Pak Tea House » Pakistan-India Peace Process
Mumbai Massacre Part 2
By D. Asghar As these lines are being written, over 20 precious lives are no more in Mumbai. 100 plus people are injured and as reports trickle in, sadly the number of impacted physically, keeps on rising. People of Mumbai have barely recovered from the 2008 terrorist attacks and now this. Many speculations and opinions came to fore almost instantaneously, thanks to electronic media and twitteriti. Some were just down right stupid as usual and some were worth paying attention to. The electronic media reported just yesterday that, India has given a list of most wanted criminals to Pakistan. Mostly people related to terrorism and related senseless acts. Its a pity that we have (supposedly) within our boundaries, responsible for such heinous acts. It is equally damning to hear rebuttals, which are proven … Read entire article »
Filed under: India, Pakistan, Pakistan-India Peace Process, Terrorism, violence, war
Partition of Sudan: Learning from India and Pakistan
By Yasser Latif Hamdani Sudan, the largest country in Africa, has been partitioned into two much like British India was partitioned in 1947. The principle on which South Sudan today stands as the newest member of the comity of nations is the same principle on which Pakistan was founded. In both cases the underlying principle was not religion but rather a group identity escaping the majoritarian identity of the mother state. At the very least it … Read entire article »
Filed under: Jinnah, Pakistan, Pakistan-India Peace Process, Partition
Let’s show steel
By Indrani Bagchi When, oh when, will we have a coherent Pakistan policy? A policy that has some connection with reality? India has finally buried all vestiges of its post-26 /11 stance on terror and talks. Pakistan has now got a full reprieve on terrorism from India. Foreign minister SM Krishna exposed the fell hand of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s approach to Pakistan by invoking the dangerous 2009 Sharm-el-Sheikh joint statement last week. Peace talks will go on, he said; cricket matches will go on. Meanwhile, we will also try to push Pakistan to act against the perpetrators of 26/11, the government maintained stoically. The government, by the way, kept the terrorism line going, even taking a different line from the Sharm-el-Sheikh invocation by the minister. This was curious to a number of us. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Pakistan-India Peace Process
The Mohali exchange did not take place in a policy vacuum – Sherry Rehman
An interview with Sherry Rehman who visited India with Pakistan’s Prime Minister to enjoy cricket and build bridges with India. It was the first major interaction at this level since the Mumbai terror attacks. How was the reception? What did the Pakistani delegates and their Indian hosts talk about? What was the body language like? Sherry Rehman: As encounters between India and Pakistan go, this was certainly important, if only for the reason that it broke some serious ice, hitched as it was to a major public event. It was a landmark interaction after the Mumbai explosion had severely damaged bilateral relations, and it represented a clear investment in statesmanship on both sides. Pakistan and India have often relied on sideline moments at multilateral events to keep some interaction going, but this … Read entire article »
Filed under: Pakistan-India Peace Process
Cricket Diplomacy: Expect The Usual Hand Shakes And Nothing More
By D. Asghar Of course no one knows, what will happen in Mohali on March 30. The World Cup semi final between Pakistan and India will indeed be a nail biting and nerve pounding match, as many are predicting. Indian Prime Minister Singh’s invitation to his Pakistani counterpart, our PM Gilani to watch the match live from the stadium is a welcome gesture. Many are trying to call it “Cricket Diplomacy” and expecting, way too much from this. Our media has dug into the previous such “Cricket Diplomacy”, of General Zia and Musharraf. To say the least, it turned out to be a good photo opportunity and some temporary news blip. Everyone knows that it was nothing more than that. The idea of this write up is to remind us of ground … Read entire article »
Filed under: Cricket, Pakistan-India Peace Process
Cricket—Game or War
By Riaz Ali Toori Steve Winwood once wrote, Think about it, there must be higher love Down in the heart or hidden in the stars above Without it, life is a wasted time Look inside your heart, I’ll look inside mine On the other hand Jimmy Carter provokingly described war as an evil. “War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other’s children”. Love is the most powerful passion that overcomes every other sentiment. It motivates mankind to move for peace, to bear pain for others, to join hands with strangers. Everyone has this emotion, because our souls when created, were centered around this very passion. But it is very unfortunate that today, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Cricket, Pakistan-India Peace Process
India-Pakistan: Hand of Friendship
By Aparna Pande This is not the first time an Indian Prime Minister has extended a “hand of friendship” towards Pakistan, nor is it the first time Dr. Manmohan Singh has done so. Prime Minister Nehru repeatedly offered his hand of friendship and so did his successors Indira and Rajiv Gandhi. IK Gujral hoped the Gujral doctrine would help lessen the trust deficit and Vajpayee undertook a bus yatra to reaffirm that India has accepted the creation of Pakistan and wishes Pakistan well. Dr. Manmohan Singh has repeatedly offered his hand of friendship to Pakistan and expressed the desire to reduce the trust deficit between the two countries. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Pakistan-India Peace Process
The Giant in the East – IV
By Adnan Syed This four part series examines the rise of India as an economic giant, the threats that India faces in this remarkable rise, and implications for Pakistan. Originally planned as a three part series, I decided to split the series into four parts due to sheer volume of information that I came across while writing this series. (AZW). The Two Fundamental Assumptions Regarding future India, Pakistan must start with two fundamental assumptions: A. India’s progress is for real and will likely continue. Indian economy is beginning to compound and will consequently elevate India as one of world’s top four powers to reckon with on the world’s political stage in coming decades (along with China, US, and Europe). B. India’s military rise is inevitable along with its economic rise. However, Indian’s military rise is being … Read entire article »
Filed under: China, culture, Democracy, Economy, India, Islamabad, Pak Tea House, Pakistan, Pakistan-India Peace Process, Politics, Uncategorized, USA
A 'desi' desire for Aman ki Asha
by Adnan Shahid (Courtesy: The News) I am a proud Pakistani. I wear my national identity openly. But I am also a strong advocate of Indo-Pak peace. In 2004, I had the opportunity to work on a short term consulting assignment for a multinational oil and gas company in Delhi. Relations between the two countries were then lukewarm at best. But I still felt the warmth at the personal level, which reinforced my belief in the need for people-to-people contact. … Read entire article »
Filed under: India, Pakistan, Pakistan-India Peace Process
Manmohan Singh’s ignorance & Indian media's blackout
Raza Rumi I had posted a short version of this post on my personal website which quite unexpectedly drew the attention of several Indian internet warriors on their cyber-raths. It is a message that needs to be shared here. I have therefore decided to expand this and say what needs to be said. I have always supported India-Pakistan dialogue and the peace process and the purpose of this post is not to demean India or Indians but to express the shock that many of us – peaceniks – have experienced in the recent days. I have been accused of being ‘soft’ on India and constantly under attack by jingoists in Pakistan. Therefore it pains us to see such displays of insularity, indifference and isolates us with the remarks: “see we told … Read entire article »
Filed under: India, Pakistan, Pakistan-India Peace Process, Politics, state, Terrorism
Drowning Today, Parched Tomorrow
Courtesty New York Times This is one of the most informed articles on the water issue as well as the floods. Time is of the essence. Not just Pakistan but the entire world is at stake.-YLH By STEVEN SOLOMON Published: August 15, 2010 the images of the monsoon floods that are now devastating Pakistan, the country is actually on the verge of a critical shortage of fresh water. And water scarcity is not only a worry for Pakistan’s population — it is a threat to America’s national security as well. Given the rapid melting of the Himalayan glaciers that feed the Indus River — a possible contributor to the current floods — and growing tensions with upriver archenemy India about use of the river’s tributaries, it’s unlikely that Pakistani food production will long keep pace with the growing … Read entire article »
Filed under: Pakistan, Pakistan-India Peace Process, USA, war
Devising a new framework for Indo-Pak peace
Raza Rumi Today the foreign ministers of Pakistan and India will meet. This major development should be welcomed. Sceptical noises of distrust in both countries have been heard and the Kashmiri leaders have issued rejectionist statements. Subcontinental leaderships have time and again floundered peace. Sometimes it is the recklessness on the Pakistani side and at other times the Indian officialdom chants the trust-deficit mantra. But this must end. Media wisdom about the BJP and the Pakistan … Read entire article »
Filed under: India, Pakistan, Pakistan-India Peace Process, strategy
…On the Birth of Balochistan Liberation Army
The Stunning Investigative Story on the Birth of Balochistan Liberation Army By Tariq Saeedi in Ashgabat, Sergi Pyatakov in Moscow, Ali Nasimzadeh in Zahidan, Qasim Jan in Kandahar and SM Kasi in Quetta MARCH 1: Deception and treachery. Live and let die. The ultimate zero sum game. Repetition of bloody history: Call it what you may, something is happening in the Pakistani province of Balochistan that defies comprehension on any conventional scale. Four correspondents and dozens of associates who collectively logged more than 5000 kilometers during the past seven weeks in pursuit of a single question – What is happening in Balochistan? – have only been able to uncover small parts of the entire picture. However, if the parts have any proportional resemblance to the whole, it is a frightening and mind-boggling picture. … Read entire article »
Filed under: baluchistan, Islamabad, Pakistan, Pakistan-India Peace Process, quetta, Religion, Taliban, Terrorism, violence, war, Zardari
A New Approach
By Hoss Note: This article is response to a post by Gorki and I thought putting the whole things as another article would be a better idea. Can India take a new initiative, a progressive initiative without being intimidated by the right wing and utterly regressive forces in Pakistan? Our Indian friend Gorki’s suggestion that India attempt to side step the military establishment in Pakistan and deal with people of Pakistan directly, imo, is a visionary and progressive approach in Pak-India relations. By now we know that Pakistan with heavy military influence over its foreign policy, is practically incapable of presenting any new initiative to improve relations with India or even Afghanistan. … Read entire article »
Filed under: India, Pakistan, Pakistan-India Peace Process
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