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Pelf Wars
Chanyaka Sen
Growth of identity-based conflict also focuses attention on cultural differences
that some claim to be civilisational. Samuel Huntington, another American
thinker who excels at grand global explanations for problems, says that cultural
identity is shaking up the world more than any other phenomenon. According to
his widely read The Clash of Civilisations the Remaking of World Order,
the most important distinctions in the post-Cold War period are cultural, not
political, economic or ideological. Ancestry, race, language, values and customs
are the tools most humans are resorting to define themselves and attack others......more...Fidayeen: The Chickens Come
Home to Roost
Kanchan Lakshman
The current wave of suicide attacks, according to many Pakistani analysts, needs
to be viewed within the context of Pakistan's alliance with the US and Al Qaeda's reach within that country. A cursory look at the pattern of Fidayeen
attacks in Pakistan indicate that they possess several Al Qaeda traits, such as
the use of a suicide bomber, the targeting of Western civilians, the absence of
immediate claims of responsibility and the quantity of high explosives utilised.
A scrutiny of the pattern also reveals that the targets have been varied:
foreigners, Christians, Shias, prominent individuals within the current regime,
including General Musharraf himself.....more...
J&K: Respecting Wishes of the People
Prof. K. N. Pandita
In a recent statement Pakistani Foreign Ministry
spokesman said that any solution of Kashmir issue along the Line of Control (LoC)
was unacceptable to Pakistan. He stressed that a solution should respect the
wishes of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The spokesman was reacting to the
advice of MQM leader Altaf Hussain that the option of LoC as a solution of the
dispute should be considered by both sides.......more...
Food for Thought
Ajai Sahni
President and General Pervez Musharraf has successfully engineered another media
storm over a new set of 'proposals' for the 'resolution' of the 'Kashmir issue',
which he offers, with a studied air of insouciance, as 'food for thought'. The
remarks were made at a gathering of editors and senior journalists at an
iftar dinner hosted for him and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz by Information
Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and State Minister Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli on October
25, 2004, at Islamabad......more...
Central Asia: A New Field of Indo-Pak Rivalry
Prof. K. N. Pandita
With the incursion of Soviet Union into
Afghanistan in 1979, India began re-thinking her policy towards Central Asia.
Pakistan had emerged a crucial entity in the shipment of huge American armament
to the Afghan mujahideen. Pakistan’s essential interest in extending full
scale influence in Afghanistan was not only strategic but also economic. She
wanted to begin extensive trade with Central Asia, in particular eyeing her
enormous hydrocarbon reserves. Afghanistan was of great importance as it
provided the only overland route.....more...
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