22 August, 2007
Pakistan Under Siege
By Zia MianMilitary rule and puppet politicians have brought Pakistan to its present dreadful state. Rather than keeping Musharraf in power, the world must demand that Pakistan’s army yield control over government and economy once and for all. Only a freely elected and representative government that can actually make decisions can pursue economic development as if people mattered, confront the Islamists, and make peace with India
13 August, 2007
Need For An Uncensored History From 1857 To 1947
By Jawed NaqviThe 60th year of our independence is as good an occasion as any to take stock of our mistakes and dream about a better future
09 August, 2007
Sixty Years Of Fake Freedom: The South Asian Story
By Partha BanerjeeMoreover, in sixty years of a fake freedom, we South Asians ourselves have been successful to raise an apolitical, apathetic generation wilfully ignorant of our own history and way of life -- political, economic and cultural.Thanks to the freedom 60 years ago, we are now completely colonized
04 July, 2007
India-Pakistan; Suspects In Each Others Eyes
By Syed Junaid Hashmi"A joint mechanism on terror has been formed, bus service has been started, Rail services have become operational and people to people contacts have increased yet mistrust, suspicion, skepticism have become a part of such ceremonial meetings between India and Pakistan," said Senior leader of People's Democratic Party Nizamuddin Bhat. He added that these points could become points of emotional integration and help in strengthening the bond of love and liking between the people on the two sides
05 June, 2007
Pakistan Parliament Rejects
Changes In Blasphemy Laws
By Aftab MughalThe National Assembly (NA), lower house of the parliament, crushed a bill on May 8, which was moved by a Parsi member MP Bhandara, seeking amendments to the controversial blasphemy laws
22 May, 2007
Chomsky On India-Pakistan Relations
By Michael Shank & Noam ChomskyNoam Chomsky is a noted linguist, author, and foreign policy expert. On April 26, Michael Shank interviewed him about relations between India and Pakistan. This is the second part of a two-part interview
10 April, 2007
A Revolving Door For Democrats,
Dictators And Bankers
By Jawed NaqviDr Fakhruddin Ahmed , "chief adviser" to the "caretaker government" of Bangladesh is a banker with experience of working in various capacities at the World Bank. Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz too is a banker, his last outing being with New York-based Citicorp. Both are backed by the military in their countries. And who can deny the revolving door that links the Indian Prime Minister's Office (the all powerful PMO) to the World Bank
27 March, 2007
Time For Musharraf To Go!
By Usman KhalidThe Armed Forces and the Judiciary are the two institutions where performance and conduct of their members are judged by their peers. After a dumb start, the Chief Justice of Pakistan is being judged by his peers. But Musharraf has resisted the judgment of his peers. They have been telling him privately at first and publicly now that it is time for him to go. That way his legacy, the good name, and public confidence in the armed forces can be saved
22 March, 2007
Why Musharraf Stays
By Pervez HoodbhoyHow does he do it? The answer lies in a finely honed strategy, perfected over years, that juggles US demands and the interests of local intelligence chiefs, mullahs, tribal leaders, venal politicians, and a host of fortune seekers. Webs of intrigue and murky players obscure details, but the priorities are unmistakeable
20 March, 2007
Protests Mount Against Musharraf Attempt
To Sack Pakistan’s Chief Justice
By Vilani Peiris & Keith JonesIslamabad and other Pakistani cities have seen violent confrontations in recent days between security forces and lawyers, opposition political activists, and ordinary Pakistanis opposing the attempt of the country’s US-backed military strongman, General Pervez Musharraf, to fire the head of the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry
19 March, 2007
Musharraf: Beginning Of The End
By Brig (R) Usman KhalidMusharraf is a person who has never needed to make sense when he talks. So, he talks, and talks but never reflects or listens. The people are tired of him and desperately want to see the back of him. But he talks and talks and cannot see the writing on the wall
17 March, 2007
Pakistan's President At His Dictatorial Worst
By Tarek FatahThe chief justice had been seen by the military regime as a direct threat to the implementation of their economic, political and social agenda. He was removed because he stopped the privatization of Pakistan Steel Mills and was an obstacle in the American neo-liberal agenda for the region
14 March, 2007
For Signs Of Peace,Look Out For Vultures
By Jawed NaqviThe opening line of the scarcely noticed press release issued after a second meeting of the India-Pakistan Joint Commission in New Delhi on February 21 said: The working group on environment has discussed the decline in vulture population.The news was extremely comforting. It was deeply reassuring that the two countries that had on several occasions threatened to annihilate each others human population were expressing a shared concern for the survival of a raptor bird
27 February, 2007
Terrorism And The Quest For A Colour Blind Cat
By Jawed NaqviThe quest for a colour blind cat would be essentially incomplete if Pakistan doesn't heed its own call to pursue mice of all hues. In that case, there is this pending issue of terror camps which even the most neutral observers say do exist in the territory under Pakistan's control. It must now quickly unleash the cat there to make the March 6 meeting purposeful
18 January, 2007
Discrimination Continues
By Aftab MughalDuring the year 2006, religious minorities faced discrimination and have little hope for change in the situation despite government’s promise for equal rights for everybody
08 January, 2007
Dissent Is Alive
Pakistan Diary: In Lahore Day 4
By Yoginder Sikand'Dissent is alive in Pakistan and is bound to become louder. Do write about that when you get back', he insists
26 December, 2006
Pakistan Diary: Day 2–In Lahore
By Yoginder SikandAn Indian travles through Pakistan
25 November, 2006
How Are The Minorities In Pakistan
By Amit Chakraborty" Unhe Chiro Maat, Hindu Hai, Larr Padenge." – 'don't ridicule him, he is a Hindu, will start fighting'. Who said this? She is a lady teacher in an English medium school at Lahore, Pakistan. Let's not name the school or the teacher for obvious reasons
30 October, 2006
Engaging With Pakistan
By Warisha FarasatIndians pride themselves on the vibrancy of civil society and democratic movements within the country. However, we fail to acknowledge the culture of resistance that has developed in neighboring Pakistan
27 October, 2006
Pakistan Diary: Part IV : Lahore: Day 1
Mall Road and a Mula Jat
By Yoginder SikandThe pavement is blocked with milling crowds and with stalls selling all manner of trinkets and food. It's all so Delhi-like. I wonder why Delhi Punjabis, like my own folks, persist with the myth of a Lahore that probably never existed
18 October, 2006
Why Do We Criticize Our Nations?
By SujaiIndia, which has been the champion of independence and freedom movements elsewhere, has now become the same aggressor it abhorred. It is slowly becoming exactly like its enemy. And we critics do not want that to happen
Pakistan Diary-Day 1
In Lahore: Of Nomadic Odhs And Parathas
By Yoginder SikandI think of how 'upper' caste prejudice, both Hindu and Muslim, must surely have at least something to do with the fact that probably not a single of the literally hundreds of books about the trauma of the Partition focuses on what the tragedy meant for the millions of Dalits on both sides of the border
12 October, 2006
Musharraf's Coup- Seven Years Later
By Pervez HoodbhoyMusharraf and his generals are determined to stay in power. They will protect the source of their power - the army. They will accommodate those they must - the Americans. They will pander to the mullahs. They will crush those who threaten their power and privilege, and ignore the rest. No price is too high for them. They are the reason Pakistan fails
11 October, 2006
My Starving Friend
By Sarah SabaOne of my intellectual friends, who is a famous researcher, author of a number of books and numerous research articles, with years’ of committed and selfless struggle to bring about peace in the society is simply starving with his small family
Crossing The Border- Pakistan Dairy: 2
By Yoginder SikandThe bus crosses the white lines drawn across the road and we slip under an archway into Pakistan. I think I might be hallucinating and that I might actually be fast asleep and dreaming in my room in the hostel where I live in Delhi. Tears stream down my cheeks and I let my emotions overwhelm me. For me, passing through the archway is like landing on the moon
04 October, 2006
A Trip To Pakistan - Part 1
Heading for the Border
By Yoginder SikandYoginder Sikand works with the Centre for Jawaharlal Nehru Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia New Delhi. He spent a month [December 2005- January 2006] in Pakistan, his first trip there. He is now writing about his trip. Countercurrents will be publishing it in weekly installments
03 October, 2006
Enlightened Musharraf And Bigoted Masses
By Rehman FaizReligious minorities are awfully discriminated in Pakistan and a wave of religious extremism is all embracing across the land that is evident by the repeated acts of violence, discrimination and extremism against the people belonging to religious minorities
Mumbai Bomb Blasts – Intelligence
And Counter-Intelligence
By Sarah SabaIn the era of a neo-globalisation with multiple actors on the stage to shaping up the future image of the global village, this becomes very important for the regional actors like India and Pakistan to immediately agree on an agenda of regional cooperation for progress, prosperity and better facilities for the people of the two nations
24 September, 2006
A Cliché From Nawab Din's Story
By Zafar ChoudharyAfter living a life for ten decades the centurions are normally expected to wait for the eternal journey, but in case of Nawab Din who has lived little more than that an aspiration is still coupled with a struggle. And interestingly his struggle has a loud message for the peaceniks and diplomatic mandarins of New Delhi and Islamabad
23 September, 2006
Lage Raho Musharaf And Manmohan
By Stanzin DawaWhy not Mr. Musharaf (The President of Pakistan) and Mr. Manmohan (The Prime Minister of India)? Who knows while transforming Mr. Bush and Mr. Laden they also gets transformed to build a lasting friendship based on trust and altruism in larger interest of the entire humanity
28 August, 2006
Intellectual Discourse In Pakistan:
An Indian Visitor's Perspective
By Yoginder Sikand'What both India and Pakistan desperately need', a Lahori friend told me while talking about the state of intellectual discourse in our part of the world, 'are organically rooted public intellectuals that articulate the lived realities and concerns of the masses. Only then can the radical transformations that we desire ever come about'
09 August, 2006
A Disastrous Model
By Praful BidwaiThose advocating armed attacks on Pakistan in response to the Mumbai bombings wish to emulate Israel's aggression. That is the worst model India could follow
20 July, 2006
For Patriotism SMS At ....
By Sorit GuptoNow it is the turn of the TV anchor. She is raising a question, whether India should follow the path of Israel and bombard the Terrorist training camp of PoK and other cities of Pakistan? According to the poll survey of the SMSs some ninety percent of viewers says 'yes'. We should follow the Israeli way!
17 July, 2006
Limit To Tolerance, But Options Are Limited Too
By Siddharth VaradarajanDespite the Musharraf regime's equivocation on terrorism, India will gain nothing by allowing the authors of the Mumbai blasts to disrupt the peace process with Pakistan
20 February, 2006
Thaw In The Thar: New Train
Links India And Pakistan
By Yoginder SikandCries of 'Long Live India-Pakistan Friendship' rend the air as the Thar Express streams out of the Jodhpur railway station on the evening of the 17th of February, heading for the Pakistan border
31 January, 2006
War Crimes And Human Rights Violations
In Balochistan
By Dr Wahid BalochOn behalf of Baloch Society Of North America (BSO-NA) USA, I would like to bring your urgent attention to the deteriorating situation and gross human rights violations in Balochistan where Pakistani dictators have started the 5th military operation against the innocent Baloch people, using US gunship helicopters and F-16 jets, to crush theirpeaceful struggle against the occupation of their land and exploitation of their resources by Pakistan
For A Genuine South Asian Parliament
By Jawed NaqviPopular leftist icon Tariq Ali was speaking in Delhi this past week to audiences of slum-dwellers, academics, factory workers and communist leaders
26 January, 2006
The Other Side Of Pakistani Islam
By Yoginder Sikand'This doctrinaire, ideological and exclusivist form of Islam has a certain appeal in some circles but it does not have mass acceptance and there is also much resistance to it from various quarters. Projecting Islam as completely distinct from other religions and equating Muslim culture with Arab culture goes completely against our cultural traditions and history'
21January, 2006
Winter Multiplies Quake Survivors' Woes
By Shaheen ChughtaiAs survivors mark 100 days since the calamity, aid workers are warning that a second humanitarian disaster is looming. Plummeting temperatures have caused a rise in cold-related illnesses - especially among children and the elderly
Pakistan, Islam And Indian Media Stereotypes
By Yoginder SikandContrary to Indian media representations, the average Pakistani is just about as religious or otherwise as the average Indian. The average Pakistani is certainly not the wild-eyed fanatic baying for non-Muslim blood or waging violent jihad to establish global Islamic hegemony that our media would have us believe
17 May, 2005
March For Peace
By Beena SarwarIt is odd that thousands of Indians and Pakistanis can be allowed to roam on public roads and markets in each other's countries if they are ostensibly there to see a cricket match, but not if they are explicitly making the trip to promote the cause of peace
10 April, 2005
Crossing A Bridge Of Peace
By Ghazi SalahuddinWhen 49 passengers of two buses crossed a bridge in Kashmir in both directions on Thursday, the world watched the spectacle with a great sense of relief. After all, what are bridges for if we do not keep crossing them?
04 April, 2005
Sleepwalking Towards Danger, F16s And All
By Praful BidwaiThe F-16 deal will give a fresh lease of life to the Lockheed Martin factory in Fort Worth, Texas, which has reduced its workforce by 800 to 5,000 over the past year
31 March, 2005
The Bush Administration Initiates An Arms Race
By Amitabh Pal"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
Much Ado About F-16s
By Ahmad FaruquiWho will gain from the sale of the F-16s? Clearly, Lockheed Martin that builds the plane in Texas. And, who will lose from it? The people of Pakistan, for whom the prospect of democracy has been pushed further off in the future. Millions will go hungry to bed and remain illiterate since their government thought it better to spend $60 million a copy on the F-16s
28 March, 2005
Weaponizing The Subcontinent
By Christopher BrauchliUnited States decision to deliver 25 F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan will only destroy the peace initiatives between India and Pakistan and once again push the two nations into an arms race from which USA will benefit economically
16 March, 2005
Fuelling The Arms Race
By Praful BidwaiThe rise in India's defence budget has evoked a hostile response from Pakistan. This could soon translate itself into acquisition of new weapons to blunt India's superiority and higher military spending. The likely second- and third-order responses spell a disastrous South Asian arms race, which will accelerate further as New Delhi and Islamabad acquire more nuclear weapons and missiles
09 March, 2005
The Good News From Islamabad
By Radha KumarAfter a depressing lull in the India-Pakistan talks, during which the two governments appeared to be stuck on niggling technical details, Foreign Ministers Singh and Kasuri have given us an enormous breakthrough
02 March, 2005
Country Visa, City Visa
By Beena SarwarBreakthroughs like the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service are important. But what's needed to really normalise relations between India and Pakistan is to make cross-border visits easier for each other
19 February, 2005
A Subcontinental Turning Point
By Praful BidwaiIndia and Pakistan have agreed to laun a bus service between the two divided parts of Kashmir from April 7. The bus agreement raises hopes that able leaderships in both countries could help India-Pakistan relations soar sustainably to lofty heights
India Through Pakistani Eyes
By Pervez HoodbhoyObservations of a senior pakistani professor on Indian society
11 November, 2004
With Love, From India
By Syed Said Mahmood"The moment your "Indian" identity is disclosed, you find oodles of people rushing up to you, wishing to talk to you, offering local assistance and wanting to load you with gifts" - Experiences of an Indian in Pakistan
05 November, 2004
The Great Divide
By Shazman ShariffThe issue of Indian-Pakistani couples facing difficulty in getting visas or acquiring nationality after getting married tops the list of problems faced by divided families
01 November, 2004
Propping Up Musharraf
By Ali Dayan HasanMusharraf has successfully convinced the United States - and other countries - that he is Pakistan's indispensable man. Claiming that only he can save what he destroyed - Pakistan's fragile democracy
22 August, 2004
What India, Pakistan Won't Talk About
By J. Sri RamanMarked by polite smiles and prolonged handshakes, the process continues without making the least progress on the two life-and-death issues for the sub-continent's people- nuclear proliferation and Kashmir
11 August, 2004
The Balochistan Issue
By Rashed RahmanThe clash in Balochistan is between aggressive modernisation (backed by military force) and the Baloch people's demands for their rights. Force has not yielded good results in the past. It is unlikely to do so in future
03 April, 2004
Jehad And The Curriculum
By Beena SarwarPakistan's so-called religious parties are up in arms at the rumour that references to Jehad are to be removed from Pakistani textbooks
23 March, 2004
Let A Lamp Be Lit, And Let's Write
A Poem For Friendship
By Harsh ManderExperiences of an Indian social activist in Pakistan
22 March, 2004
Experiences Of An Indian In Pakistan
By Sai Nagesh"Taxis, autos, army guys......the list is endless.......everywhere loads of courtesy, respect..... more than we would get in our own country !!!!!"An email from an India after his visit to Pakistan for the 1st one day match
12 March, 2004
Bombay, Personally
By Beena Sarwar
A pakistani jouranlists reminiscence of Bombay, on her visit to the city for the World Social Forum
11 March, 2004
The Cook, The Rice And
The Father Of Pakistan's Nuclear Bomb
By Beena SarwarPakistan's laws regarding the freedom of information are much to be desired
11 February, 2004
Pakistan's Nuclear Inquiry Is A Sham
By Brahma ChellaneyMusharraf has once again demonstrated how he thrives in adversity. He has cut a deal that seeks to please all - the United States, which got the inquiry it wanted and the promise that there would be no further nuclear leaks
30 January, 2004
India And Pakistan To Pursue
“Composite Dialogue”
By Keith JonesThe governments of India and Pakistan announced Tuesday that they will “commence the process” of a “composite dialogue” by holding talks in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad for three days beginning February 16
16 January, 2004
On Train To Pakistan
By Sagarika GhoseOn train to Pakistan, red carpet is bundled in red tape and dumped on back seat
14 January, 2004Debating Indo-Pak Relations
By Imtiaz AlamMore than Kashmir, Indo-Pak relations remained a hostage to the enmity generated by the partition. It is the liberation of Indo-Pak relation from the captivity of hostility that can create a soil of mutual confidence, that can help overcome historically rooted disputes in a process of reconciliation
02 January, 2004
Dictatorship Goes Constitutional
By Abid Ullah JanPakistani President, General Pervez Musharraf, has won vast powers, including the authority to dismiss the elected government, after the Senate approved a set of sweeping constitutional amendments
30 December, 2003
Behind The India-Pak Ceasefire
By Keith JonesThe Bush administration, which has embraced Pakistan’s military regime as a key ally in its “war on terrorism” and has identified India as a potential strategic partner of the US, is a moving force behind the India -Pak ceasefire
29 November, 2003
Moving Towards Peace?
By Abbas RashidIndia and Pakistan are again on the peace track. Will this be a lasting one?
05 November, 2003
India and Pakistan- The Nuclear Option
By M. Asghar KhanIndia and Pakistan are today the only two hostile nuclear powers with a common border. The warning time is less than one minute. A misreading of a warning of a nuclear attack could initiate a nuclear conflict by miscalculation
16 October, 2003
Bus To Delhi
By Dr Mubashir HasanNothing exists in the world like Lahore-Delhi bus service. It is not an economic proposition but a political triumph of sorts. A personal account of the trip that the writer took from Lahore to Delhi
23 September, 2003
What's In A Flag?
By Sarmila BoseStill, in a 'borderless world' full of resurgent militant
nationalism, narrow-minded little 'patriot acts' seem to be sprouting all over the place. Flags, emblems, colours, melodies; will they all be divided up and loaded with meanings in black and white, or will they be swept away by the cross-border currents of global citizenship?12 September, 2003
Images That Promote Fear
By Kalpana SharmaWhen you tell people in India or Pakistan that you are travelling across the border, the instant response is "be careful.Why do we have this perception about each other's countries, that they are not safe for ordinary people?
21 August, 2003
Pakistan's Sectarian Menace
By Dr. Iffat IdrisSectarian killings are a relatively recent phenomenon in Pakistani society. The origins of sectarian violence in Pakistan can be traced back to the war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan
14 August, 2003
Subverting Education
By M V RamanaSchool texts in Pakistan and India have been systematically subverted and end up promoting hatred and intolerance. This process must be resisted and reversed
06 August, 2003
India Can Follow A Different Path
By Yash PalPeople are dreaming of India becoming a 'developed country'. But what kind of development does India need? "I am afraid of our becoming a developed country like the one in front today" , says Prof. Yash Pal
03 August, 2003
Let The Guns Fall Silent In Siachen
By Pavan NairAn open letter to the President of Pakistan and the Prime Minister of India
02 August, 2003
Quetta Massacre
By Deepal JayasekeraSectarian violence on the rise in pakistan
20 July, 2003
It’s Not Just Noor Fatima
By Munnoo BhaiIt is not just Noor Fatima. The two great Asian neighbours are also suffering from leaks in the heart caused by their ruling classes
15 July, 2003
Quetta And Surplus Jihadis
By Dr Farrukh SaleemRonald Reagan had taught Pakistani generals the fine art of jihad. The Afghan war over, the jihadi surplus was released away from Pakistan in the direction of Kashmir. Other destinations included Bosnia, Chechnya, Tajikistan, the Philippines and parts of the Middle East
04 July, 2003
The Song Of The Sufi
By Sagarika GhoseTrack II diplomacy is far too mushy: Let’s get real
03 July, 2003
Circle Of Mistrust
By Kuldip NayarThe core issue is not Kashmir, it is mutual suspicion
The India-Pakistan Odyssey
By Imtiaz AhmadPeace is not a one-way street. It has to be achieved through joint efforts
