Praful Bidwai

If Pakistan’s president, General Pervez Musharraf, wanted to send a shiver down the spine of the international community, and remind it that South Asia still remains the world’s most dangerous place, he could not have done so more effectively than he did last Monday while addressing Air Force veterans in Karachi. Gen Musharraf said he … Continue reading “Musharraf’s Speech Raises the Nuclear Danger”

The resounding victory of the Hindu-nationalist and rabidly anti-secular, anti-Islam, anti-Pakistan Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in legislative Assembly elections in the western state of Gujarat has dangerous implications not just for India’s domestic politics, but for the whole of South Asia. In particular, New Delhi’s policies on Kashmir and on relations with Pakistan are likely … Continue reading “Hindu-Nationalist Victory in Gujarat Spells Trouble for South Asia”

A little over two weeks after North Korea shocked the world by admitting that it has a clandestine nuclear weapons acquisition programme, some more dismaying facts have come to light. The most stunning of these may be the world’s first instance of the actual transfer, from one state to another, of advanced know-how to make … Continue reading “A North Korea-Pakistan Connection?”

The Indian government has announced the de-escalation and demobilisation – or, as it prefers to call it "re-deployment" – of over half a million troops which it amassed at the border with Pakistan ten months ago. Pakistan has decided to reciprocate this move. Over the next six weeks or so, this will bring to an … Continue reading “De-escalation, But No Thaw Yet”

As the beat of America’s war-drums against Iraq gets louder, the Indian government finds itself in an untenably contradictory situation: should it support a United Nations-endorsed attack against Iraq’s "terrorist" Saddam Hussein regime, as part of US President George W. Bush’s "global war against terrorism", which it zealously and unconditionally welcomed a year ago? Or … Continue reading “Missile Tests Foment New Rivalries”

As the beat of America’s war-drums against Iraq gets louder, the Indian government finds itself in an untenably contradictory situation: should it support a United Nations-endorsed attack against Iraq’s "terrorist" Saddam Hussein regime, as part of US President George W. Bush’s "global war against terrorism", which it zealously and unconditionally welcomed a year ago? Or … Continue reading “India In a Trap on Iraq”

Now that the first of four phases of the "litmus-test" elections to the legislative Assembly of the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) is over, India and Pakistan have instantly locked horns over their representative character and significance. This renewed rivalry could seriously affect the remaining three phases and the people’s responses, and in turn further aggravate … Continue reading “Portents From the Kashmir Polls”

NB: Claims and counter-claims by India and Pakistan about an August 23 intrusion across the border raise disturbing questions about their communication links and their deterrent equation. Ten days ago, India’s new foreign minister Yashwant Sinha and Pakistan’s recently appointed minister of state for foreign affairs Inamul Haq warmly shook hands in Kathmandu on the … Continue reading “A Mysterious Attack Across the LoC”

When Japan’s Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi rose to speak at Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park at 8:26 a.m. this past August 6, that is to say, precisely 11 minutes past the sounding of the Peace Bell which commemorates the world’s first dropping of the nuclear bomb, he could have barely imagined the negative impact his address … Continue reading “Hiroshima Under the Shadow of 9/11”

One of the salutary lessons from the scary India-Pakistan standoff (which has still not ended) is that the political and military leadership of neither country can be trusted to desist from nuclear brinkmanship, even downright nuclear adventurism. More than a billion people in South Asia once again came close to the brink of a nuclear … Continue reading “Reducing the Nuclear Danger”