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In early February when Pakistan was seen as the epicenter of nuclear trade, the United States decided to downplay the entire episode by terming it ¿a part of the past¿. When A.Q. Khan was given a ¿pardon¿ by General Musharraf for all his proliferation activities, for the US, it was merelya ¿matter between Mr. Khan and his government¿.

Pakistan Army Chief आइए जानते हैं कि आखिर ले. अजहर अब्‍बास कौन है. सेना प्रमुख के लिए उनकी दावेदारी क्‍यों मजबूत मानी जा रही थी. क्‍या पाकिस्‍तान सरकार ने सेना प्रमुख की नियुक्ति में निय

During his visit to Islamabad last week,Gen.Colin Powell, US Secretary of State, announced the decision of the Bush Administration to designate Pakistan as a Major Non-NATO Ally (MNNA) of the US. The decision would become effective 30 days after a notification in this regard has been sent by the President to the Congress.

Well known Pakistani economist Akbar Zaidi discussed various aspects of Pakistan?s economy with special emphasis on the period since the 1980s, at a round table conference at Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi, on February 23, 2004.

Is Pakistan's economy really at the verge of a collapse? Let us look at the facts at first. Last year, the GDP grew by 2.4 per cent; the service sector marked a growth of 4.1 per cent, the agricultural sector 1.2 per cent and remittances topped $11,201 million.

In November this year, the world will witness one of the most keenly awaited presidential elections in Pakistan with President Pervez Musharraf seeking a second term from the existing parliament without giving up his uniform. A few months later, in early 2008, will follow the general elections for the National Assembly. Contrary to perceptions, the road to re-election may not be smooth. There are chances that the situation in Balochistan and Wazi

Pakistan's PPP-led government failed to end the domination of the military over the government, much less bring the military machine, particularly the army, under the government's control. A huge percentage of the country's budget is allocated to the military.

Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari is due to complete his term in office after the elections later this year. The role of General Kayani, the Army Chief who is due to complete his extended term this year, remains to be seen. It is to be noted that the ISI is also under the Army.

In well-functioning democracies where those who lose elections live to fight another day, the forthcoming general elections in Pakistan is a battle for survival for many of the main political players in the country. To begin with, the brazen intervention by the military establishment in the political process has left the polls little credibility. In many ways, the elections will set the future trajectory of politics in Pakistan. While the deck se

The outcome of Pakistan's elections has not been particularly surprising. Nawaz Sharief's PML-N is likely to form government soon. Having a trusted hand like Sharif at the helm is a plus point, but he would have to undertake a herculean labour to transform Pakistan's condition. If he fails, there will only be despair.

The 12-point resolution approved by Pakistan's Parliament said that Islamabad must maintain "neutrality" in the Yemen conflict. Pakistan has good reasons to have rejected what could have become a quagmire for its forces. But, it has angered Pakistan's friends, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Emirates.

With Saudi Arabia now so fearful of a rising Iran, it is quite clearly Pakistan's payback time. And Yemen could mark the beginning of a new and more significant phase in Pakistan's involvement in the security politics of the Gulf.

Whether India deals with ISI or its 'plural' ISIS, the fundamental 'inimicalness' of the Pakistani state towards India will remain the same.

Although in Heart of Asia Pakistan was isolated but to wean Pakistan away from China, with their interests converging in containing India in the region

The elimination of militant groups in Pakistan is a long and painful 'disposal process' but the State of Pakistan is not willing to face up to this challenge, says Prof. Stephen Tankel of the American University, an expert on Pakistan.

New Delhi's focus in the talks with Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik is on the bilateral agenda- especially justice for the plotters of the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai. But it is in India's interest to widen the conversation to include the latest developments in Afghanistan where Islamabad has begun to make some big moves.

On November 2, the Wagah border which collects curious crowds on either side of the border gate to witness the interesting manoeuvres of border guards on either side were witness to a gory incident of a terrific explosion on the Pakistani side,

Some years ago when Karan Thapar interviewed Pervez Musharraf, the general was self-assured and voluble. That was before 9/11 but after Kargil. Last fortnight, he was once again voluble, and when not talking about himself, he was talking about Kashmir. But his body language showed nervousness, impatience, an edginess and even tiredness. And Thapar drove a hard bargain.

All is not lost for Pakistan's Imran Khan. He may not have succeeded in "sweeping the elections" but his performance was a significant improvement from his previous outings. From having secured only one seat in 2002, his party emerged with a plurality in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

In the Afghanistan peace process, Pakistan's significance lies more in its capability to play a destructive role than a constructive one. It is capable of scuttling the peace process and can stoke violence by supporting groups like the Haqqani network and engineer attacks against the government or foreign troops in Afghanistan.

The outcome of the February 18 elections was predetermined and the situation would only get worse as a consequence, said well-known media personality and commentator Saeed Naqvi at a talk organised by Observer Research Foundation on the Situation in Pakistan on the eve of elections on Saturday (Feb. 16).

Since 1991, India has pursued a policy of engaging Pakistan, regardless of what the latter has thrown at us - bombs, terror assaults, fedayeen. Maybe the time has come to change course ? not by reaching out to the military or taking recourse to tit-for-tat covert war. But by encouraging the peaceful breakup of Pakistan.

The Pakistani Army is keen to repair its image after the battering it has taken following the discovery that Osama bin Laden was ensconced in a mansion in Abbotabad. And while US criticism has made international headlines,

Saudi Arabia's recent $1.5 billion grant to Pakistan re-affirms the depth of the relationship that the two countries share. It has also brought into focus their expanding defence ties and raised concerns about Pakistan's possible role in the Syrian civil war.

Just as Lebanon's capital Beirut was under the thumb of an unbridled reign of crime, terrorism, sectarian and religious fundamentalism in the 1980s, Pakistan's port city of Karachi has hit headlines for all the wrong reasons during the decade of the 1990s.

It would not be fair to term Syed Salahuddin's statements on Kashmir as the official Pakistan policy. But the fact that Salahuddin has been making, rather freely, statements on Kashmir, which seem to be contrary to the stance taken by Islamabad-at least for the time being-is a clear pointer to Pakistan's strategy on Kashmir.

It is possible that, unable to control the various jihadis in their country or control events in Afghanistan, Pakistan's military rulers will first try to blame India for all its troubles and then launch a diversionary jihadi attack to provoke a reaction from the Indians and bring the whole world into play.

The combination of dangerous delusions, soaring ambitions and a fatal nuclear obsession could spark another round of strategic brinkmanship in South Asia, with disastrous consequences for regional security. Navy is supposed to be the new domain for another round of brinkmanship

What magnifies Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif's dilemma in picking up a successor to Gen Kayani is his own experience of picking Pervez Musharraf way down the seniority line to lead the army and regretting it forever. He will not like to repeat his past folly.

Kashmir is in trouble. Several incidents in quick succession that shattered peace in the State over the past few weeks are ominous. Trouble brewing in the Middle East, the regrouping of the Al Qaeda and various elements of terror groups, their re-emergence from the badlands of Afghanistan and Pakistan and the rising crescendo of bickering within Pakistan-all of this poses a serious threat to peace and stability in the region and elsewhere.

When the world attention was riveted by the US-choreographed peace moves between New Delhi and Islamabad early this month, a South African Jewish businessman, Asher Karni, 50, was being trapped in a sting operation launched by the US Commerce Department and other federal investigating agencies. On January 2,

After more than two years of lull in the political arena, Pakistan is witnessing some visible and dramatic changes which can influence the political scenario in the next few months.

As tensions between Kabul and Islamabad threaten the fragile peace process in Afghanistan, the Taliban's role as a proxy for Pakistan's interests has come back into sharp focus again.

A reasonably objective assessment of Pakistan's War on Terror can only begin with acknowledging two facts. First, there has been an unprecedented level of terrorist violence in Pakistan for the past three years.

India cannot ignore what is happening in its North-West. It is not clear what is going to be Indian policy to protect its political, strategic and economic interests in Afghanistan. May be the Indian policy-makers will have to sit back and think of ways to ensure that India's role in Af-Pak region doesn't become minimal.

If the reports that Narendra Modi has sent emissaries to Pakistan are true, they indicate a recognition of the need to reassure leaders across the border that, were he to become prime minister, he would not be throwing a grenade at the bilateral relationship.

After the horrific attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar in December last year by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants, Pakistan is trying to crack down on militancy in the country.

Although concrete evidence about Saudi intentions to acquire nuclear weapons' capabilities is not there the story continues to attract international commentary

That is, in short, the general Israeli reaction to the initiative recently taken by General Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan to bring into the open Pakistan's hitherto clandestine relations with Israel. Nobody denies the previous existence of clandestine contacts between the two countries, which recently culminated in an open,

Pakistan is facing an acute energy crisis. In times such as these, when energy resources are an important marker of future prosperity of a nation, Pakistan's grip over its energy resources is loosening day by day. The country has been facing major deficit in power supply over the last two years, forcing citizens to resort to violent protests on the streets.

The continuing ceasefire violations on the India-Pakistan border could become a stumbling block in the renewed attempts by the leadership of the two neighbours to improve their relationship.

For Pakistan and its army, the year 2014 is crucial as the NATO troops withdraw from Afghanistan. There are fears in Pakistan of an Afghan civil war. There is also the long pursued Pakistani strategy of supporting the Afghan Taliban which may backfire.

The enthusiasm bordering on euphoria generated by the talks of Ms.Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary of State, with Indian leaders during her recent visit to New Delhi has been somewhat dissipated by the announcement of the decision of President George Bush to clear the sale of the latest version of the F-16 aircraft to Pakistan.

On June 2, 2012, The News International reported, that in the Dera Ismail Khan district of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province in Pakistan the 11-year-old Niazmina and her two-year-old sister Bakhtawar were given as compensation to the house of Juma Khan for the crime that their uncle, Muhammad Ikram, had committed.

The long-awaited military offensive in Pakistan's North Waziristan region, which began in mid-December, has raised questions about the overall objectives and intentions of the nation's army in fighting terrorism.

Throughout the Cold War - and afterwards - Russia's relations with Pakistan remained almost non-existent. However, with the United States and NATO pulling out its troops from Afghanistan in 2013,

During the recent crisis in Yemen, between the Houthis and the nine-nation military coalition led by the Saudis, a joint sitting of Pakistan's Parliament voted against joining the Saudi-led coalition.