The business of politicians
Very curious. When Barack Obama suspended his campaign for re-election to supervise relief for victims of a terrible hurricane on the East Coast, there was applause even from his opponents.…
Manto’s human psyche
Three years before his death, Saadat Hasan Manto “undertook to compile a book of his friends’ observations about his personality” so that his readers “know as much about him as…
The negative side of positive
PRIME Minister Manmohan Singh urged us all recently to shed `negativity`. I kept looking long and hard for `positivity` between the rolling hills of scams, the deepening crisis in the…
China in Balochistan: Election Outlook-XXI
Seen from Pakistan's perspective, China's presence in Balochistan could be a game-changer or a newly introduced element that changes the existing situation in a highly significant way. Not only does…
Choking funds to suppress dissent
Perhaps no other country has as complex a maze of laws and rules – that give arbitrary powers to the state – as India. And no other state has abused…
Not so fast
Even before Nawaz Sharif’s formal swearing in as prime minister, the Manmohan Singh government has launched a major diplomatic initiative to kick-start a high-level diplomatic dialogue with the incoming government…
Managing the natural gas crisis
The dual menace of power and gas shortage is a serious issue that has caused much damage to the national economy and is likely to damage more, if the right…
A creeping police state
India’s greatest strength is its democracy. If the country has been on the march of progress in the face of a million mutinies and boasts stability and functioning institutions, it…
Pakistan and leadership transition in China
Since the 1990s, China's top leaders serve a maximum of two five-year terms. With the last batch of leaders having reached the end of their second term last year, there…
Change has finally come to Pakistan
In the run-up to what is now being viewed as Pakistan’s truly historic election, an old Pakistani reader of mine based in Saudi Arabia wrote in, twice, to ask: “Not…
