Garment factory workers have been demonstrating and engaging in violent street protests to call for a 5000 taka monthly minimum wage. The government has come to meet them more than half way. It is offering a 3000 taka monthly wage that will be announced later on Thursday afternoon. The Daily Star reports that the Labor […]
An important conceptual shift has occurred over the past few months in U.S. policy vis-à-vis New Delhi, heralded in two recent addresses by senior Obama administration officials.
Pakistani Ambassador to Washington, Husain Haqqani spoke to Charlie Rose yesterday. It was a very interesting talk and well worth watching. As you watch the piece, please note a few points that could use a bit of explication and clarification between the various counterparts in U.S-Pakistani bilateral relations. First, Ambassador Haqqani, a most collegial and […]
A pen and ink and suminagashi print of the 2007 arrest of the retired general and former Director of Pakistan’s spy agency, Hamid Gul. Lt. Gen Gul is thought to have managed ISI’s coordination with the Afghan Taliban in order to develop strategic depth in Afghanistan to counter any Indian intervention in that country.
Mr. Mannan Bhuiyan, a former Secretary General of the BNP passed away in Dhaka on Wednesday morning at the age of 67. He had been suffering from lung cancer. Mr. Bhuiyan had served as Secretary General of the BNP for 11 years and had also served his country in the capacity of the Minister for […]
The Burmese junta leader, General Than Shwe, is on a five-day visit to India starting today. He will hold high-level meetings with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other Indian officials mostly on matters relating to trade and strategic affairs. The military dictator has been condemned by human rights groups and numerous countries for imprisoning Aung […]
Zainab Jeewanjee discusses the intricacies of implicating Pakistan in the Wikileaks report. She elaborates on the history, motivations and interests of Pakistan and finds that negotiating with extremist groups is perhaps an inevitable reality that policy makers must take into account before implicating that the government in Islamabad aids insurgents.
The War Crimes Tribunal has issued arrest warrants for the 4 senior Jamaat leaders already in government custody. The charges: committing genocide and crimes against humanity and peace during the 1971 War of Liberation. The leaders wanted in connection with the crimes: none other than Motiur Rahman Nizami, the Jamaat-e-Islam chief and his Secretary General, […]
Whatever the provenance of the documentary evidence, whatever the moral argument for the WikiLeaks revelation, Pakistan and its military establishment is now squarely in the U.S. leadership’s cross-wires. The secret is out, and the vast weight of the proof accumulated over 6 years, tens of thousands of pieces of intelligence, is flat out undeniable and […]
In today’s New York Times reportage by Mark Mazzetti, Jane Perlez, Eric Schmitt and Andrew W. Lehren has come crashing down on Pakistan. Though broadly speaking the news is nothing new to anyone with an ear for politics in the region, the reportage offers documentary proof of ISI complicity with the Afghan Taliban. It is […]
Indonesia: As speculated about previously, the U.S. will upgrade its support to the Indonesian military, even the notorious Kopassus. This is in spite of continued human rights concerns, because the need of America to be able to contain China’s expansion into the South China Sea is becoming critical to the Obama Administration. It is likely […]
Last week’s visit to New Delhi by the U.S. national security advisor offered a preview of some of the deliverables that will come out of President’s Obama upcoming visit but also illuminated areas of discord that could forcefully intrude upon the proceedings.
Consider for more than a breath that about 50% of children under 5 years of age in Bangladesh are malnourished. That hard to picture statistic masks more than 8 million hungry, often starving children. These babies often do not eat for stretches, born without fault in a country where the median age floats around 22. […]
India and Pakistan held another round of diplomatic exchanges last week when India’s Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna visited Pakistan and held meetings with his Pakistani counterpart, Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi. The bilateral talks were a continuation of the recently resumed dialogue process between the two countries. The meeting was not expected to throw up any […]
Sabrina Tavernise’s new piece for the New York Times is a must read for anyone interested in Pakistan. Here’s the real take away, come what may: “Out of more than 170 million Pakistanis, fewer than 2 percent pay income tax, making Pakistan’s revenue from taxes among the lowest in the world, a notch below Sierra […]
