Pakistan is again in the middle of incredible political turmoil, something that the country thought it had escaped from after the previous election that brought Zardari and the Pakistan Peoples Party to power. Zardari has made a strong pitch for keeping his powers strong and unchallenged, by trying to crush the movement led by Sharif against the Government. The issues are politically inter-locked and very complex.
This movement was precipitated by the judgment by the Pakistani Supreme Court that ruled the Sharif brothers ineligible to stand for elections, a judgment that deals a death blow to the political ambitions of Nawaz Sharif and which he is blaming on influence by the Zardari Government. The latest reports from Pakistan are that Nawaz Sharif has been placed under house arrest for 3 days in an attempt to quell the movement and stop the campaign. The political paralysis can cause the Pakistani Government to take its eye off the major problems that face Pakistan.

continue reading "Pakistan in the midst of political turmoil"

The Mumbai terror attacks of 11/26 were a major shock for the world. Every nation fears the prospect of armed terrorists attacking civilians, and here were these 10 well armed terrorists who held the armed forces of a nation at bay for 3 days. How do you protect against terrorists who emerge from the night (from a vast coast), disperse swiftly into the night to their various pre-planned destinations, and attack civilians at will with automatic weapons and grenades. No matter what the security level, there is a more than even chance that some of them will evade detection and managed to attack. Today this happened in India, but given the ease by which the attackers managed to enter, and with some local support, the scenario is replicable to many countries which are on the cross-hairs of global terrorism.
If you read this article in TIME magazine (and I recommend reading the article), you will realize how easy it was for this youth in Pakistan to become a terrorist; there are institutions present everywhere that will feed a disgruntled person and make him feel valuable, and will then guide him on the path of taking up guns and willing to become a suicide terrorist, somebody who has no qualms about killing innocent people.

continue reading "Life story of one of the Mumbai terrorists"

When the Israeli offensive against Hamas started 18 days back, the comparisons with the 2006 campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon was the first thing that was raised. That campaign, even though caused huge amount of tactical damage to Hezbollah, was a strategic loss for Israel. Hezbollah got a reputation as a fighting force that was able to withstand the huge military advantage of Israel, and bring the much vaunted military machine to a halt (keep in mind that this is the same Israeli military that has consistently defeated the armed forces of its neighbors, right from the time of its birth in 1948). The result of this almost victory by Hezbollah (and managing to survive was seen as a victory) was its gaining in terms of gaining political clout in Lebanon. Now, Hamas is an organization that remains dedicated to the destruction of Israel (and has withstood a huge amount of external pressure to be seen as striking a deal with Israel).
So, there has been a lot of debate about the motives for the current Israeli campaign against Hamas. The chance of having to strike a deal that gives Hamas a cease-fire and the proclaiming power that it has managed to stop Israel in a direct fight was very high; and this was a risk that Israel would have to face. In addition, any fight between Israel and the Palestinians (even a terrorist organization such as Hamas) tends to inflame Muslim popular opinion all around the world and especially in the Muslim countries. Such inflammation of popular opinion tends to prevent the leaders of these countries from opposing Hamas even if they feel that Hamas is following wrong policies.

continue reading "The Gaza offensive likely to end ?"

For quite some time now, the United States has come to the realization that Pakistan is not going to take decisive steps to root out the fast strengthening elements of the Taleban and Al-Qaeda in the border regions of Pakistan. These elements get the space in these border regions to regroup from clashes with the NATO and Afghan forces in Afghanistan, get the attention (including medical attention) that they need, and then head back into Afghanistan to battle again. In addition, these regions are also attracting fighters from a varied groups such as Arab fighters, Uzbek, Chechen (and many others, all of whom see this battle as a fight against the infidel enemy (the US) and its supporters (the Afghan army, and the administration). The US took a long time to figure out as to why Pakistan has been not willing to carry out the public promises made in 2001 and 2002 to turn fully against the elements of the Taleban and Al-Qaeda, but understanding is finally on the way. (For a good article on this, refer to this NYTimes.com article; a fairly longish article, but one that is questioning the extent to which the Pakistani Taleban is taking over the country, and the support they are getting from Pakistani forces).
Pakistan has for a long time seen Afghanistan as being a strategic zone of influence, and highly resents influence of other countries such as the US and India (more so India) in Afghanistan. However, it is now facing a situation where its own created monster is acting against it, trying to convert Pakistan into an extremist Islamist ruled country. Its army and paramilitaries are also getting under the same influence, and not so much in favor of acting against these terrorist on the say of the US. In response, for the last few months, the US has been reading the riot act to the Pakistanis at different levels, both in public and in private (meetings with Musharraf, with the spy agencies, and with the army chief). However, it now seems that the US has finally decided to take matters into its own hands and started to act against the terrorists wherever they can find them. The last few days have seen many attacks by drones and by actual soldiers inside Pakistani territory:

continue reading "US gets more active against Pakistan based Taleban"