The writer is a PhD scholar at Nust.The Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was formed in 2007 in response to the army’s action against non-state actors in north and south Waziristan. After the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, several foreign militants belonging to Al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban had sought refuge in Pakistan’s tribal areas. The Pakistan Army went in to sanitise the area of their unwelcome presence in 2002, starting with Tirah Valley…
Posts published in “Pak Media comment”
The writer is a freelance columnist.Pakistan is alleged to be a democracy. This is the only allegation the country’s politicians don’t deny. Nor do their colonial godfathers, who taught them that the worst of democracies was better than the best of autocracies; and hence, the worst of politicians were entitled to the best of treatments. They must, therefore, be bailed and hailed when they “rob and run!” Democracy means equality – in every sense of…
The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Islamabad.STABILITY is overrated, said the sage. And so unfolds the story of a system that limps its way across the Rubicon again, and again, and again till it can limp no more. Then it heals itself, walks back only to turn and cross the Rubicon yet again so that it can go back to making the limp a natural state of its being. For what else can be…
Sehgal is a defence and security analyst, Chairman (Karachi Council of Foreign Affairs) and Vice-Chairman (Board of Management, Institute of Nation-Building, Quaid-e-Azam House Museum).Robotika is a former Professor of South Asian Studies, Humboldt University,If Bangladesh’s problems were confined to over-population and natural disasters that retard economic growth, it would have been bad enough, but the problem is that Bangladesh also has the world’s only predator nation, India, at its doorstep. Other nations do try and…
The writer, a Chevening scholar, studied International Journalism at the University of Sussex.The Pakistan-US relationship is one of the most consequential bilateral partnerships in the world. The state visit by Pakistan’s first PM Liaqat Ali Khan laid the foundation of a partnership that has weathered many storms but still managed to sail through the rough waters. Despite having divergent approaches, successive Pakistani and American leaders have shown pragmatism to work together in an effort to…
The writer is a political, security and defence analyst. The journey to be counted an elite in Pakistan is fascinating as well as instructive. If power today conflates between the landlords, the industrialists, the property magnates, media tycoons and the ultra-rich among former government servants that is exactly how this journey has mapped out. Just to reinforce, the trichotomy of power links the establishment — civil and military — the politicians who come from all…
The results for the German elections are going to lead to a change in the political set up of the country for the first time in 16 years. Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party looks set to take its place in the opposition, although outgoing Chancellor Merkel’s successor, Armin Laschet is trying to form a coalition government with the Greens and the conservative, business-minded Free Demokraten Party (FPD). The election leaders, the Social Democratic Party…
Balochistan’s provincial government is in crisis. Infighting within the political administration has been rampant since June when the budget was passed with deep contentions from many sides of Balochistan’s political makeup. Coupled with growing infrastructure problems, and a fear of rising terrorism, discontent against the leadership is high, even among one of the ruling parties. The past month has been a show of poor leadership from all politicians involved in Balochistan, as events betray a…
The writer is a Senior Research Associate (Strategic Vision Institute).Pakistan has been facing an immense energy crisis for quite a long time. According to a World Bank report, electricity shortage is a bigger obstacle to business as compared to corruption. To fulfil, or at least shorten, its energy shortage, Pakistan and China are working in close collaboration. Some states like India have been questioning Pakistan’s nuclear cooperation for peaceful purposes. However, all business related to…
The writer is a defence and security analyst, Chairman (Karachi Council of Foreign Affairs) and Vice-Chairman (Board of Management, Institute of Nation-Building, Quaid-e-Azam House Museum).The writer is a former Professor of South Asian Studies, Humboldt University, Editor (Defence Journal) and a Consultant (Pathfinder Group) A look at the map would draw one’s attention to three main North-South connecting routes. The first comes from China/Tibet through Nepal and India, reaching down to the western ports of…
On insurgency: Op-ed by Asad Rahim Khan in Dawn, Oct 10th, 2021
The writer is a barrister.SOME called it a revelation. “There are different groups which form the TTP and some of them want to talk to our government for peace,” the prime minister told an interviewer. “So, we are in talks with them. It’s a reconciliation process.” The news wasn’t quite new: the foreign minister had said much the same thing days ago, the president a month before that, with the establishment signposting it all along.…