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Very soon after WikiLeaks went public with thousands of classified cables, several of which pertained to Pakistan, the Defense Committee of the Cabinet met in Islamabad and termed "the release of WikiLeaks diplomatic cables an attempt to harm the image of the country". The meeting termed the leaks false and unauthentic and an attempt to malign the political and military leadership of the country.
One may be forgiven for asking how actual diplomatic cables exchanged by US missions

In military jargon, the Ink Spot strategy is an approach to fighting popular insurgencies, like the one in Afghanistan. The idea is that you start small with a particular town, secure it and build it up as a safe haven for the part of the population that supports you. Then like an ink spot spreading out on the blotting paper, you reach out to secure the countryside around that city. Repeat this till you control the whole country.
I mention the Ink Spot strategy not because I have

Pakistan is one of 18 countries which decided to boycott the Nobel Prize ceremony in Norway this year. Officially, "various reasons" have been touted for staying away. But the real reason is best friend China's anger over the decision to award its leading imprisoned dissident, Liu Xiaobo, the Nobel Peace Prize. China had ticked off attendees for showing "disrespect" for its policies.
Liu is hailed in the West as the "Nelson Mandela" of China. He was absent in the grand and

Disclaimer: The following article is excerpted from communications between the Bosnian embassy in Constantinople and the Sumerian Embassy in Lima, Peru. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is just sheer bad luck.
Rulers, they say, not only represent their subjects, but also reflect their values in certain ways. For example, Silvio Berlusconi reflects the womanizing-then-lying-about-it lifestyle of the Italians. He is also a thief and cheat, as is the Italian way.

It is entirely appropriate that the man in charge of India's volume control, Pranab Mukherjee, should have uttered what is unarguably the comment of the year: our democracy has become too noisy. Through a long career stretching from the 1960s, Pranabda (as he is fondly known) has always preferred the brain to the lung. Noise has been neither in his temperament nor his bhadralok-Brahmin culture. His metier is ministerial; he is a fish out of water when his party is in Opposition. He

You don't have to keep piecing the puzzle together. The freshly released WikiLeaks cables have made it clear that given the continuing dominance of its military-intelligence complex, Pakistan is still a long way from achieving political stability. The elected leadership has yet to rid itself of the pressures coming from the GHQ.
Generals, they say, are always ambitious for power. And Kayani is no exception. The initial impression that he was there to salvage the army's image,

Sometimes there's talk of devaluation. Other times there's talk of raising rates. One would thank God for someone like Hafeez Shaikh in this sinking ship of utter fools, but is anyone listening to him? Equally to the point, is he listening to us?
Currency is devalued to raise exports, but only if exports increase by more than a factor of one? Devaluation makes sense only if imports come down provided a country's imports are price elastic. Our main imports are totally price

The US ambassador's effort to win the hearts and mind of Lahoris by having breakfast in open air at a popular eating joint in Lahore cantonment was a great success. The gesture went down with the Lahoris just like the halwa puri on the menu does. His Excellency seemed to enjoy this high calorie diplomacy as did the media there to record every minute and morsel. Such publicity suddenly put the restaurant on the must visit list of those who go to eat where they can see and, more

While the David vs. Goliath saga continues, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is clearly the winner. The sole superpower and its allies, with all their might and advances in cyber technology, have not been able to block the outpouring of information from the trove of downloaded cables.
While it is still being assessed whether Pakistan's vital interests have been compromised by the leaks, the people are being treated to a wide variety of information that they could not have even

Incidents of violence against minorities, which continue to take place with an awesome regularity, indicate that there is no let up in their persecution. The amendments introduced in the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), a culture of intolerance promoted by radical clerics, sections of media and the curriculum taught in schools combine to create an environment hostile to religious minorities. What is more, instead of discouraging anti minority sentiments, most political parties succumb to

International Anti-Corruption Day in Pakistan coincided with the epic confession of the Federal Minister for Religious Affairs in the Supreme Court: "Even if there is corruption, it is far less this year than what had been committed previously". In any civilised society, this would have been reason enough for the incumbent to apologise to the people and quit forthwith. Not so in our country. He remains adamant that he is not responsible for the horrendous mess and, therefore, should

Amidst the tsunami of controversy generated by WikiLeaks' dissemination of 'sensitive' information and as frantic communications scurry across diplomatic and state channels; many wonder what the fallout shall be. The age old debate of what limits the media is afforded in the name of responsible journalism is reignited.
WikiLeaks is an international non-profit media organisation that publishes submissions of otherwise unavailable documents from anonymous sources and leaks. Within

As the annual festive season draws nears for the dominant world, there is the usual spate of visits designed to bring those in the larger net and unable to share the festivities closer and bring them the renowned "Christmas Cheer". Most important of these visits has been this week's unannounced trips to neighboring Afghanistan bringing cheer to the multitude of troops from multiple nations forming the NATO forces assigned to bring a semblance of control in that country.
From

The post-World War II global system was created and is being perpetuated as a grand American conspiracy against the Muslim world in general and Pakistan in particular. I am convinced. Either that or some of the analysts who appear on various tv channels, and write for newspapers, are fops at best and charlatans at worst.
Some benefit of the doubt is in order because Hanlon's Razor says that "Never ascribe to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity". So, perhaps

Credibility is like virginity. Once it is violated, it is gone forever. This is the most important lesson that the media must learn because it is the custodian of values and concerns of the nation. In a democracy, where faith stirs response, journalists cannot afford to have even an iota of doubt raised about what they say or do.
Unfortunately, some top talented journalists have not come up to the standard they are expected to maintain. In the few cases which are in the public

Ever since WikiLeaks started figuring big in the news here, people have been getting really indignant about the King of Saudi Arabia criticising the President of Pakistan by calling him (Mr Zardari) 'corrupt' and 'an obstacle to the progress of Pakistan.'
There were angry comments on Facebook and in the papers about the matter. A letter to the Editor in one of the English dailies has a retired colonel of the Pakistan Army saying that he feels 'hurt' by the monarch's remarks. He

With Pakistan's agricultural heartland destroyed by the catastrophic floods, the issue of food security looms large. One need only venture out into Pakistan's rural areas where the reality of the country's blight becomes overwhelming.
In the wake of the flood, the time has come for some radical rethinking. Wide-ranging agrarian reforms are desperately required which give a central role to the redistribution of large areas of productive land to the rural poor. Land reform must