Saleem's Post

When it comes to the resolution of their conflict with Israel, the Arab states have been accused of always remaining a step behind appreciating the ground realities. The Zionists, representing the political and military face of the world Jewry, spearheaded the movement which resulted in the emergence of Israel. Zionism began in the late 1800s as a nationalist movement among European Jews who advocated forming a Jewish national state in Palestine. Those were the days when Palestine was part of a decaying Ottoman Empire. Under the leadership of David Ben Gurion and the money provided by the French Jewish banker Baron Edmond de Rothschild, the Zionists systematically began colonizing Palestine. The Hovevei Zion, or the Lovers of Zion, were responsible for the creation of 20 new Jewish settlements in Palestine between 1870 and 1897. Continuing their colonization efforts, they built agricultural settlements at strategic locations throughout Pa...

  In June 1976, the boxer Mohammed Ali had a bizarre boxing wrestling contest against Inoki, a martial arts wrestler from Japan, which ended in a draw. One of the Pakistani wrestlers, Akram Pehlwan, younger brother of the famous Bholu, son of Imam Buksh and trained by the legendary Rustam e Hind, Gama Pehlwan, threw a challenge to Inoki,  I completely out of the blue. To our surprise, Inoki accepted the invitation. It  was unbelievable. Carrying the Honorable Bholu legacy of his older brother on his shoulders, Akram, or Akki as he was called, had put not only the family’s but the country’s reputation on line. Inoki had become world famous after the Ali contest, whereas Akram’s previous reputation had waned over the years (he was 46 by then) and he was virtually unknown beyond the boundaries of Pakistan. Inoki had another fight the very next day following his fight with Akki, with a Canadian wrestler Tiger Jeet Singh, which was probably ‘fixed’, like most of the heavy weig...

  Hamas launched a large-scale scale operation against Israel early in the morning of 7 October 2023. The attack started with a rocket barrage, followed by a swift land, air, and sea invasion through foot soldiers, ultralight aircraft, paragliders, and landing craft. The militant groups forced their way through Gaza border crossings after bulldozing the barrier that separates the 140 square kilometer Gaza strip from Israel. They entered the Israeli settlements and military installations, surrounding civilian communities and military bases, taking the settlers and military personnel by surprise. According to a Hamas claim, around 100 settlers and combatants, including an Israeli major general, were taken hostage and shifted to various locations in Gaza. It is the first direct conflict within Israel's boundaries since the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.  Some observers have referred to these events as the beginning of a third Palestinian intifada (Shaking Off). For t...

September 2023: During the G20 meeting held in New Delhi,  Indian PM Modi showcased the so-called India- Middle East-Europe Corridor, his latest venture in a series of India’s feverish attempts to achieve regional connectivity outside China’s Road & Belt Initiative. Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, announced that the projected Corridor will boost trade, enhance energy transportation, and further improve digital connectivity among the user nations. It would benefit India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Israel, and the European Union. The project has America’s blessings. India has been severely hindered from expanding Westward, into Afghanistan and Central Asia and thence towards Europe, as virtually all of the land-based trade routes from India to Europe go through Pakistan, India’s archrival. In the past, India tried to establish a sea-based trade route to Western and Central Asia via Chabahar port that would allow India to bypass Pakistan a...