india/pakistan

The internal politics and external relations of south Asia's giants are tracked by writers from the region and beyond.
Friday 10th February

Syem Saleem Shahzad: death of a journalist

Nick Fielding, 10 February 2012
The Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad made both friends and enemies in the course of his detailed reporting of Islamist groups and insurgencies in the country. An official report on his abduction and murder in May 2011 may leave key questions unanswered, says Nick Fielding, but read carefully and in context it brings the truth of his end closer.
Thursday 19th January

Uncertainty looms amid progress in talks with the Taliban

Arif Rafiq, 19 January 2012
The Afghan Taliban and the United States have begun talks, advancing prospects that coalition forces can withdraw from Afghanistan. But there are many potential pitfalls on the road to peace: a real risk of a political and military stalemate in Afghanistan, forcing the United States to leave the region under uncertain and possibly dangerous terms.
Monday 12th December

Has India reached the limits to economic reforms?

Wajahat Qazi, 12 December 2011
The government of India’s decision to roll back legislation that would allow FDI in multi-brand retail is ill-advised. However, in the grand scheme of things it is but a hiatus that at worst merely derails the momentum of reforms.
Friday 18th November

Kashmir: from national to human security

Wajahat Qazi, 18 November 2011
It is about time that saner heads in the Indian national security establishment mull over the implications of the continuation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in Kashmir, says Wajahat Qazi
Tuesday 4th October

Female suicide bombings in Pakistan - what's in it for women?

Afiya Shehrbano Zia, 4 October 2011
Islamic militancy in Pakistan appears to be mobilising women suicide bombers as part of its religious trope. This trend unsettles the conservative divide between the public and private roles of women in traditional societies, and also attracts an anthropological defense of Islamist women's agency. The question remains: what's in it for women?
Saturday 25th June

Pakistan is not anti-American

Syed Hamad Ali, 25 June 2011
It is easier to excuse "collateral damage" if you believe the victims are your sworn enemies. But Pakistan is not anti-American
Tuesday 21st June

Pakistan: the hard reality

Anatol Lieven, 21 June 2011
Pakistan is too often portrayed in flawed and reductive ways that flatten its complexity and offer misleading guidance to policy-makers. This makes it all the more important to acknowledge some difficult truths about the country, says Anatol Lieven.
Thursday 2nd June

The nuclear dilemmas of South Asia

Yogesh Joshi, 2 June 2011
An accelerating nuclear arms race between a fragile Pakistani government aiming at a strategic balance with India and an Indian state that ignores its neighbor's security concerns is on the verge of spiraling out of control, says Yogesh Joshi
Tuesday 22nd March

States, religious diversity, and the crisis of secularism

Rajeev Bhargava, 22 March 2011
In India, the existence of deep religious diversity has ensured a conceptual response not only to problems within but also between religions. Without taking it as a blue print, the west must examine the Indian conception and learn from it, regarding peace between communities, community-specific rights, the rights of minorities, the porous divide between the modern state and religion, and the skills to accommodate the latter. They might begin by jettisoning the preoccupation with ‘equal treatment’.
Wednesday 9th March

Pedagogy of terror

Saroop Ijaz, 9 March 2011
The roots of fundamentalism in Pakistan lie in the education system and school curricula, which need to become more liberal and tolerant in order to stem the steady stream of potential terrorists, argues Saroop Ijaz.
Tuesday 8th March

India, Arab democracy, and human rights

Meenakshi Ganguly, 8 March 2011
The democracy uprisings in the Arab world hold a lesson for New Delhi, says Meenakshi Ganguly: the need for a foreign-policy stance that matches India's global ambitions.
Monday 14th February

Pakistan: the Taliban's successful marriage of dogma and custom

Sana Haroon, 14 February 2011
That the guardians of women's virtue should present a direct threat to it, encapsulates the essential paradox of popular opinion about the Taliban movement in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, says Sana Haroon.
Thursday 3rd February

Democracy over security: India's role in Afghanistan

Jamal Kidwai, 3 February 2011
India needs to drastically reformulate its policy in Afghanistan and adopt a more long-term political strategy based on the principles non-alignment, democracy and development, argues Jamal Kidwai
Tuesday 1st February

Pakistan: the liberals’ dilemma

Afiya Shehrbano Zia, 1 February 2011
During Zia’s years, liberal forces presented the most radical opposition to the theocracy-military collusion and oppression. Today, we witness a liberal democratic government, with a secular alliance that is paralysed and besieged by its lack of vision and inability to govern, says Afiya Shehrbano Zia
Tuesday 25th January

Pakistan: the rising dangers

Marco Mezzera, 25 January 2011
Pakistan’s society and government are under intense pressure from the growing influence of extreme religious movements. In the absence of enlightened and unifying political leadership the prospect of a great regression remains alive, says Marco Mezzera. 

Indian constitutional democracy: a freedom in crisis

Vijay Nagaraj, 25 January 2011
Declining political morality and increasing moral policing are suffocating the rule of law in India, shrinking spaces for civil dialogue and threatening freedom of speech, says Vijay Nagaraj
Friday 21st January

Donor-driven Islam ?

Afiya Shehrbano Zia, 21 January 2011
Collaboration between western academia and Pakistani women at home and in the diaspora has established a body of donor-funded research with an exclusive focus on Islam. Will development policies based on such research lead to any kind of liberation?
Thursday 30th December

The non-reform of Pakistan's blasphemy laws tells a wider story about Zardari's failure to foster true democracy

Ali Dayan Hasan, 30 December 2010
The case of Aasia Bibi, a Christian farmhand who was sentenced to death in Pakistan, teaches us how difficult it is to bring law, democracy and an end to extremism to the country
Wednesday 15th December

War is not a video game: drone attacks that kill innocents can only escalate and prolong violence

Syed Hamad Ali, 15 December 2010
Drone attacks that kill innocents are a sure way to multiply enemies
Tuesday 14th December

Poland and climate change

Krzysztof Bobinski, 14 December 2010
The indifference of official Poland to climate change is rooted in its leaders' experience and reinforced by economic interest. A new generation will be needed for a stronger policy to emerge, says Krzysztof Bobinski.
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