During a routine meeting with President Hassan Rouhani and his cabinet members last week, Iran’s Supreme Leader Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei (“Imam Khamenei”) urged the Indian government to “adopt a just policy towards the noble people of Kashmir and refrain from oppressing and bullying the Muslim people” in this region. These statements have officially clarified how Tehran views New Delhi’s unilateral adventurism in the region. Not only has the eerie
Since its independence in 1947, the State of Pakistan has enjoyed a special status in the Muslim world for its pronounced creation in the name of Islam. Muslim residents of Arab countries including Iran, Turkey, occupied Palestine and erstwhile USSR member states were always behind Pakistanis when it came to proper democratic functioning, an efficient bureaucratic/state machine and robust armed forces. In fact, almost a decade before Pakistan came into
The abrupt yet expected revocation of Article 370/ 35-A by the BJP government in India has generated fissures in the South Asian stability equilibrium. To the great dismay of New Delhi, the response from Pakistan has been assertive but not reactive in the manner it desperately desires. Government officials, lawmakers and civil society members have unanimously rejected India’s hegemonic action and vowed to uphold their moral, legal and diplomatic support
On December 21, Mr Sartaj Aziz, the octogenarian Adviser to Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on Foreign Affairs, issued a detailed statement before the Senate of Pakistan on ‘Foreign Policy of Pakistan: Achievements and Challenges’. Mr Aziz highlighted the difficult challenges Pakistan has faced as a member of the world community while also mentioning what he said were the current government’s ‘achievements’ on this crucial domain. Before I embark
The recent meeting between NSAs and Foreign Secretaries of nuclear-armed rivals Pakistan and India in Bangkok caught everyone by surprise. The timing of the meeting, which witnessed participation by other senior officials from both sides, is especially noteworthy. Less than a day after the meeting, it was announced that Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj would be participating in the ‘Heart of Asia’ conference along with a delegation, beginning December
There have been many calling out for a unanimously agreed platform for a more close-knitted Muslim world. Especially with Muslim countries undergoing extreme security situations, a desire to build a NATO-style Muslims-exclusive army seems like a desperate option, yet useful at a time of collective devastation descending over the Muslim world. There is next to no doubt about the fact that Muslims are under a cloud of grievous curse, an
As per the Encyclopedia Britannica, “Although there was a clear Muslim majority in Kashmir before the 1947 partition and its economic, cultural, and geographic contiguity with the Muslim-majority area of the Punjab (in Pakistan) could be convincingly demonstrated, the political developments during and after the partition resulted in a division of the region….” Sixty eight years ago the maharaja of Kashmir decided to join India instead of Pakistan even though