John Masters (26 October 1914 – 07 May 1983) was a British army officer and a famous author. His novels dealt with life in British India. John’s own background fully qualified him for the task while his family had long association with India going back to 1805 when his great-great grandfather came to India with…
In 1849 the British East India Company (EIC) acquired Punjab and Pushtun lands across the Indus after defeating the Sikh dynasty of late Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Pathan tribesmen straddling key passes agreed to safeguard their territory in return for fixed payment. Adam Khel Afridi tribesmen inhabiting hills between Peshawar and Kohat kept that pass open…
“War is the great auditor of institutions”. Correlli Barnett Every armed conflict brings new dynamics to bilateral relations between the belligerents and has an impact on domestic politics. Each party’s role also has an impact on regional and international relations. In April-May 2025, India and Pakistan were engaged in another limited conflict that was quickly…
We cannot ignore the networks where there is an ideological battle going on – Miguel Diaz-Canel In the last decade, networks have repeatedly surprised hierarchies of nation states. Groups designated as terrorists by the international community have shown resiliency against powerful states. Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthis in Yemen engaged with the…
The recent standoff between India and Pakistan has become a familiar script where every few years both countries reach this crossroad and after a few days of saber rattling and flurry of international diplomatic activity they pull back. The conflict began on April 23, 2025, following a terrorist attack in the Pahalgam valley of Indian…
Israeli kinetic operations in the region for over a year were taking all the space of international headlines when the Bashar al Asad regime in Syria collapsed within a few days in December 2024. Regional and international military and intelligence analysts and policy makers are now faced with a new puzzle. After the collapse of…
Pakistan army’s prodigal son Major Agha Humayun Amin passed away on 21 February 2025 after a brief illness from complications of cancer. Major Agha Humayun Amin was from a military family and his ancestors served the Raj dating back to the late nineteenth century. His great-grandfather Faiz Baksh was from Aligarh and served in the…
The American war in Afghanistan lasted for two decades and a substantial number of books were written by western military men, diplomats, politicians, and journalists. They provide an outside perspective, and no Afghan has written about the experience of their nation. Twenty Years by Sune Engel Rasmussen is unique as it gives experience of several…
Syed Ali Hamid’s book is a fascinating account of a little-known aspect of the life of Sahabzada Yaqub Khan (SYK) who played a prominent role in Pakistan’s history during his long military and diplomatic careers. The book’s author has compiled an absorbing narrative of events surrounding the years of SYK’s captivity during the Second World…
They do not believe that which they cannot grasp”. – Quran 10:39 October 07, 2023, the attack of Hamas on Israel surprised foes and friends of both Hamas and Israel. This event qualifies as a ‘strategic surprise’ defined here as a single event that changes the trajectory of history and measured not by the intentions…
