The lesson of Peshawar
It’s humanly impossible not to be revolted by the killing of 134 innocent children in Peshawar by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). This barbaric attack galvanised unprecedented solidarity demonstrations by citizens…
How to handle India
Sometimes not saying anything is a sign of greater strength and grace than stating the obvious. When I hear my country’s interior minister boldly proclaim that, “Pakistan is not Myanmar”,…
The Indian rebuff
Pakistan’s civil and military establishment should be thankful to the hard-line Hindu nationalist Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, for making the rules of diplomatic engagement with Islamabad clear in…
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 –…
Test of diplomacy ahead
How will relations between Pakistan and India shape up after the Indian elections? Will the election outcome help to accelerate or slow down the normalisation of ties between the two…
Manmohan Singh, Kashmir and lame ducks
My first reaction to the news of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh planning a visit to Pakistan in March 2014 was one of relief. Those that follow the efforts for…
The India factor
America has been outsourcing software development to India for years, but now it seems to want to outsource diplomacy as well. Fed up with Hamid Karzai’s intransigence, the US is…
Invitation diplomacy
Shahbaz’s Sharif’s meeting with Manmohan Singh in the Indian capital last Thursday was the second by a leading Pakistani official with the Indian prime minister in the three months that…
Talks with no outcome
Recent diplomatic exchanges between Pakistan and India are akin to being on a treadmill: plenty of activity and movement without going anywhere. There have been a series of informal, high-level…
State of uncertainty
The meeting in New York between prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Manmohan Singh helped to ratchet down tensions that had surged in recent months between the two countries. It yielded…
