The author is a retired air vice marshal and a former ambassador of Pakistan
I must admit I am not too fond of the bureaucracy. I do not know who is. Do not get me wrong, I am frequently impressed with their intellect, grooming, promise and potential; it is in their very distant and deliberately cultivated perch that they exhibit on matters all important that a cold remoteness and insufficient empathy may begin to become obvious. You see, I was exposed to this bureaucratic trait quite intimately and did not come out singing praises. They remain the all important cog, though, that keeps the machine of governance going — no doubt about that — but then that is all there is to their role. Take the cog out and the machine stops, put it back in and it is running again. The more crucial refrain though is, what is the machine producing? On that, the bureaucrats want to have no truck with. Someone else must push in material and get a product that they need. Else, the ....... Read More

The author is a  a lawyer based in Islamabad.
One of our most persistent national myths — put forward by both the state and its detractors — is that Pakistan was created in the name of Islam.
It is said that Pakistan was created with the use of the slogans “Islam in danger” and “Pakistan ka matlab kya, La illaha ilallah”, both slogans which — ironically — were never used by Quaid-e-Azam himself. Indeed Jinnah ruled out “Pakistan ka matlab kiya, La illaha illallah” when he censured a Leaguer at the last session of the All India Muslim League after partition in these words: “Neither I nor the Muslim League Working Committee ever passed a resolution — Pakistan ka matlab kiya — you may have used it to catch a few votes.”

Nevertheless, the fact that Pakistan was created as a result of a group’s nationalism, which was based — in whatever watered down form — on common religious beliefs, has damned Pakistan to a perpetual i....... Read More

NEW DELHI: While the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh begins his Srinagar visit on Monday, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) submitted to him an unflattering report on the progress of a Rs 240 billion reconstruction plan the PM announced six years ago to fast-track development in Indian-held Kashmir (IHK).

The report on gross delays on part of the state government in implementing projects under the PM’s plan has been prepared by the Delivery Monitoring Unit (DMU).

The unit was set up in the PMO under the PM’s Principal Secretary TKA Nair to keep track of the United Progressive Alliance government’s flagship programmes.

Completion: The report said that only half of the 67 projects that Singh sanctioned during his two-day trip to Srinagar in November 2004 have so far been completed.

These include the expansion of the economic infrastructure to provide basic services and enhance local employment opportunities for victims of militancy and families up....... Read More

Dialogue matters: edit in The Daily times, May 13
The recent SAARC Summit in Thimphu, Bhutan, promised many things aimed at promoting regional harmony and cooperation but the most promising development was a breaking of the ice between India and Pakistan on the sidelines. In continuation of that effort –as agreed to at the summit — the foreign ministers of both countries, Shah Mehmood Qureshi and S M Krishna, will be meeting for extended talks on July 15 this year in Islamabad to discuss the various issues that have remained contentious so far.

However, in the wake of the Mumbai attack’s subsequent conclusion — Kasab’s conviction — it is the issue of terrorism that will obtain top billing. Both countries, although extremely weary of this scourge, have nevertheless, time and again, locked horns on it. The fact that the interior ministers of both countries, P Chidambaram and Rehman Malik, will be meeting in Islamabad on June 26th to set the tone ....... Read More

The writer is a graduate of Boston University.
Pakistan-India relations since independence have revolved around mutual distrust, uncertainty, disappointments, tensions and fear of conflict.

We should seriously think as to why it`s so, especially when both countries gained independence from a single colonial power through a political process, negotiated between the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League. While we often hear people from both sides say, had the two countries been one, we would have been a force to reckon with, both in might and economy, I wonder why India and Pakistan can`t draw strength from each other as friendly and stable neighbours, sharing a common past, heritage and civilisation.

Bilateral disputes between them remain unresolved, their cooperation bounded by severe limitations. India thinks Pakistan is an irritant impeding India`s emergence as a key player in the world economy and Pakistan feels that India has been trying to destabilise ....... Read More

Dialogue matters: edit in The Daily times, May 13
The recent SAARC Summit in Thimphu, Bhutan, promised many things aimed at promoting regional harmony and cooperation but the most promising development was a breaking of the ice between India and Pakistan on the sidelines. In continuation of that effort –as agreed to at the summit — the foreign ministers of both countries, Shah Mehmood Qureshi and S M Krishna, will be meeting for extended talks on July 15 this year in Islamabad to discuss the various issues that have remained contentious so far.

However, in the wake of the Mumbai attack’s subsequent conclusion — Kasab’s conviction — it is the issue of terrorism that will obtain top billing. Both countries, although extremely weary of this scourge, have nevertheless, time and again, locked horns on it. The fact that the interior ministers of both countries, P Chidambaram and Rehman Malik, will be meeting in Islamabad on June 26th to set the tone ....... Read More

The writer is  Secretary -General, Jammu and Kashmir Council for Human Rights (JKCHR).

India and Pakistan are locked in a serious clash of claims over water in Jammu and Kashmir. Water resources are not unlimited and available forever. The actual stewardship of water resources in any part of Kashmir rests with the people of Kashmir. It is unfortunate that Srinagar and Muzaffarabad governments have failed to defend the manner and extent to which the people of Kashmir are entitled to have a role in the use of their water resources at Mangla, Baglihar and Diamir.

It is a violation of trust that India and Pakistan have been taking unilateral decisions in regard to water as a natural resource in Kashmir. Both countries have failed to incorporate the right of the people of Kashmir in the management of water uses and water-related activities under the Indus Water Treaty.

In 1995, Ismail Serageldin, then vice president of the World Bank, made a prediction....... Read More

THE leaders of the South Asian countries have just gone through another pleasant but sterile Saarc summit meeting in the beautiful mountain kingdom of Bhutan.

Once again, the leaders called it a ‘landmark’ meeting, though there was nothing of note except that Bhutan was hosting the summit for the first time. The summit declaration was as ambitious as any, but if the past is any precedent, it will remain a mere expression of good intentions.

It is this dismal track record that has encouraged the perception that Saarc is a mere talking shop, unable to achieve meaningful headway in implementing its declarations. At the root of this malaise, lies the continuing hostility between Pakistan and India.

While many of its faults could be removed through the revision of its charter and the reordering of its priorities, unless member states demonstrate greater political will and eschew narrow national interests, Saarc will remain the weakest link in the chain of regional o....... Read More

The writer is a freelance columnist.

Published: May 6, 2010 By and large, the SAARC Summits were nothing more than talk shops where the attitude of successive Indian governments impeded the desire for progress in the region – a proposition that can only be achieved if there was peace between India and Pakistan. However, this time more than half of the members present at the 16th SAARC Summit, hosted by Bhutan, were quite optimistic about the prospects of peace between the two nuclear power neighbours.
Nevertheless, after 62 years of animosity both India and Pakistan should have learnt that the negotiating table was the best option, whereas in the present times war would mean total destruction of the two neighbouring states. Indeed, successive democratic governments in Pakistan have tried to move forward with India on the critical issue of Jammu and Kashmir but failed because of a particular group in India that exerts immense pressure on its administration forcing i....... Read More

The Dawn

SHAKESPEARE brushed aside semantics by asking, “What’s in a name?” But Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi attaches a lot more importance to the issue. He made it clear in the National Assembly on Tuesday that Pakistan had returned to its “historical” stand on Kashmir. He also said that the dialogue with India will not be referred to as a “composite dialogue” but will henceforth be a “comprehensive dialogue” as Pakistan had originally wanted it to be called. He, however, hastened to add that the eight points specified in the previous format would continue to be addressed as before. One should not worry about these changes in nomenclature as long as they do not indicate a turnaround in the positive thrust in Pakistan’s foreign policy as it has evolved over the years. The fact is that if there is to be peace in South Asia, India and Pakistan must learn to seek peaceful and durable solutions to their disputes. Kashmir — described as the core issue....... Read More