Mumbai is a city of contrasts, never so apparent as one comes in to land at the International Airport. High-rise developments are pockmarked across shanty towns, ongoing construction of raised expressways snaking over slum areas to overcome the enormous traffic jams clogging the city. Dreams sometimes become a reality in this sprawling metropolis, multiple times…
As the shadows lengthen on this December 3rd, 2011 late afternoon, I hear some voices from afar, from a day long forgotten by most. In a flash, I am transported back to that fateful evening of December 3rd 1971, when, as an 8 year old, I was playing cricket in the rear lawn of our…
IntroductionAccording to the Holy QUR’AN and historians, Hakim LUQMAN was a very wise man. His philosophical sayings were known to the people of his contemporary age and much after, and therefore had been profusely quoted by scholars and historians. His wisdom and sayings have been mentioned in the Holy QUR’AN and a Surah, named LUQMAN,…
The much-awaited II Corps offensive on the Western Front got overtaken by events as the 1971 Indo-Pak War headed for a mortifying finale for Pakistan. PAF had been conserving its assets for the all-important battle, which was not to be. Enough pressure was, however, maintained to tie down IAF effort for air defence, as also…
Over the past decade or so, the use of term Fourth Generation Warfare (4GW) has become a culture in the Pakistani military circles and higher institutes of learning. Following some recent discussions at the Pakistan Navy War College and the fact that no senior U.S military officer (to the best of my knowledge) had ever…
Eight months ago the mass protests in Syria erupted like a volcano, and took the fascist and repressive Bath Party led Syrian regime by surprise. Since 40 years the Baathists have ruled Syria with an iron hand in total disregard of the aspirations of the majority Sunni 80% and Kurd 10%. The Allawite – Air…
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) commemorated its proclamation day last month. Cyprus conflict falls in the category of those international disputes whose equitable resolution would benefit the Muslim population; other such conflicts are Palestine and Kashmir. These conflicts are on the agenda of the United Nations; yet they have betrayed solution since decades, bogged…
By all accounts Hussain Haqqani and Mansoor Ijaz were good friends, the tone and tenor of the BlackBerry exchanges clearly show they made for a lethal combination. The May 10 Memo was meant to be a specially crafted “neutron bomb” to (1) change the present national security parameters in Pakistan and bring it into line…
The compulsions for survival has driven our leaders over the past decade to allow the US-Pakistan relationship to gradually degenerate into a master and slave status. Pakistan is now subjected to various insults across the board periodically, in the past year motivated vilification of the Pakistan Army and the ISI by key US public officials…
The Supreme Court (SC) having given notice to several respondents in the Manzoor Ijaz – Haqqani Memo issue, the govt resorted to its usual ploy of attempting to frustrate the course of justice. The first salvo was Dr (??) Babar Awan’s vitriolic attack on Tariq Khosa, appointed by the SC as a one-man Commission to…
