Islamabad diary…Wanted: changes in the jail manual
The defensibility of our jails having been conclusively established - if Bannu left any doubts, Dera Ismail Khan should have dissipated them – it is time now to draw the…
The fading hope of peace in Afghanistan
Though only a certified lunatic would claim to be an “Afghan expert”, this is precisely how a western scholar introduced himself to me in a lengthy email about Mullah Omar’s…
A flawed Kashmir policy
The exact details of what happened in the clash in which five Indian soldiers were killed on the night between August 6 and 7 in the Poonch sector of the…
Moment of opportunity
As co-chairs of the Chaophraya dialogue between opinion makers from India and Pakistan, we are encouraged by reports of resumption of the official dialogue between Islamabad and New Delhi, and…
Same old merry-go-round
THE Pakistan-India dialogue will reportedly resume in the near future following a hiatus imposed by India. Pakistan`s prime minister has expressed keenness to improve relations with India. His special envoy,…
Caught in no-man`s land
The militant attack on the ISI office in Sukkur earlier in the week underlined the need for a comprehensive counterterrorism strategy. And how do we respond? We reignite the debate…
Secrecy in democracy
Dr. Samuel Johnson wondered “whether a secret has not some subtle volatility by which it escapes imperceptibly, at the smallest vent, or some power of fermentation, by which it expands…
Killing for utopia
It has now become a cliché to say: “One man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter”. But like most clichés, it contains an element of truth. In this space last week,…
The PM’s three wishes
Mian Nawaz Sharif, prime minister for an unprecedented third term, has three areas of special interest on the domestic front: energy, infrastructure and dealing with the problem of terrorism. He…
Enthusiasm for Malala
I wish we lived in a society where any attempt to critique Malala Yousufzai’s speech at the UN (and subsequent speeches) would not be so quickly construed as support for…
