Neighbourhood Studies
Attack on Hamid Mir: Pak Media Caught in Pincer of Military, Militants & Market

The attack on one of the best known Pakistani journalists, Hamid Mir, has only reaffirmed Pakistan's reputation as one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists. Mir, who took six bullets, barely survived the well planned ambush carri....

The Musharraf Case: Will Anyone Agree to Take The Fall for him?

Even though Gen Pervez Musharraf has finally been indicted on five charges of treason by the Special Court constituted to try him, the widespread feeling within Pakistan and beyond is that this is probably as far as the civilian government could go a....

Pak Peace Talks With Taliban: Is There A Method in Madness?

The more you think about it, the more it confounds: Pakistan government’s peace dialogue with the Taliban. Look at it from a logical, if also conventional, standpoint, and it appears as though the Pakistani state has entered into a desultory dialog....

Pakistan’s New Policy to Counter Terror- An Appraisal

Introduction The Pakistan government approved the National Internal Security Policy (NISP) 2014-2018 on 25 Feb14. In his statement, after tabling the policy before the cabinet for approval, Pakistani Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar indicat....

Disarrayed Dialogue: Moderate Taliban reach out to Real Taliban in Pakistan

After months of to-ing and fro-ing on a clear, cogent and coherent policy and strategy to combat the ‘Mother of all Problems” in Pakistan, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif pulled yet another surprise on his countrymen by announcing a last ditch attemp....

The Perception War in Afghanistan: Pessimism is No Policy

During a visit to Afghanistan a couple of months ago, many top Afghan officials and politicians insisted that while the security situation was precarious and the political situation was fragile, the real cause for alarm was not so much the danger of ....

Afghanistan: Can India and Pakistan work Together?

With the US drawdown (perhaps even complete withdrawal) from Afghanistan looming large over the horizon, there is growing pessimism (a lot of it unwarranted) over the prospect of the Afghan state’s ability to survive without the crutches of foreign....

Afghanistan: Security Trends and Implications for India

The events in Afghanistan seem to be turning a full circle. ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’ that commenced in the aftermath of September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks is drawing to a close and plans are afoot to hand over Afghanistan to the very forces....

Interaction with Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman, Member of Pakistan’s National Assembly

An interaction was held with Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman, Member of Pakistan’s National Assembly and President of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazal-ur-Rehman group) on 17 December 2013. The Maulana shared his perspectives on several issues related to Indo-Pa....

Pakistani Taliban’s Deadly Cocktail –Terror and Polio

A police escort was killed and another wounded when militants attacked a team of polio vaccinators on the outskirts of Peshawar on 30 November.1 Earlier on 23 November, militants in Pakistan kidnapped eleven teachers involved in a polio va....

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