Pakistan

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi didn't directly mention Pakistan or China in his Saturday speech to the United Nations General Assembly but the targets of his address were clear. He called upon the international community to help the women, children and minorities of Afghanistan and said that it was imperative the country not be used as a base from which to spread terror. “We also need to be alert and ensure that no country tries to take advantage of the delicate situation there, and use it as a tool for its own selfish interests,” he said in an apparent reference to Pakistan, wedged in between Afghanistan and India. Modi also highlighted what he called the need to protect oceans from “the race for expansion and exclusion.” India and China have long competed for influence in the Indian Ocean. On the heels of waves of coronavirus surges that have ravaged India, Modi made no mention of his own country's death toll. But he reaffirmed last week's announcement …

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The atmosphere in Gaza is always febrile, but I’ve rarely witnessed anything like this. Fear has torn through ordinary life here: cafes closed, weddings cancelled, markets shut down. Friends and colleagues speak of little else. While 2 million people wait in dread, those who can are working tirelessly to avert disaster. We’ve been watching as Covid-19 has spread around the globe, overwhelming well-equipped healthcare systems. Then, a week ago, we received devastating news: the first confirmed cases of coronavirus in Gaza. Two men, recently returned from Pakistan, tested positive after arriving in Gaza via the Rafah crossing with Egypt . More than 2,000 people are now in quarantine, with 12 cases confirmed. Meanwhile, authorities, NGOs and health workers are in a race against time to contain the spread. We can’t do it alone. We need international support to help contain the virus, equip our medical teams and end the human rights violations that have undermined …

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(The Political Line newsletter is India’s political landscape explained every week by Varghese K. George, senior editor at The Hindu . You can subscribe here to get the newsletter in your inbox every Friday.) In a swift, stealth political operation, the Gandhi siblings, Rahul and Priyanka, unseated Amarinder Singh in Punjab overnight, but the succession battle that followed exposed lack of planning or strategy. At the end of a chaotic jostling, Charanjit Channi became the Chief Minister. He happens to be a Dalit, and his selection is now being cited as an act of exceptional political calculus. At least six points that are notable about the entire Punjab episode need elaboration. Congress MP Rahul Gandhi greets new Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi after the latter took the oath of office at Raj Bhawan in Chandigarh on September 20, 2021. | Photo Credit: PTI Rahul Gandhi is being bold. He is no longer bound by the compulsion to defer to the old …

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Following the bilateral discussions between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Joe Biden, India and the U.S. released a joint statement on their ‘Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership’, that spoke of cooperation in regional groupings, defence manufacturing, and climate. The statement also denounced the use of “terrorist proxies” and said Afghanistan should not become a safe haven for terror. However, it did not announce any major deliverables, especially so with trade, talks around which will recommence by the end of the year. Also Read India, U.S. ties entering a new chapter: Biden Titled, ‘A Partnership for Global Good’, the statement says the two countries would work with regional groups like ASEAN and with Quad members to promote a ‘free and open Indo-Pacific’ and developing a trade and investment partnership “that increases prosperity for working families in both countries.” On trade — which Mr. Modi, but not Mr. Biden, explicitly mentioned …

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Terming India the “mother of all democracies”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a defence of the state of democracy in India at the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday, referring to his own journey as a politician as an example in his speech. In a wide ranging address, that began with a condolence message for victims of the Covid pandemic, Mr. Modi spoke about climate change, poverty alleviation, developments in Afghanistan, and UN Security Council reform. He also took aim at Pakistan and China respectively with references to support to terror groups and violating the international rules based order. However, Mr. Modi did not mention either country by name, in contrast to Pakistan PM Imran Khan who named India more than a dozen times, in a speech that focused on Kashmir. India later responded to his speech. “I represent a country known as the mother of all democracies,” Mr. Modi said, adding that India has entered its 75th year of independence but had …

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In the 1990s, when the Taliban emerged out of the Mujahideen, that had fought and defeated the Soviet army with the help of Pakistan and the U.S., Afghanistan was truly a forgotten land. Little was written about the Taliban’s rise, or about the Northern Alliance’s resistance to their brutal and arcane regime, as focus had moved to other conflicts, like the Gulf war, genocide in Rwanda, and the Balkanisation of the Balkans (Yugoslavia). The 9/11 attacks changed all of that, and with it came a series of accounts in the past two decades, on the U.S. defeat of the Taliban in revenge for the losses it suffered, botched attempts by U.S. and NATO forces at controlling the violence, and the British and American initiative for talks with Taliban leaders, aimed at ending their military engagement with the country. Some books went further, pinning the West’s refusal to hold Pakistan to account for its role in harbouring and funding the Taliban for the mounting losses, as in Carlotta Gall’s The …

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Lauding Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address at the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday, the BJP said he spoke like a statesman and his speech has made the country proud. BJP president JP Nadda said in a statement that Mr Modi had hoisted India's ideological flag in the world and claimed that the attention that the international community pays to him shows that India has established itself as a major power under his leadership. Mr Modi has only one goal, which is to make India "vishwa guru" again, he said. Mr Nadda said that the prime minister voiced India's views on a variety of issues strongly and drew the world's attention towards global issues. His address at the UNGA shows the path of inclusive development to the whole world, the BJP chief said. Noting that Mr Modi spoke on issues ranging from COVID-19 and vaccination to terrorism and maritime boundaries, Mr Nadda lauded him for working to bring the international community together. Modi has shown the world …

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India and Pakistan are both democracies in form, if not necessarily in substance. If India enjoys a higher status as a democracy, it’s partly because Pakistan’s all-powerful army is able to undermine democratic institutions at will. But you don’t need the military to subvert a democracy. It can also be done through the non-military arm of the security establishment. These include the police, intelligence agencies, the Central Bureau of Investigation, the National Investigation Agency, the Anti-Terrorist Squad, and a multitude of other organisations that, although not an integral part of the ‘security establishment’, do share its capacity to inflict pain, such as the Enforcement Directorate, the Income Tax department, and so on. Fake world In his previous book, A Feast of Vultures , Josy Joseph, an award-winning investigating journalist, documented how corruption has hollowed out India’s governance structures. His latest, The Silent Coup , dwells on the degeneration of the …

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