Countering Pakistan’s narrative on Kashmir The Excelsior 05 Jul 2021 Last week, Pakistan foreign minister SM Qureshi challenged India to conduct an opinion poll of Kashmiris around the world on its decision to abrogate Article 370. He added that if majority were opposed, India should revert its decision. Earlier he had written a letter to the UNSC claiming India […]
Hypocrisy, thy name is Pakistan The Excelsior 26 Jun 2021 The attack on a Muslim family in London, Ontario, Canada led the entire Pakistan political hierarchy claiming Islamophobia must be curbed. The same day, within Pakistan, local protestors blocked the funeral of an Ahmadi woman. It took a day of discussion between the provincial government and protestors to permit […]
India must not always be on the backfoot The Statesman 22 Jun 2021 Kargil in 1999 and Ladakh in 2020 had few commons, the most obvious being surprised and subsequently reacting. Indian polity had closed its mind to the fact that China was a threat, while in 1999, it never expected Pak to risk an offensive manoeuvre, considering differences […]
The dilemma Pak faces The Statesman 15 Jun 2021 It is confirmed that the US, while withdrawing from Afghanistan, are seeking drone bases in the region for monitoring, engaging terrorist targets and supporting Afghan forces in their operations against the Taliban. Simultaneously, it is pushing for an agreement within Afghanistan, resulting in the establishment of a coalition government. It […]
Pakistan views Kashmir through Afghan prism The Statesman 08 Jun 2021 Connecting dots flowing from recent statements and incidents provide an understanding of the dilemma faced by Pakistan on ties with India and Afghanistan, especially with the ongoing withdrawal of US and NATO forces. Currently, a ceasefire, part of backchannel talks, is underway between India and Pakistan, while US […]
India-Pakistan and the Palestine issue The Statesman 25 May 2021 The recently concluded conflict in Gaza cannot be termed as a Palestinian-Israeli conflict, as neither the Palestinian authority nor West Bank was involved. It was Hamas, controlling Gaza, which unleashed a collection of rockets in retaliation to Israeli police confronting Palestinian teens at the Al-Aqsa mosque and rumours of […]
Confusion over talks within the Pak hierarchy CLAWS 12 May 2021 There appears to be contradictory views within the Pak hierarchy on dialogue with India. An Indian Express report stated that during a select Iftar with journalists, Pakistan army chief, General Bajwa, mentioned that the Indian NSA, Ajit Doval, met the Pak Director General ISI, General Faiz Hameed, in […]
Article 370 and Pakistan The Statesman 11 May 2021 In a televised interview last week, SM Qureshi, Pakistan’s foreign affairs minister stated that Article 370 was an internal matter of India. He added that what concerned Pak was Article 35A, which implied changing demography of the valley. This is the exact opposite to comments made by him during the […]
Assessing Pak polity’s comments on talks The Excelsior 01 May 2021 Addressing a news conference in the UAE on 18th Apr, where Qureshi and Jaishankar were on a visit, SM Qureshi stated, ‘Both India and Pakistan will have to think about their bilateral ties. Pakistan is ready to talk with India if it takes back its steps of August […]
Summer is around the bend The Excelsior 07 Apr2021 The Indian armed forces have gained immense experience, over the decades, on the impact of the weather along its troubled borders. Hence, the army maintains separate summer and winter postures. Summers are periods of heightened activities, when infiltration attempts are made regularly along the LoC and Chinese salami slicing increases […]