Pakistan and India have not normalised since Mumbai 2008. They have moved from the stage of no talks to a resumption of talks about talks to the present state of heightened tension after the terrorist attack on Indian soldiers in Uri. As these lines are being written, India claims to have carried out surgical strikes across the Line of Control, something the Pakistani side has been consistently denying. The Saarc summit has been postponed with…
Posts published in “Day: October 3, 2016”
The writer is Executive Director News, Express News, and Editor of The Express Tribune. Something deeply problematic has happened since the Indian claim of launching strikes across the LoC into Azad Kashmir: the unstated rules of engagement have been altered — perhaps forever. We are now staring into the unknown. What stares back at both Pakistan and India is a dangerous ‘new normal’ in which words like ‘restraint’, ‘deterrence’, ‘escalation,’ and ‘retaliation’ are acquiring a…
The writer is a freelance columnist based in Islamabad Foreign policy can be defined as the resistance offered by a state to the pressure coming from the international system. An efficient and pragmatic foreign policy of a state is the definitive bludgeon to secure international objectives and policy goals.Quite often, the foreign policy itself of a state depending upon the decision-makers significantly helps the state in securing domestic as well as international objectives. Pak foreign…
The odd editorial, on either side, is still advocating restraint; even as unconfirmed Indian claims of surgical cross-LoC strikes do the rounds, roundly rebutted by Pakistan. But the loudest noise, again on both sides, is actually quite welcoming of war. ‘Teach them a lesson’ is still the main theme on mainstream Indian media. And anything less than ‘we will teach them a lesson in turn’ is rubbished as treasonous on our airwaves. Going by on-ground…
ISOLATION is a word bandied about all too easily when it comes to discussing Pakistan’s place in the international community. In this century alone, seemingly every other year there has been alarmist rhetoric, by external rivals and internal political neophytes that Pakistan is on the verge of global isolation. Indeed, isolation and its more draconian cousin, containment, are issues that no country with a modicum of international trade linkages and an interest in being part…
It has taken far longer than it should but the United Nations has finally woken up to at least some of the difficulties associated with the Kashmir issue created by India. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has expressed his ‘regret’ on September 30 that the UN military observer mission in Pakistan and India has not been allowed to fully function in Occupied Kashmir because of Indian intransigence and non-cooperation. For its part Islamabad has been manoeuvering…
KARACHI: Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Muhammad Zakaullah on Saturday warned that Pakistan’s commitment to peace must not be construed as its weakness. “The Pakistan Navy is fully capable of hitting back with all its might if war is imposed,” said Admiral Zakaullah. The naval chief visited forward posts in the Creeks area to review the navy’s combat readiness, said a PN statement. Accompanied by Commander Coast Rear Admiral Waseem Akram, he visited various…
ISLAMABAD: Following the Uri attack, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was asked by the US and the UK to condemn the attack as well as the killing of 18 Indian soldiers but he flatly refused to do so. Instead, both the influential western capitals were made speechless when countered with the question over the silence of world conscience, including that of London and Washington, with respect to the killing of more than 100 Kashmiris and injuries…
BHIMBER – The Pakistan Army on Saturday said that it was “sure” that Indian troops had suffered casualties during their attack on LoC last Thursday, saying India was hiding its losses. ISPR DG Lt-Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa stated this while briefing reporters in Baghsar area of Azad Kashmir. Radio Pakistan reported him saying that Pakistani troops have given befitting response to Indian firing on the line of control. “We are sure that the Indian side…
ISLAMABAD: The Prime Minister Office has thanked the premier intelligence agency of the country for apprehending perpetrators of the Mardan court blast and foiling four more such plans. A statement from the PM Office on Saturday said that the law enforcement agencies (LEAs) arrested five terrorists involved in the bombing of Mardan’s district courts that caused deaths of 14 innocent people on September 02 this year. Upon interrogation four more plots were discovered and timely…
MULTAN-The Shia Ulema Council condemned on Saturday Indian aggression, saying Indian firing on Line of Control (LoC) was backed by America. Addressing a joint news conference along with other office bearers here at Multan Press Club, SUC Punjab president Allama Sibtain Sabzwari said that India launched fire on Pakistan to befool its public and divert world’s attention from the oppression it committed in held Kashmir. He said that Modi’s threat to end Indus Basin Water…