The Mansoor Ijaz matrix
Modern militaries call it net-centricity: the ability to look at and control a battle-space as an interconnected entity where primary approaches as well as several alternatives could all lead to…
Memogate II in an unenviable environment
The timing of Dawn-story-gate, more aptly Memogate II, could not have been worse for a vulnerable democratic setup. India is on a diplomatic offensive to castigate Pakistan as the “mothership…
Power of the establishment
Nothing intrigues me more than the power of our security establishment. National interest is shorthand for the interests of an institution that reigns supreme. Let us consider the recent news…
Crisis rumbles on
THE crisis is over. No, it isn’t. The crisis is winding down. No, it’s heating up. Imran and Qadri are going home empty-handed. No, they’re going home with Nawaz or…
Unfit to lead
IT’S happening. It really is. Scorched earth. Pyrrhic victory. Cutting off nose. Shooting in the foot. The custodians of democracy have done what the anti-democrats wanted. Lahore feels like a…
The gap is back
The army, despite its Sharif chief, is not happy with the Sharif on Constitution Avenue. It is fuming about poor old Khawaja Asif who has spent the past week appearing…
They just fade away
General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani stepped down as chief of army staff on Friday. He passed on the baton, and, with it, the trammelling burden of responsibility, to his successor General…
The grand player
The bar for a successful chief of army staff is very low in Pakistan. So long as you don’t show so much disdain for democracy that you do away with…
Mysterious world of the matrix
If this column has a theme, it would seem to be an interface between human and cyber culture – the internet and other networks that flow into it described as…
The treacherous waters of foreign policy
The newly elected National Assembly has held its inaugural session. The short but intense election campaign, which resulted in the convincing victory of the PML-N, demonstrated yet again that the…
