Lifestyle Pakistan: To India, with love
If India and Pakistan had to update their status vis-a-vis each other on Facebook, what would they write on their page? Would it be ‘divorced’, ‘separated’, ‘it’s complicated’, ‘single’ or ‘in a relationship’? Seeing their mood and bonhomie these days the most appropriate status update would be “in a relationship”. After the 26/11 Mumbai attack in 2008, the two neighbours almost separated and their relationship remained complicated for two years. However, with the passage of time the wound started healing and a new realisation dawned on them; that it’s futile to lead separate and complicated lives just because of some ...
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India and Pakistan’s role in Afghanistan
For the last decade or so, the global community has been fighting a war in Afghanistan which has its roots originating from the Soviet-Afghan war of the 1980s. The current war has various stakeholders involved who are vying for greater influence in the region which also includes South Asian arch rivals India and Pakistan. On a historical note, the American and Pakistani leadership of the 1980s sought to eradicate the USSR’s geo-strategic agenda in Afghanistan by training large numbers of local and foreign militants in the name of ‘Islamic jihad’. These militants were indirectly funded and trained by the CIA and the ...
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Traders paradise or political nightmare?
After a delay of 15 years, Pakistan finally took the decision on the much-talked most-favoured nation (MFN) status to India this week. Technically speaking, the MFN status will automatically be given to India by the end of this year. Pakistan has a negative trade list with India with 1,209 items (items that both countries cannot trade with each other) that will be phased out by December 31, 2012. After that, both countries can import or export anything to each other. According to the Indian minister for commerce, Anand Sharma, now almost 90 percent items can be traded with Pakistan as opposed ...
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Trade with India, for a better Pakistan
If the choice facing Pakistan is abandoning its claims on the Indian side of Kashmir in exchange for free trade with India, then I see it as an automatic choice: the economic future of 180 million citizens of Pakistan is not worth sacrificing for the sake of some vague political aspirations of a fraction of the 12 million or so who live on the Indian side of Kashmir. The hyper-nationalists that populate a surprisingly large segment of Pakistani cyberspace will no doubt argue that this is “selling Kashmir down the river”. Has anyone ever thought of the fairness of it ...
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Trading sex on Zamzama
As a regular commuter in this cauldron of mixed sights known as the metropolis of Karachi, I see diversity amidst the cacophony of ethnicity, race, language and cultural values and I also see the growing perpetual prostitution lining the streets of Zamzama – which has perhaps truly evolved as a one-stop shopping district. They say it’s the oldest profession in the world, but come what may in Karachi it seems to be the newest one. Somehow every street has become a rendezvous for a potential client and provider. Women continue to sell their bodies to earn a livelihood; admittedly this has ...
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India and Pakistan: Sharing one soul
Recently, I was in India to attend a course on environmental journalism hosted by a renowned New Delhi-based NGO. One day, I was at one of Delhi’s social clubs and ran into a retired Indian general, Maj-Gen Ashok K Mehta, to be precise. We ended up having quite an interesting conversation. He said that he was in the Indian Army during the 1971 Pakistan-India war and that he had been in contact with several Pakistani prisoners of war. One of them, he said, was a senior officer, who on the day the Pakistani forces surrendered to the Indians, wrote in ...
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MFN doesn’t translate to BFF
Recently there has been a lot of debate on the issue of granting India the Most Favoured Nation status (MFN). The debate has primarily garnered negative responses from all sides and has actually put the government under a lot of pressure. Initially what was seen as a straightforward gesture has turned into a political hot potato, causing the prime minister and foreign minister to give statements periodically defending their stance. The reason this whole MFN status for India has become such a big deal is primarily due to the fact that most people debating it are immature and do not ...
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Favouring India isn’t easy
Without cordial relations between Pakistan and India, peace in the Asian region will always remain a distant dream. Trade is the only thing that can tie the two nations together. We know that war is not the solution to our problems and we have realized this in over 60 years of enmity. Thus, it came as a relief to me and many others, I am sure, when a historical move on October 2, in the meeting of the Federal Cabinet of Pakistan approved a proposal granting India the status of “most favoured nation”. The step has come ...
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Afghan pullout: Pakistan needs to revise its role
Opinion pages are full of analysis emphasising Pakistan’s role in bringing to an end the Afghan conflict, without whom, it is argued, the negotiations are bound to fail. The Pakistani establishment however continues with its short term, self defeating policies towards our neighbouring country. As a result our region will remain unstable and insecure after the United States (US) and its allies depart. Pakistan wants to ensure that the Afghan government remains pliant to its strategic needs. We want any negotiated settlement of the Afghan conflict to include the Taliban, but on our own terms, keeping us in the loop. Non-Pashtun ...
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Afghan drawdown: The vultures descend
Now that the die is cast and the United States is finally stepping up the process of troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, the vultures are finally swooping down to ensure that they get a piece of the carcass. Pakistan, Iran, India, Russia; all seem to have a stake in Afghanistan’s future. Out of these, Pakistan and India are arch rivals and have conflicting interests in Afghanistan. Pakistan, which often views Afghanistan as an extension of its own backyard seeks to play out the game of strategic depth in the country. India, on the other hand is taking a more indirect route. ...
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