Dawn: The Baloch insurgency, Part II By Cyril Almeida
ISLAMABAD: A week ago, a war of words between the National Party and BNP-M on the one side and insurgent groups demanding independence for Balochistan on the other erupted out in the open.
According to the Baloch Hal, an online newspaper, on Sunday, July 19 newspapers in Balochistan carried a statement by the National Party’s central spokesperson suggesting the Balochistan Liberation Front was ...
Dawn: The Baloch insurgency, Part I
ISLAMABAD: The killing of Habib Jalib Baloch on July 15 has sent a wave of concern across Balochistan and Islamabad that the insurgency in the province has entered a dangerous new phase.
Mr Jalib was the secretary general of the Balochistan National Party led by Akhtar Mengal, a moderate party considered to be secular, middle class and at a remove from the oppressive sardari system that ...
Dawn: The peace chimera By Cyril Almeida
THE hawks on both sides have won, again.
At some point the minutiae becomes irrelevant. Did Pillai sink the talks between Krishna and Qureshi by blaming the ISI for the Mumbai attacks a day before the foreign ministers were to meet?
Did Krishna’s inflexibility during the talks and the joint press conference with Qureshi torpedo any chance of a breakthrough, however small?
Did Qureshi’s ...
Dawn: A fake crisis By Cyril Almeida
THE pious and the righteous have pronounced judgement: it’s fire and brimstone for the sinners. For eternity, the holders of fake degrees will pay for their sins, having refused to self-flagellate or fall on their swords.
It’s a joke.
With sins aplenty on all sides here, let’s start with the original sin. Why were the fake degrees part of the official record in the first place?
Well, a long ...
Dawn: Notes on Kashmir By Cyril Almeida
NEW DELHI: As the latest spell of violence in Indian-administered Kashmir enters a second month and shows no sign of abating, the Indian government’s claim that the violence is being orchestrated by Pakistan and separatist elements in Kashmir is increasingly being met with scepticism inside India.
Dawn: Notes from Delhi By Cyril Almeida
DELHI: There is no change in India’s policy towards Pakistan since the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai. Terrorism was, is and will continue to remain the major concern for India.
This was the message hammered home to a Pakistani media contingent in a day-long series of meetings with Indian officials, including External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, Union Minister P. Chidambaram and ...
Dawn: A relationship undefined By Cyril Almeida
IS America our friend, our ally, our partner, our temporary lifeline, what?
We have a superpower billeted in our backyard, it’s underwriting our economy and keeping the peace between our boys in uniform and the civilians. And yet no two people will give you the same answer as to what exactly is our relationship with the US. The strategic confusion has cost us.
This week alone has brought two ...
Dawn: Lacking fresh ideas By Cyril Almeida
MEDIOCRITY is as mediocrity does. Big things weren’t expected from the Class of 2008. Nor was it necessarily a requirement.
Steady the ship after the chaotic end to the Musharraf era, gently rev up the transition to democracy and ensure a peaceful transfer of power the next time round — job done. If Pakistanis had the genius of a John Lennon, they’d have been singing in the streets, “All we ...
Dawn: The lost years By Cyril Almeida
IN time, these will be known as the lost years. Hidden among esoteric terms
like ‘resource mobilisation’, ‘fiscal consolidation’ and ‘macroeconomic
stabilisation’ is a simple, but scary fact: there is no political will to
pull the country out of the economic crisis.
Hand on his heart, Hafeez Sheikh knows this. As do the authors of the
Economic Survey. To their credit, they’ve all but said so ...
Dawn: Notes from the courtroom By Cyril Almeida
POLITICIANS are scum. Politically, it’s an old argument, probably as old as politics itself. Few here would particularly disagree with the assessment.
Constitutionally, it’s a novel argument. But that’s what the Supreme Court witnessed this week as Akram Sheikh went on his confused and confusing rant against the new process for selecting judges under the 18th Amendment.
After eight hours of ...
