Kargil lows
Gen (r) Shahid Aziz’s effort to ‘disclose’ an open secret has brought the Kargil conflict back into focus. Finding out who knew what and to what extent is certainly important.…
India & Kashmir: two views
OLD ‘principled’ view: India is priority for Pakistan’s foreign policy. It is the principal adversary and only country with which we have gone to war. It has brutally repressed the…
War and peace
WHEN you enter the Arsenal Palace in Vienna, which has now been turned into a war museum, one finds an emphatic short statement engraved on the side pillar of the…
The problem with Shahrukh Khan
MOVIE actor Nasiruddin Shah was promoting his book at a function in Delhi when his brother in the front row rattled him with a simple question. Why was it that…
Frozen ties
PROSPECTS for diplomatic engagement between India and Pakistan remain bleak. Any expectation that a multilateral summit that Islamabad will host in October will help to melt the ice between Pakistan…
A long and graceful life
These were originally remarks at a recent memorial meeting: a galaxy of Pakistani luminaries have paid truly exceptional tributes to the late Sartaj Aziz Sahib (former finance and foreign minister…
What’s black and white?
AS the Martyrs Reverence Day was officially marked this week with pledges that their supreme sacrifice would always be cherished and honoured with gratitude, one image from that dreadful day, May 9,…
A diplomatic journey
DIPLOMATIC FOOTPRINTS narrates the life and career of one of Pakistan’s distinguished foreign secretaries I had the privilege of working with as ambassador and knowing much longer as newspaper editor…
Remembering Fasih Bokhari
If they still made men like that, one would certainly want to see more like the later Admiral (r) Fasih Bokhari. The former naval chief lost his battle against cancer…
Nuclear multipolarity
We have entered the second nuclear age. The emerging international nuclear order is no longer defined by a bipolar strategic nuclear balance between the two opposite great powers capable of…
