All of Pakistan’s minorities are under systematic attack Today’s Asian Balance column in Business-Standard. Earlier this month, provoked by a grenade attack, hundreds of militants affiliated to radical Sunni groups stopped buses in Gilgit-Baltistan (a part of the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir under Pakistani control), rounded up Shia passengers and executed them. Similar [...]
The following article originally appeared as a GMF Transatlantic Take on April 11, 2012.
WASHINGTON—Despite the level of international
interest generated by American politics, there is a surprisingly meager
tradition of commentary on the subje…
The project covers around 20,000 ration card holders, who had to open zero-balance, no-frills bank accounts for getting the subsidy. Initial public resistance was overcome by the district administration by transferring three months of subsidy in advanc…
Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind of the 26/11 terror strikes in Mumbai, continues to publicly incite violence against India. If you think it is only the ISI and Pakistan army supporting Saeed, you are wrong. The US decision to announce a $10 million bounty …
Unfortunately, dealing with a hostage situation is the weakest link in our system. Union home ministry’s guidelines of 2006 bar negotiations in a hostage situation. But any hostage crisis needs two complementary responses: security operations to resc…
While no country can afford 100% modern weaponry, most militaries strive to maintain a balanced equipment profile—a mix of 30% modern, 40% matured and 30% obsolescent. But more than half of India’s equipment has slipped into the last category.
These…
Reforming defence procurement, mindset first This the unedited version of my op-ed in today’s Business Standard. Why is it that on the one hand India is the world’s biggest arms buyer, and on the other, the outgoing army chief has complained that we are short of basic war-fighting equipment like tank ammunition and field guns? [...]
The controversies around the army chief are symptoms of a deeper malaise (This is the unedited draft of today’s op-ed in Indian Express) Like the metaphorical iceberg, what is visible to us in the ongoing controversy involving the army chief and the defence ministry is just the small fraction floating above the line. Much of [...]
In the recent years, many Taliban who escaped from Swat and adjoining areas have found shelter among Sunni extremists in Gilgit. More than 300 suspected terrorists were expelled from Gilgit in October 2008, highlighting fears that the Taliban has a str…
The Indian State’s inability to swiftly convict and sentence the offenders — in all crimes, leave alone crimes against women — lies at the root of the problem. Unless we are looking for delivery of justice by a Khap Panchayat or the Taliban, any sen…