April 2015
Pakistan's first Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated by America By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan, Pakistan's first Prime Minister, was assassinated on October 16, 1951 while addressing a public meeting in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. His assassin, later identified as Saad Akbar Babrak was shot dead on the spot. Saad Akbar Babrak was an Afghan national and a professional assassin. Read More
Why Pakistan declines Saudi request to join Arab coalition fighting in Yemen? By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Pakistan has virtually declined Saudi Arabia's request to join the Arab coalition fighting its current military operation in to restore the deposed Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi. After days of discussion in media and parliament, a joint session of parliament passed a resolution on Friday (April 10) saying that Pakistan "should maintain neutrality in the conflict so as to be able to play a proactive diplomatic role to end the crisis”. Islamabad finds itself in an awkward position on Yemen, reluctant to offend oil-rich Saudi Arabia with which it has long enjoyed close military and economic ties but also not wanting to get involved in a war that could fan sectarian tensions at home. At the same time, Pakistan needs to build better ties with its immediate neighbor Iran that offers huge prospects of trade and energy imports once sanctions are lifted against Tehran. Read More
The US geostrategic objectives behind the war in Yemen By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: While Saudi Arabia has long considered Yemen a virtual subordinate province and as a part of Riyadh’s sphere of influence, the US wants to make sure that it could control the Bab Al-Mandeb, the Gulf of Aden, and the Socotra Islands. The Bab Al-Mandeb is an important strategic chokepoint for international maritime trade and energy shipments that connects the Persian Gulf via the Indian Ocean with the Mediterranean Sea via the Red Sea. It is just as important as the Suez Canal for the maritime shipping lanes and trade between Africa, Asia, and Europe. Read More
Hardliners on All Sides Undermining Iran's Nuclear Talks By Dr. Stephen Zunes: Reaching an interim nuclear deal with Iran would have been difficult enough even without hardliners in both Iran and the United States seeking to undermine them. Many U.S. critics of the draft treaty deny this, however, naively assuming Iran is as weak as it was several decades ago, when foreigner powers could impose policies and even replace governments at will. Not only have such imperialist intrigues become more difficult overall, the reality is that Iran has, for better or worse, reemerged as a major regional power—as it has been for much of the past two and half millennia. Read More
Kowtowing with Netanyahu – at what price? By Dr. Habib Siddiqui:For too long, the USA and our western friends have been kowtowing with Netanyahu who is a war criminal. He needs to be sent to the ICC for his horrendous crimes in Gaza, which are crimes against humanity. If the world leaders are serious about finding genuine peace in the occupied territories, they must treat the state of Israel the way South Africa was treated in the last phase of her apartheid years. No ifs, ands, or buts! Read More
Kashmir: Urgency in dialogue process By Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai: Numerous proposals have been made in the past for resolving the Kashmir dispute which the neutral agency might take into consideration, such as that proposed by Sir Owen Dixon’s Plan in 1950, Ambassador Yusuf Buch’s Proposal in 2003, to Ambassador Kuldip Nayar’s Proposition in 2014. There are several key issues that have been addressed in such proposals that need to be taken into consideration again. Read More
Plight of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar: Playing politics with the White Cards? By Dr. Habib Siddiqui: In early February this year, the Myanmar parliament approved a proposal by President Thein Sein to allow people with temporary identification “white cards,” most of whom were Rohingya, to vote on a referendum on constitutional amendments to the country’s junta-backed constitution, which could come as early as May. Obviously, as most keen observers would tell you the government measure was a face-saving one under international pressure and never meant in intent and purpose. Read More
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