What should I speak to an audience that is already very informed and very precocious and far more learned or educated than I could ever be. So I thought to myself that I am going to first speak about Pakistan and I will take the liberty of telling you a little bit of how I…
Welcome to all the panelists and welcome to everybody. Talking about reshaping Pakistan I want to start with the people on the stage, you’ve already heard Muzaffar Hayat Piracha speaking about his fantastic company, Airlink. I had the honor of hosting Tariq Malik during his speech in VRG’s Breakfast Meeting for the WEF’s Edison Alliance…
Ikram Sehgal, Co-Chairman Pathfinder Group spoke at Karachi Literature Festival 2023 on the topic, “Untangling South Asia.” This segment of the event was organized in collaboration with Oxford University Press (OUP). Mr. Sehgal welcomed Mr. Michael Kugelman – Director, South Asia Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center and Deputy Director of the South Asia Program…
As Saudi authorities gunned down more than 400 Iranian pilgrims during the occasion of Hajj in 1987, it was one of the worst scenarios to set in their bilateral relations. It was a torpedoed mosaic of bad blood interaction since then-on for years, but with only the exception that they did not go to war….
I vividly remember former Indian Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral once saying, “there has to be a dispute between India and Pakistan; and even if they come to resolve the Kashmir issue, they will invent another one…”. Though sarcastic, the par-excellence diplomat was not wrong, per se. The crude manner in which New Delhi on…
Barack Obama, the first Black-American President of the United States, quipped, “In a world of complex threats, our security and leadership depends on all elements of our power, including strong and principled diplomacy.” That aptly applies to the situation that Pakistan is confronted with these days. The fact is that Pakistan has played to the…
Georges Clemenceau, a notable French politician (1841-1929), was apt as he said, “War is too serious a matter to entrust to military men.” But in the case of the Russia-Ukraine war, it seems it is politicians at large who are failing in reading the bigger picture of peace and security, as the erstwhile bloc politics…
Nizam-e-Maikada Bigra Hua Hai Is Kadar Saqi; Usi Ko Jaam Milta Hai Jise Peena Nahi Aata (Anand Narayan Mulla) [The configuration is so disfigured that only those who do not possesses a remedy are accessed with it) Ten cents for the poet, as it navigates the truth in case of Pakistan-Afghanistan relations all these decades….
Muzaffar Warsi, a Pakistani poet, lyricist and a scholar of repute, wrote: “AAB TOU BANDE BHI KHUDA BANDOON KI TAQDEER LIKHAIN; DEY WOH TAQAT MUJHE INN SABB KA LIKHA MEIN KATOON. PAWOON HOTE HUYE, KAB TAK CHALOON BESAKHIYOON PAR; KAB TALAK DOOSRON KA BOYA HUA MEIN KATOON.” (Now even humans are deciding the fate of…
One of the most acclaimed poets of Urdu, Mirza Assadullah Ghalib was apt when he said: CHIPAK RAHA HEI BADAN PAR LAHOO SE PAIRAHAN; AB HAMARI JAIB KO HAJAT-E-RAFOO KYA HAI (the flap of my pocket is torn and sticking to the bloody body; thus what is the need for recrafting it…). Though the legend…
