By Glenn Kessler in Washington Post, May 20
Diplomacy sometimes consists of winks and nods, not outright trades. That might explain why the Obama administration has been quiet about a recent Chinese commercial transaction that nuclear specialists say marks a blatant disregard of international guidelines.
In the midst of intense negotiations on new sanctions for Iran, which China was reluctant to embrace, Beijing confirmed that one of its state companies had signed an agreement to supply Pakistan with two new nuclear reactors.
The lucrative deal, if consummated, appears to be a clear violation …

By Myra MacDonald in the Reuters Blog
DAMADOLA: Despite initial military successes against the Pakistani Taliban in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, Pakistan is unlikely to move any time soon to dismantle the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group. As I wrote in this analysis,  Pakistani security officials say the country has enough on its plate fighting militants on its Afghan border without opening a new front in Punjab province, where the LeT is based. They argue this could drive the LeT – which has been careful not to launch attacks within Pakistan itself …

By Babar Dogar & Ranjan Roy in The News, Apr 24
LAHORE: Former foreign minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri has said the solution to the Kashmir dispute is just a signature away once India and Pakistan decide to pull the file from the rack.
While addressing the concluding session of the two-day seminar — held as part of the ongoing Aman ki Asha campaign, launched by the Jang Group and Times of India — and later talking to The News and the Times of India here on Friday, the former foreign minister revealed …

By Patrick Cockburn in The Independent, Apr 16
The Pakistani army has fought successfully to control mountainous frontier areas once ruled by the Pakistani Taliban, but it remains reluctant to attack the cross-border safe havens of the Afghan Taliban despite American pressure.
Pakistani soldiers in Bajaur district on the Afghan frontier are eager to demonstrate what they have already achieved, showing off captured tunnels dug into the hillside by the local Taliban to protect their fighters against air and artillery attack. On display are some rockets and shells and a broken sign …

India, along with China, is the economic engine that will drive global economic growth for possibly decades to come. The whole world is keen for a slice of that action. Are we — who ironically are best placed to take advantage (both directly and indirectly) — to be the only ones to reject such a golden opportunity?
Many readers are probably watching the Indian Premier League (IPL) matches these days. Like it or not, the event is now firmly established, is clearly a big success, and likely to go from strength …

By Sikander Shaheen in the Nation, Mar 14
ISLAMABAD – The governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan naively overlooked the fact that bilateral trade was directly proportional to security situation.
Giving economy preference to security was an unimpressive show of imprudent diplomacy during Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s recent visit to Pakistan.
The mild attitude that Pakistan had shown towards Afghan President reflected that Pakistani authorities were so obliged by Karzai’s arrival that they deemed it better not to get into serious discussions about security issues and stick to economy and trade.
The helplessness …

NEW DELHI: Dismissing demands by some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that Delhi provide more water to Pakistan, Indian Home Secretary GK Pillai on Wednesday said Pakistan was getting more water than it was entitled to under the Indus Water Treaty (IWT).
Calling the charges of water terrorism against Islamabad “absurd”, the home secretary said, “There have been 200 joint inspections since Independence, to which Pakistan too has signed and has had no complaints. They are getting more water than they are entitled to.”
Speaking at a seminar, he called for a more pro-active …

FOR the most part, Azad Jammu and Kashmir managed to escape the violence that has engulfed Pakistan in recent years. But the last six months or so have seen a spike in terrorist activity, the most recent being Wednesday’s deadly suicide attack outside a military barracks in Tararkhel. Security forces in AJK were earlier targeted by a suicide bomber in June last year, an incident that claimed the lives of two soldiers. Then, in November, three men blew themselves up after they were besieged by police and area residents in …

NEW DELHI: Wednesday’s fidayeen attack in Srinagar which finally ended on Thursday was not a one-off strike. It was part of a plan supported by the Pakistani military to step up terror in Jammu and Kashmir so as to avoid an increased engagement against the al-Qaida-Taliban group.
As many as 700 fully-trained terrorists are waiting in the wings to stage attacks in J&K with their “masters” in Pakistan directing them to open “other fronts” as they did in the busy Lal Chowk area in Srinagar.
The fidayeen attacks appear to be a …

The Dawn, Jan 1
RAWALPINDI, Dec 31: A United States-operated training facility for Pakistani security forces at the Police College Sihala has been closed for being vulnerable to terrorist attacks, a senior police officer told Dawn.
College commandant Nasir Khan Durrani confirmed the closure, saying: “Yes, I have been verbally informed by the interior ministry about it.”
American instructors had started training Pakistani police in counter-terrorism techniques at the facility in 2003.
The presence of the foreign staff had exposed the Sihala college, a premier training institution of the Punjab police located in …