Rounded Analysis On Contested Issues; Spotlighting Blind Spots; Politics, Religion, Travel, Books
The cultural affinity between India and Pakistan is often framed in terms of cross-border Punjabis but there is much more to it with divided mercantile communities such as Gujaratis being a case in point
Bharatiya Janata Party's projection as the only bulwark against the belligerent neighbour Pakistan and its alleged allies within has paid rich political dividends to India's ruling party, making any breakthrough in hostile ties between the two countries increasingly difficult
Miftah Ismail, an economist with a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, was perhaps better suited to deal with Pakistan's economic crisis but was replaced by Ishaq Dar, who faced corruption charges and was declared a proclaimed offender after fleeing the country in 2017
Many Nepalese conceded the constitution may be imperfect but is federal, republican, and secular and can be amended to accommodate the concerns of disgruntled ethnic groups but there was more to India’s disapproval
One Prime Minister ended up losing his life and another almost spent the rest of it behind bars despite thinking they covered all the bases for having the right man for Pakistan's top job: Army chief
Khan has precipitated the worst crisis for the military since last decade when a lawyers’ movement forced Pervez Musharraf out of power and it later failed to detect Osama bin Laden’s presence in Abbottabad, Pakistan’s equivalent of Sandhurst where military officers are trained
Any real challenge to the Pakistani military’s domination, which is linked to a series of events triggered after a new Tory party’s rise to power in London in the late 18th century, is easier said than done
Imran Khan’s falling out with the Pakistani military follows a pattern since the 1960s when Ayub Khan handpicked Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as his foreign minister at 35 in 1963 before the young politician revolted against his mentor two years later for failing to capitalize on the gains in the 1965 war and losing it with India at the negotiation table
Khan’s popularity has been unprecedented in Pakistan’s recent history and no politician has enjoyed so much public adulation perhaps since the emergence of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in the 1960s
Pakistani polity is largely bereft of any real ideology with power the end for most political parties and means for making money and often stashing it abroad
