Notes in Anguish

Reduced to brass tacks the fate of Pakistan was to be decided by two people and where these two people stood vis a vis the highest national interest i.e. to defeat the terrorists, and to bring stability and good governance to the country. These two people are Nawaz Sharif, and Raheel Sharif. From their statements… →

The Army and the Government of Pakistan were seen to be on the same page as long as their views converged on the following two points: Things changed with the change in the Army high command. What was immediately understood by the new Army Chief and his generals was that not only was the rising… →

The kinetic route taken by the “clash of civilizations” theoretical mantra, began with Oded Yinon, to Richard Perle, to Bernard Lewis, to Huntington, and on to the Project for the New American Century. What followed was the utter destruction of Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Libya, and Yemen. What the Neocons seem to be ruing is… →

There are many definitions of Democracy. One of these which hits the mark is that Democracy is a system of government which holds the rulers accountable. Another is, that this is a system which prevents the onset of oligarchy or plutocracy. When a Democracy is grounded in a system motivated by a “returns on investment”… →

Quite incredibly the 14nth of August and 6th Sep was celebrated in Pakistan this year with a fervour that people of Pakistan seemed to have lost many years back. What brought this fervour alive was hope. This hope arose from the belief that terrorism can and will be defeated. And if this can be defeated,… →

Dr Asim’s recent arrest has drawn unprecedented applause from a huge cross section of the people of Pakistan. Whether this applause is the result of analysis, or is an instinctive reaction of the people, it goes to show that the people of Pakistan recognize massive corruption as lethal for the health of their country, as… →

It was important for the U.S to rehabilitate Benazir during Musharraf’s reign, because she was a better class of U.S poodle. Musharraf needed help from the U.S and so had to bend to its desires. But if he was going to rehabilitate Benazir, he would have to treat many others similarly. This is where the… →

The statement, that the guilty will not escape justice no matter how influential they are, as promised by Mr Khadim e aala, Mr Shahbaz Sharif, was the only thing predictable about this most bestial and degrading of all crimes.That the cover-up is already underway, should also have been equally predictable. Witness the following:a. Immediately as… →

Both Buddhism and Jainism were driven by their animus against Brahmanism and the Caste system. But both did not acknowledge a deity. Thus, though the moral tone of both was elevated, they both lacked the emotional warmth that religions with a connection to a deity provide to their votaries. And this was the chink in… →

That Pakistan is in a state of war, nearly everyone says. I wonder though, because the battle lines cannot be clearly defined, if all who say this realize how very serious the situation really is? Do they actually realize that this is a war for national survival? That it is a war between two forces,… →

Ostensibly, when surveying the Pakistan scene there seems to be a thick haze of confusion. Nothing seems clear. But try peering through this haze and it is surprising how clear things really are. Let us do this and the central issues bedeviling the country can be deciphered with remarkable clarity. The tools one requires to… →

For years now we’ve known about unchecked crime injustice and maladministration rife in Sindh, and taken to art form in Karachi. We have known about murder, kidnapping for ransom, extortion, and plunder without let or hindrance; of outlaws recruited into the police, of hitmen belonging to various political outfits massively inducted into various government organizations:… →