In India’s mirror
These are the times, to borrow Thomas Paine’s words, that try men’s soul. And it is becoming increasingly difficult to protect one’s sanity in this surge of raw passions. A…
Why is Assam burning again?
Dubai eye Nation state and democracy are perhaps the greatest gifts of western civilisation to the world. The 20th century saw the crumbling of the colonial order across the globe…
A craven approach
The army chief’s speech on Martyrs Day about two weeks ago was addressed not only to the soldiers but indirectly also to the civilian government. It has been widely commented…
Dealing with Modi’s India
As India awaits the outcome of its election, Pakistan should calmly weigh the implications of the result for relations between the two countries and consider how – and when –…
This is no time to hide
I did not know Mukul Sinha well. I had met him only once at his quiet home in the Ahmedabad suburbs in the summer of 2009 when I had visited…
Handling Modi’s India
The most immediate and natural question for any Pakistani to ask at this moment is: what does a BJP government mean for Pakistan? A study of the BJP’s election manifesto,…
India’s Modi moment
A Pair of senior Israeli ministers recently argued that Jewish settlers who carried out gratuitous attacks on Palestinians should be classified as terrorists. The celebrated author Amos Oz went further,…
Hostility is not an option
It has been more than one and a half decades since the advent of the nuclear age in South Asia but the leaders of both India and Pakistan seem to…
Modi and corporate Hindutva
As the momentum of India’s nine-phase national election shifts in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s opponents, a new bunch of writers and social scientists have risen to defend its…
Of Kejriwal and Imran
This is for my Pakistani friends who have often told me they see shades of Imran Khan in Arvind Kejriwal and for some Indian friends who have borrowed that view…
