Kashmir: paradise on fire
‘Kashmir, paradise on earth with its majestic azure mountains, the tranquil shadowy Dal Lake and the fairytale valleys of Gulmarg and Pahalgam, was a land of vibrant hues and captivating…
Another surgical strike?
It was Plato who said, ‘Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something’. General Bipin Rawat, India’s chief of army staff, recently…
An Asia of cooperation
It was four years ago that Narendra Modi rose to power on the bandwagon of Hindutva and populist slogans like ‘development for all’. While the BJP government under Modi has…
Qingdao: what’s in it for us?
All eyes are on Eastern China’s coastal city Qingdao, which will host the 18th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) on June 9 and June 10. This is the…
Prospects for detente
The foreign minister’s decision to criticise the national security adviser for meeting the Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan in Islamabad last week was unfortunate and poorly-timed. It was unfortunate because…
Strengthening AML laws
The volume of suspicious transaction reports submitted by banks and others across key financial centres is said to be growing at 11% per year, with over 2.6 million reports expected…
End of enlightenment?
I was invited to lecture on ‘Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness in the Age of Global Terrorism’ at Missouri State University. Missouri is Trump country — he had…
Saving species? Or killing them?
Last year I read an Op-Ed in the New York Times entitled ‘Building an Ark for the Sociopocene’. No, I lied. It was entitled ‘Building an Ark for the Anthropocene‘.…
So much for the hedgehog
Number one in the world. It isn’t every day that Pakistanis get to celebrate globally renowned excellence. We should thank Misbah ul Haque and his team for achieving undisputed global…
Remilitarising Kashmir is the final blow
The Indian army is back on the streets of Kashmir’s towns and villages. They have taken over school and colleges, empty government buildings and public squares that were vacated less…
