Ever since the new democratically elected government assumed office in Pakistan, analysts have drawn up exhaustive priority lists of tasks before it. These range from restoring civilian pre-eminence over the military, countering terrorism, building democratic institutions, freedom of the media, and restoration of the judiciary. The new government, however, will do well to also order a review of the use of covert action as an instrument of state policy, which has been a major factor for the ills that afflict Pakistan and undermines its credibility in the international community.

• Satinder K. Saini
• May 28, 2008
• IDSA Comments

A fierce battle in the North and the reported high casualties among Sri Lankan troops at Forward Defence in Muhamalai in the third week of April have placed a question mark on the conjecture that the endgame is up for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). There is no doubt that beginning with the Mavil Aru incident in mid-2006, the LTTE has been facing a major crisis. Its numerical strength has fallen. It is not doing too well in drafting recruits and procuring arms.

• M. Mayilvaganan
• May 16, 2008
• IDSA Comments

Since the beginning of 2007, there has been a sharp increase in global food prices, especially in developing countries. During the past year, the prices of rice and wheat have risen by 75 to 120 per cent globally. During the last 25 years global food production has gone down and has had a cascading effect upon prices.

• Sreeradha Datta
• May 15, 2008
• IDSA Comments

The Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M), a former rebel group, emerged as the largest political party with 220 seats in the April 10 Constituent Assembly (CA) elections. Mainstream political parties like the Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML secured the second and third positions with 110 and 103 seats, respectively. For the first time, a newly formed regional political party, Madhesi Janatantrik (Democratic) Forum has secured fourth position in the elections.

• Nihar R. Nayak
• May 14, 2008
• IDSA Comments

One of the biggest achievements of Musharraf’s rule, according to him, was that he turned around a tottering economy. Rescuing it from the verge of default, he brought it to a state where it was declared a success story by the International Financial Institutions. GDP was growing at a healthy rate of 6.5 to 7.5 per cent and even touched nine per cent in 2005. ADB projected a 6.5 per cent GDP growth for 2008 in its report released in December 2007.

• Alok Bansal
• April 21, 2008
• IDSA Comments

Yousuf Raza Gilani was nominated by Asif Ali Zardari as the PPP candidate for prime ministership on March 22, 2008. On that occasion, Zardari called upon Gilani “to accept the heavy responsibility and lead the coalition government and the nation to greater heights and a glorious future.” Pakistan’s National Assembly elected Gilani as Prime Minister (264 votes to 42 over Pervez Elahi of PML-Q) two days later.

• Ashok K. Behuria
• April 03, 2008
• IDSA Comments

In a statement on February 28, 2008, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) voiced concern about the existing deficiencies in Pakistan’s counter terrorist financing and anti-money laundering system. While acknowledging some progress, the FATF noted that the shortcomings in Pakistan’s national legal framework constituted a money laundering/terrorist financing vulnerability in the international financial system.

• Satinder K. Saini
• March 17, 2008
• IDSA Comments

Pakistan today presents the picture of a nation at war with itself. It is not very often that one sees the armed forces of a state pounding its own citizens with helicopter gunships and heavy artillery. The inferno that had been ablaze in South Waziristan and North Waziristan for some time has now engulfed all the seven agencies of the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) and the flames from FATA have set almost the entire North West Frontier Province (NWFP) on fire.

• Alok Bansal
• February 02, 2008
• IDSA Comments

As the time for the election draws near, the tribal frontier is getting hotter with each passing day. Suddenly rumour mills are active that the new Army Chief is bypassing Musharraf in his interactions with the Americans and is going to allow them some foothold in Pakistan. Americans are now claiming that the Afghan resistance is on the wane and the “level of violent activity in the eastern provinces is down about 40 per cent.”

• Ashok K. Behuria
• January 31, 2008
• IDSA Comments

The assassination of Benazir Bhutto on December 27, 2007 at an election rally in Rawalpindi raises serious doubts about Pakistan’s peaceful political transition to an era of democratic politics. Eight years of Musharraf’s rule has seen growing fundamentalism, political instability and ethnic disaffection. It was thought that reverting to a troika system would bring about the right balance between a democratically elected leader and the Army, which would help arrest disenchantment and address instability.

• Smruti S. Pattanaik
• January 03, 2008
• IDSA Comments