The right to vote has been a leading factor in an otherwise desultory history of post-colonial state-building in Pakistan. This insight, however, comes with twist-in-the-tail implications for the...
Letter from South Asia
The nature and extent of political involvement and influence of the Saudi Arabian and United Arab Emirates governments in Pakistan seem far more direct and intrusive than ever before. There is no...
In a ruling hailed as historic by his supporters, the restored chief justice of Pakistan struck down as unconstitutional some of the actions taken by former President Pervez Musharraf. A reading of...
As the Awami League-led government in Bangladesh completes its first six months in office, domestic politics is calm on the surface. The current quiet could be due to the disarray among the...
Pakistan's wars on both its western and eastern borders as well as the war with itself, have been created by the very same institution - the intelligence agencies within the security establishment...
The Pakistani military finally appears to have embraced the war against jihadi militancy as its own. If so, an important shift in perception and policy has taken place. Past experience, however,...
The Awami League-led government in Bangladesh, which completed 100 days in office, has received public approval, as expressed in opinion polls, for its management of the economy and for how it...
Historical scholarship tends to see a continuity in the ulema of south Asia - from the Deoband seminary in the 19th century down to the Taliban of Afghanistan and north Pakistan today. Such an...
While much of Pakistan's "civil society" celebrated a famous victory in the restoration of judges sacked by Pervez Musharraf in November 2007, it continues to display an indifference bordering upon...
The aftermath of the uprising by the Bangladesh Rifles in the last week of February poses a major challenge to the two-month old Awami League government of Sheikh Hasina. The government acquitted...
Although the February 2008 elections were probably the fairest ever held in Pakistan the elected government has been repeatedly attacked in the media. Given the historical, political and...
With the impending total defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, this secessionist group will cease to be a political force in Sri Lanka. But will there be a political solution to the ethnic...
Faced with exasperated foreign demands to take effective action against jihadi militants, Pakistani officials and media commentators routinely give an equally infuriating reply that the country is...
Bangladesh has not just survived the last two years of nondemocratic rule, but it has seen democracy return fundamentally strengthened. A democraticallyelected government, with the Awami League in a...
27 December 2008, the first anniversary of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, was not only a day for paying tributes but also an occasion to reflect on the direction Pakistan has taken over the...
