is back to its old ways of self preservation, aggrandisement and nepotism. What makes the present malaise different from the 80s and 90s is that all major political parties are in power with stakes in the system. The architects of the elections in 2008 had drawn a crude power sharing formula that supports back scratching and keeps them in denial. More....
	The audacity of Afghan peace hopes by M.K. Bhadrakumar	10/02/2010
Last Thursday the region took a ride in the raft of optimism to peace. The London conference on the Afghan problem certainly gives grounds for optimism. From the Indian perspective, however, what matters most is to be able to behold just in time that, as the Old Testament says, “there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand.” The little cloud is destined to rise higher and higher and become larger and larger with astonishing celerity and will burst in a deluge of rain on the parched earth. And like Elijah hastening Ahab home, India needs to head for the chariot and “get thee down that the rain stop thee not.” For, once the river Kishon gets swollen from the deep layer of dust in the arid plain being turned into thick mud that impedes the wheels, it becomes impassable. More....
	The audacity of Afghan peace hopes by Gordon Duff	10/02/2010
What Our Military Leaders only say behind closed Doors More....
	Please, Mr. President, Stop Talking Nonsense by Alan Hart	07/02/2010
At a town hall meeting in Tampa, Florida on 28 January, President Obama explained what in his view had to happen if there is to be a two-state solution which would see Israel and the Palestinians living side by side in peace and security. He said, “Both sides are going to have to make concessions“. More....
	The Truth about US Justice by Yvonne Ridley	07/02/2010
Many of us are still in a state of shock over the guilty verdict returned on Dr Aafia Siddiqui. More....
	Pakistan deals with its devils by Zahid U Kramet	06/01/2010
LAHORE - Pakistan and the United States are apparently not on the same page in regard to the Afghan Taliban, particularly insofar as the Haqqani network in Afghanistan is concerned. More....
	India Tightens its Stranglehold on Bangladesh by Sajjad Shaukat and Usman Khalid	04/01/2010
The colonization by India of Bangladesh is now in its final phase as the Indian puppet Prime Minister Hasina Wazed – is complying with India’s orders unafraid of the military or the judiciary. The military has been restrained in performing its statutory role to safeguard the national interest as RAW demonstrated its hold on the country in the Peelkhana massacre of Army officers and rapes of their wives by BDR personnel in which Awami League ministers were complicit; the Prime Minister herself gave the rebels three days of time to surrender – time enough for murderers and rapists to escape and some of them even to go abroad while the government spokesmen were creating a smoke screen blaming the Islamists for the massacre. No wonder the senior officers of the military are afraid they might be dismissed or murdered by RAW agents if they are suspected to be patriots unafraid of India. More....
	Why DG ISI confronted Director CIA? by Zahid Malik in Pakistan Observer	07/12/2009
After my four hour long informal interaction with Admiral Mike Mullen, the most powerful man in uniform and Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, the multi-barrel gun directed at Afghanistan and Pakistan, at the residence of US Ambassador on the rainy evening of April 6, 2009, I had in my comments mentioned that now the ISI was the immediate target of the US Establishment. This was no “breaking news” as every one who keeps an eye on the ongoing war on terror knew well that US was hell-bent on (i) getting the Pakistan Army sucked into domestic turmoil in Swat, FATA and beyond Waziristan, and (ii) reining in what the US calls “rogue elements” in the ISI. More....
	A Strategy for Exit from Afghanistan by Usman Khalid	21/05/2008
As the ‘war on terror’ in Afghanistan becomes more costly in NATO lives, and its spread to Pakistan faces the wrath of the people, cool heads have started to think of an exit strategy. However, the consensus in the US still is that the military should pull out from Iraq and reinforce Afghanistan. Why? No good reasons are given except that the US invasion of Iraq was a mistake because: Iraq was not a threat, whereas Afghanistan has been the home of Al-Qaeda; the invasion of Iraq diverted attention and resources to the wrong target. More recently, the neo-cons have started to say that neither country posed a threat; the only Muslim country that is a nuclear power is Pakistan; that should have been the target. But demonisation and isolation of Pakistan – pre-requisites for a successful invasion – which has been a close ally for five decades, is not so easy. Therefore, the general view is that Pakistan should be made to comply by the use of carrot before the stick is used. America is so blatantly micro-managing Pakistan now causing uproar in the country. The people expected the ‘free elections’ to deliver a new government, but Musharraf still reigns as well as rules. Almost everyone in Pakistan believes, because that is what the US wants. More....