Posts published in January 2016

What has changed of late the sabre-rattling Prime Minister (PM), Narendra Modi, to become a dove when it comes to relations with Pakistan? Many pundits in the Pakistani media are groping for the right answer. Obviously, there cannot be just one reason for Modi’s U-turn. In statecraft policies are dictated in any country to serve the interests of the ruling classes. However, it should be borne in mind that no country has monolithic class interests…

The writer is a veteran journalist and founding member as well as executive editor of The Nation. When Narendra Modi dropped in on the day of Mian Nawaz Sharifs granddaughter’s wedding, he moved towards meeting a goal one had heard in 1999, from a retired Indian diplomat: that the Indian and Pakistani Prime Ministers should feel free to drop in on the others country whenever there was anything that needed to be talked about. Importantly,…

The writer is a Middle East based columnist. Intelligent men have no enemies, said Chanakya, the author of ‘Arthashastra’, the bible of statecraft. Advising leaders against conflicts, Chanakya warns that avoidable confrontations could be a distraction from the greater objective of empire building.   I wonder how the ancient Hindu sage would have viewed Narendra Modi’s breathtaking dash to Lahore from Kabul that has left pundits and hawks on both sides scratching their heads. I…

WASHINGTON: The head of an American think tank with close links to the Obama administration urged the United States on Thursday not to get involved in the current India-Pakistan peace process.   “The right American response is one of quiet support,” Richard Fontaine, president of the Centre for a New American Security, Washington, said in an article he wrote for the Wall Street Journal.   The think tank’s founders Michèle Flournoy and Kurt Campbell formerly…

ISLAMABAD: A Saudi official met Chief of Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif on Thursday for discussing regional security and bilateral defence cooperation.   “Muhammad Bin Abdullah Al-Ayish, Assistant Defence Minister for Military Affairs, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, visited General Headquarters today and called on Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif,” the ISPR said in a statement.   “Matters related to regional security and bilateral defence collaboration including training exchanges came under discussion,” it said.…

BEIJING — Sometimes the government in Beijing surprises people, by responding to international pressure over human rights. This week, China unexpectedly released from detention two of three brothers of a reporter for Radio Free Asia (RFA), who is based in Washington. All three brothers had been held since the summer of 2014, and their case had attracted significant attention abroad, especially in the United States. It is the fourth time this year that China has…

PARIS — Since the devastating Nov. 13 attacks in Paris, the French police have offered only a fragmentary outline of their response and of how they deployed antiterror teams and other forces. The somberness and solidarity in the weeks since have muted public criticism. No review of the police’s performance has been announced. Yet accounts from survivors and police officials, as well as the analysis of outside experts, make clear that there were substantial periods…