Saleem's Post

      The inclination of the Pakistani rulers towards the inclusion of foreign powers for addressing Pakistan's domestic issues and regional conflicts can be attributed to their lack of confidence and, more importantly, as a ploy to drag their feet in the resolution of these very issues. This is because they want to keep the pot boiling as it facilitates self-perpetuation. To this end, they allow external forces to play an exaggerated role in Pakistan's domestic politics. Even a superpower cannot meddle in the internal affairs of a small state unless it is invited to do so. Egypt under Nasser was a Soviet client state, but despite the Soviet pressure Nasser refused to remove restrictions on the Egyptian communist party. This was different in the case of Pakistan, where the American diplomats were gradually allowed to play the role of kingmakers.   According to Hussain (1993), in an assessment prepared by the United States embassy in Karachi in March 1955, fo...

  EDITORIALS & FEATURES   970914 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Spin doctors -  -------------------------------------------------------------------- Ardeshir Cowasjee A SPIN doctor, in the language of the lexicon: "A senior political spokesperson employed to promote a favourable interpretation of events" to the press and to the people. He is a politician's flak. Not an easy job, as he has to be endowed with a highly retentive memory and the capacity to lie consistently and unashamedly whilst keeping a straight face. In the foreground during the past decade have been our two spinners, Mushahid Hussain and Hussain Haqqani. In the beginning, Mushahid was ostensibly batting for the opponents as the editor of The Muslim whilst Hussain was spinning in the Zia-Nawaz team. Hussain Haqqani was born in Karachi on October 1, 1956. He did his Masters in international relations from Karachi University, obtaining a first-class...

    We walked into a narrow hall and then climbed a flight of stairs.   The carpet was worn, and the banister was slightly loose. Our steps echoed loudly on the squeaky floorboards – not at all what you would expect in an embassy of world power. *Ostrovsky (1994) Impressions of  a Mossad agent on visiting the Soviet embassy during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan   The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan on the Christmas Eve of 1979. Pakistan, the country which was going to be in the eye of the storm for the next nine years, remained silent, at pains to comprehend the situation before evolving an appropriate response. The United States and its allies initially reacted stoically as, according to their reasoning, Afghanistan, since long, had been considered a country within the Soviet sphere of influence. Intellectuals and diplomats in the West considered the invasion as yet another step towards the fruition of the centuries-old Russian dream of r...

  10 April 2022:   Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan was removed from office after a no-confidence motion against him succeeded. He was replaced by Shehbaz Sharif, a joint candidate of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) - a conglomeration of opposition parties lined up against Imran Khan. PDM had accused  Imran Khan’s fragile coalition of poor governance, political victimization of opponents, and mismanaging the economy and foreign policy. Several dissident members of Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek – e – Insaf (PTI) also joined the onslaught against their leader when PDM resorted to blatant horse-trading. Even before the launching of a confidence motion against his government, Imran Khan, without initially pinpointing, had talked about a foreign hand. His subsequent statements, though, and those by his close aides, pointed the smoking gun at the US.      Shehbaz Sharif is the younger brother of Nawaz Sharif -Imran Khan’s predecessor. Naw...