New Delhi

Even as two civilian governments struggle to maintain their political hold in both India and Pakistan, recent developments indicate that both recognize that the Possibility of Peace trumps confrontation. This change of mood between two formerly hostile neighbors is a reflection of economic necessity in both countries and...

Pakistan today is taking baby steps back to becoming a democracy again, after nearly eight years of the rule by fiat of General Pervez Musharraf, the "liberal autocrat". The Nigerian author Chinua Achebe put it very well: "Democracy is not something you put away for ten years, and then in...

"Democracy is the best revenge." These words of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto must have reverberated in the minds of millions of Pakistanis today, as Pakistan took its first steps toward the true democracy that General Pervez Musharraf promised over eight years ago but could not deliver. The National...

It took the United States government over six years after 9/11 to concentrate on designing a strategy for the war against the militants in the Federally Administered Tribal Area of Pakistan's border region with Afghanistan. It was not alone. Pakistan, too, managed to ignore the deeper issues at stake and...

As the newly-elected representatives of the opposition parties and their unelected leaders, Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif, position themselves to take over power in Pakistan's National Assembly. They face the dwindling power of President Pervez Musharraf, weakened by the loss of his supporting party, the Pakistan Muslim League Q,...

The euphoria over the successful democratic elections in Pakistan on February 18 has unleashed a torrent of commentary on what next for the US "War on Terror"? The biggest question that seems to be leading to sleepless nights in Foggy Bottom and parts of even academia it seems is...

Early results from the Pakistan elections indicate a routing of the leadership of the Pakistan Muslim League (Q Group) that supported President Pervez Musharraf for the past five years and allowed him free reign effectively to convert Pakistan from a parliamentary to a presidential system. It appears that the Pakistani...

As the days wind down to the national and provincial assemblies elections in Pakistan on February 18, the one man on the political scene who is not, in fact, running faces the serious prospect that he may end up in the losing column. President Pervez Musharraf, sans his general's uniform...

In an election campaign marred by charges of pre-rigging and legal irregularities by President Pervez Musharraf in the dismissal of the Chief Justice and other judges and his own re-election, and the horrific death of a resurgent and popular former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto as a result of terrorist action,...

As the elections of February 18 for the national and provincial assemblies near in Pakistan, three scenarios are being discussed:

• fears are rising that the elections may not be held, following a secret deal between President Pervez Musharraf and one of the major political opposition parties,
• or that they will be heavily...

As election fever grips Pakistan in the wake of the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and amidst President Pervez Musharraf's continuing slide in popularity, the emergence of centrifugal forces do not portend well for Pakistan's future. Pakistan is desperately searching for a new leadership that could set...

With former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto assassinated on the campaign trail, her Pakistan People's Party quickly regrouped and named her 19-year old son and political naif Bilawal as the head of the party, to be aided by his father, Asif Ali Zardari. Despite all the talk of fostering democracy, Pakistan's...

If Pakistani history is any guide: probably not.

As the latest video report from Channel 4 of the United Kingdom now streaming across the internet and numerous eyewitness accounts attest, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was shot by a seemingly professional, cool, clean-shaven young assassin in dark glasses standing...

Just before she returned to Pakistan via Dubai this fall, I met Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in Washington and raised with her during our exchange the issue of her personal safety. She seemed so determined to return to Pakistan, come what may, that she, at first, dismissed the idea of...

What's going to happen in Pakistan? This is the question most often asked these days, as news of rising public discontent and violence in that benighted land fills headlines half way across the globe. Only the boldest analyst will not pay heed to the warning once issued by baseball legend...

Pakistan seems to be hurtling toward a hasty and flawed election on January 8th 2008, one called after the November 3rd 2007 second coup by President Pervez Musharraf that allowed him to dispense with the meddling Supreme Court, the hobbling Constitution of Pakistan, irritating broadcast media, and activist members of...

To paraphrase Mark Twain's remark about the best month for investing in the stock market: November has been a bad month for Pakistani politics. The others were January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, and October this year. After a turbulent year of civil unrest and terrorist activity,...

As he prepared to launch his second coup against the constitutional order in Pakistan on November 3rd, 2007, ironically this time against his own Supreme Court and government, General Pervez Musharraf went through his familiar ritual of seeking feedback from others. He gathered a group of 20-25 leading politicians and...

Earlier this year the Military Intelligence Directorate of the Pakistan army reportedly prepared a long-term analysis of Pakistan's relationship with the United States, charting its cyclical ups and down over the decades. It deduced that a downturn was expected in 2007, as the US prepared to ease out of its...