The writer is a retired Senator and an analyst of regional affairs From cricket to diplomacy, any development in Pak-India relationship tends to dominate media at the cost of all other news items both important and not so important. We saw it during the Climate Summit in Paris in November where a very brief contact between Nawaz Sharif and Narendra Modi grabbed headlines in media coverage, at least in Pakistan and India, at the cost…
Posts published in “Day: January 16, 2016”
The writer is a former editor of Dawn. DID we need President Obama to tell us we are doomed to instability and militant violence for another decade or more? I think not. But then do we ever take notice of our own accord of where we are headed, without someone abroad having to shake and wake us up? The US president’s ‘assessment’ came in his last State of the Union address of his second and…
President Barack Obama’s tenure as president, which comes to an end this year, has seen many broken hopes and a world still in chaos primarily due to Washington’s policies. It has also seen some change within the US, offering poorer Americans a modicum of change with more focus on healthcare and education in inner city schools, attended most often by those with almost no means. Obama’s speech in many ways broke from the norm, in…
When Pakistan earns a reference in a State of the Union address by an American president, it is worth dwelling on what was said and why. On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama had this to say when answering his own question about how to keep the US safe without becoming a global policeman: “instability will continue for decades in many parts of the world — in the Middle East, in Afghanistan and Pakistan, in parts…
40 Taliban militants have surrendered to Afghan forces in Darqad District of northern Takhar province, the Ministry of Interior announced on Saturday. “In an Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) joint clearance operation, 40 armed militants surrendered to ANSF in Darqad district of northern Takhar province,” states a statement released by the ministry. “The operation started on 09 January 2016 and is still in progress to clear some of the areas of terrorists and enemies of…
PESHWAR: The residence of an Afghan diplomat on the Syed Jamaluddin Afghani Road came under fire on Friday. A police official told Dawn that the assailants opened fire on the house at around 2.20am. He said there was no casualty. He identified the diplomat as Humayun Yousufzai, First Secretary at the Consulate General of Afghanistan in Peshawar. A case has been registered and the matter is being investigated. There was no claim of responsibility. Peshawar…
Senior Afghan, Pakistani, Chinese and US diplomats are scheduled to meet in Kabul on Monday to continue consultations paving the way for talks with the Taliban. The quadrilateral meeting is likely to focus on a strategy that the Afghan side floated during the first round of talks in Islamabad earlier this month. Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai, who led his country’s delegation, explained that the ‘roadmap’ consists of three elements or phases. The…
The author is editor of the daily Thankfully the proposed “Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue” process has been salvaged from the debris of the brazen terrorist attack on the Pathankot Air Base. According to the Indian external affairs ministry spokesperson, the proposed bilateral talks have been rescheduled with mutual consent and will resume “sometime in the near future.” This is a clear departure from the past. It seems post Narendra Modi’s brief stopover in Lahore late last…
The writer teaches public policy in the UK The Pathankot attack, like any terrorist incident, was a deplorable act of savagery committed by a band of glory seeking fanatics. Unlike many other tragic incidents it, however, has brought the promise of peace to the region. Clothed in Dicksonian duality, it unfurls before the people of South Asia both the summer of hope and winter of despair. While all stakeholders are waiting for the final outcome…
The government has assured the Indian government that no stone will be left unturned, if any evidence was found that Pakistani individuals were involved in the Pathankot attack. One of these measures has been shutting down several religious schools run by Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), the group that has taken responsibility for the attack. With relations between India and Pakistan volatile at the moment, one wonders if this crackdown is a strategy to appease India, or a…
ISLAMABAD – The government is likely to ban Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), a charity organisation and a subsidiary of Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) and banned Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeJ). Well-placed sources in the federal government told The Nation that the Ministry of Interior has started serious consultations with all the stakeholders before banning FIF and final decision would be taken in next few days. It is a demand within the country and internationally that both JuD and FIF should…