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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.
n July 2018, Pakistanis voted in what was the third consecutive transfer of power from one civilian government to another in the country’s 71-year history. The elections may be called a success in that winners had been declared. However, the months leading up to the elections demonstrated the power of the military, and its ability to influence election outcomes and control sections of the media. As Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Imran Khan see
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.
Although Pakistan does definitely have stability concerns, it was able. And, although the government and the institutions have generally weak legitimacy within the population, this does not necessarily translate in the rejection of the idea of Pakistan as a national entity.
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.
The more the nation gets isolated, especially in the international financial system, the greater its dependence on the Chinese.
In the aftermath of Uri terror attack, India has been putting pressure on Pakistan by using multiple levers of power
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.
The superciliousness of western media is surpassed only by Pakistan's unabashed statements on CAA and preaching secularism to India.
By merely eliminating terrorists, security forces aren’t addressing the Jihadi ecosystem existing in J&K.
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.
The Pashtun Tahafuz Movement is difficult for India to support because the movement owes its success to the absence of foreign funding or support.
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,
Instead of conjuring up bizarre conspiracy theories and nurturing a victim complex, Pakistanis need to see the reality.
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.
Khan’s possible ouster is unlikely to bring any radical change in India-Pakistan relations. The bilateral relationship has plateaued since PTI came to power.
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.
Pakistan's rational options now are severely limited. However, expecting the rational from Pakistan might be expecting too much. Here's what India needs to be prepared for.
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).
Pakistan would continue to grapple with political instability, economic crisis and resurgence in radicalism even after the exit of former President Pervez Musharraf, leaving Pakistan Army in a jockeying position.
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.
Pakistan is likely to see a stable but fragile government, and the opposition will try its best to render it dysfunctional.
Dominance in the Baloch region could be passing on to China. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is the newest instrument.
Ethnic divisions will deepen in Pakistan along with popular sentiments against the military in the near future, says renowned area specialist Dr Selig Harrison. "In 10 years, there will be a different landscape in Pakistan," he said addressing the faculty members of Observer Research Foundation here on February 6.
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.
The way it is currently configured, Pakistan is unlikely to to mend itself any time in the foreseeable future.
