Tag Archives: Pakistan

Modern navies, struggling with personnel costs, have tried their mightiest to reduce crew size over the last several decades. In practical terms, this means that there simply isn’t a lot of wasted space in a ship crew. Hijackers could ignore or jerry-rig some of the critical functions of the ship, but probably not for long, and not very effectively.

Instead of going for an “overkill”, everyone on Pakistan’s political divide will be better off if the opposition’s “sit-inners” in Islamabad adopt the KISS (keep it simple, stupid) formula and concentrate simply on reforming the electoral system.

Globalization has made national borders irrelevant, with wide-ranging changes in the concept of national security. Rather than the military securing territorial space, security policy is now evaluated more in terms of human, economic and cultural terms.

A self-made successful businessman of Indian origin, who came to the United States when he was 21 years old, has made it to the ballot for New York state Lt. Governor.

South Asia’s water and energy crises are deeply intertwined. Growing energy demand drives water shortages and lack of water fuels power outages. Regional cooperation – such as power trading between countries – could ease tightening resource constraints but such solutions have been largely scuppered by political suspicions.

Fundamental reform of Pakistan's electoral process must reflect true democracy starting from the grassroots level. Whether Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri get elected or not is of no consequence, history will record their contribution as catalysts for wholesale and meaningful change.

Though some say that the army is behind the current unrest, the generals do not seem intent on taking over a direct administrative role. But if the political protagonists cannot be brought to resolve their differences through processes that show respect for democratic process, the military is unlikely to watch from the sidelines.

India’s Pakistan policy is confused. The fact that Narendra Modi government jumped to the wrong conclusion about talks with Pakistan suggests two things. Either it overestimated its capacity to enforce new conditions on a politically troubled, if not enfeebled, Pakistani prime minister or it simply hasn’t clearly thought through what signals it’s sending out.

Those who claim to defend democracy must understand that democracy is not just numbers — it is accountability, transparency, effectiveness and justice in governance, all of which are strikingly absent from Nawaz Sharif’s agenda. Pakistan thus remains on the edge.

Nobody wants democracy to be derailed but neither can democracy persist in Pakistan in its present form. The protestors in front of the country’s parliament are going nowhere unless most of their demands are met, the Sharifs must face ground reality.  These last seven days have exposed Pakistan’s present facade of democracy for what it really is, a purchasable commodity available to the highest bidder.