The IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Director, Mr. Masood Ahmed, offered this public statement yesterday: “The floods which have hit Pakistan in recent weeks and brought suffering to millions of people will also pose a massive economic challenge to the people and government of Pakistan. The scale of the tragedy means that the country’s […]
For my mental health, I never watch Pakistani television, be it state run or the so-called ‘private’ channels. And if I am forced for whatever reason to put up with it for an hour or so, it is, and I am not exaggerating here, the most painful experience; an experience I find difficult to explain […]
This weeks news has run the gamut of silly, inconsequential and headscratchingly troubling. In the first instance, the BNP leader and former Prime Minister, Khaleda Zia has said that if the sitting government fails to govern with the consent and agreement of the opposition, it should step down. Apart from the vainglory of the claim, […]
If the status quo continues, as is likely, and the Pakistani government remains mired in its own incompetence and impotence, the militants in Pakistan will have become more popular and will have built up their ranks in a way, so far, unforeseen. Today’s New York Times lays out the strategic issue in very stark terms: […]
A recent assessment by Pakistan’s top spy agency has concluded that Islamic militants pose a greater internal security threat to Pakistan than the Indian Army
Following on yesterday’s piece on the Newshour with Jim Lehrer, please find the second piece associated with the flood in Pakistan. This piece that air two days ago deals exclusively with the aid effort to get clean water, food and shelter to the devastated victims of this catastrophe. Now it is becoming increasingly clear that […]
Last week the U.S. Congress passed a border security bill that plans to generate funds by hiking H1-B and L-1 visa fee by $2000 per application per person. This would help fund the $600 million emergency fund for securing the U.S. border, particular with Mexico. (See David’s post for details.) Though it is not explicitly […]
Two events last week exemplify the growing U.S. populist backlash against India’s economic rise.
The flood in Pakistan promises to soon make a dire situation intractably tragic. Aid money promised by international donors is trickling into the ground, and more often than not, isn’t reaching the neediest of the millions of victims of this two-week long catastrophe, People are fighting and looting over food and the cramped conditions in […]
The government has arrested 3 garment industry labor leaders on charges that they had engineered violent and disruptive street protests.. This after mass protests against a proposed 3000 taka minimum wage for working in the retail garment industry in Dhaka and its environs. Though nearly double the standing wage, workers had demanded 5000 taka. Indeed, […]
The next wave of casualties stemming for the recent flood in Pakistan will sweep along the public health disaster waiting just beyond this hour, today. The 20 million affected by the massive, surging, nearly country-wide flood are now optioning across a ready-made menu of likely epidemics. At least one individual has been diagnosed a victim […]
The BBC reports that along with the national security portfolio, the Bangladeshi army is now encroaching on the civilian government’s major writ to spur on commercial activity. Through interests in commercial banking and the hospitality industry, food production and textiles, the Army is branching out as a leader in Bangladesh’s economy. The BBC reportages suggest […]
Its been 2 weeks since the floods began and only today, after his lukewarm and somewhat unnecessary European tour, President Asif Ali Zardari came to see the devastation in person. T.V. footage wasn’t quite immediate enough, you see. And though he came to visit, and the state run stations ran the footage, curiously the footage […]
I wish that people in Pakistan would wake up and realized that hating Zardari is not going to do any good. What needs to be done is that people from all across Pakistan come together, realistically and honestly look at the problems that the country is facing and trying to find the best answer or […]
Contrary frequent assertions that the development of physical infrastructure is the key to ensuring India’s future, two important speeches last week underscore how the country’s destiny actually lies in the aggressive nurturing of its human capital potential.
