Broadly speaking, two possible explanations have come to be widely accepted on the timing of the quasi-coup in Pakistan. First, having concluded in the wake of the Iraqi occupation and annexation of Kuwait that it would need Pakistan’s support for the confrontation with Saddam Hussein, Washington finally gave a go-ahead … Read More
For him, everything is negotiable, except his own survival The key issue in the crisis in the Gulf is no longer whether Iraq will withdraw, or be made to withdraw, its forces from Kuwait unconditionally but whether Saddam Hussein can survive the withdrawal for any worthwhile period of time. The … Read More
In retrospect, it appears reasonably certain that Devi Lal’s fate was virtually sealed the day he used a forged letter, allegedly written by VP Singh as an MP to President Venkataraman, to lend ‘substance’ to his earlier charge of corruption against Arun Nehru. The issue for VP Singh was no … Read More
As it prepares to meet in Madras next week-end, the BJP leadership has good reason to be fed up with the Janata Dal government. It could not have been treated with greater contempt if its representation in the Lok Sabha was a mere 18 and not 88, as it happens … Read More
No one appears to have any clue to the possible reason or reasons why the Kashmiri terrorists kidnapped Professor Mushirul Haq in the first instance. It is, of course, possible that they chose him just because he happened to occupy a prominent position as vice-chancellor of Kashmir University and/or because … Read More
I must confess that my reaction to Prime Minister VP Singh’s statement on the possibility of war with Pakistan in Parliament last Tuesday is different from the general welcome it has received in the Indian print media. I am a little disturbed by it because I do not see in … Read More
The V.P. Singh government is utterly realistic in dealing with one aspect of the Kashmir problem, however unrealistic it may be otherwise. It has been remarkably quick to recognise that the Hindu refugees from the valley are wholly irrelevant in the determination of its future and has, therefore, decided to … Read More
What should we do now in Kashmir? One faces this question wherever one goes, whatever the occasion. Kashmir has gripped the nation’s mind and psyche as nothing else has since partition. My answer is: First make sure that our political leaders do not throw away Kashmir. Only then can the … Read More
The mini general election has returned a verdict in favour of the status quo in New Delhi, as I hope to be able to establish. Nothing could have been better in the given situation when the country is facing the gravest threat to its integrity since independence and needs a … Read More
It is obvious that, in fundamental sense, the vidhan elections next week do not represent an extension of the Lok Sabha poll last November. Not only is the atmosphere far more relaxed, the nature of the contest is different. It is as much a fight for ascendancy between the Janata … Read More
