Podcasts about musharraf

(0:00) Intro(0:33) Surah Ra'ad, Surah Ibrahim(0:59) Sky Without Pillars: Allah ki qudrat(1:56) Aik desi mulhid ke clip par Qaisar Raja ka jawab(5:04) Russian doctor ne jab Mufti sahab ki murghiyan dekhin – Murghi ke andon par mehnat aur andon se choozay nikalne ka process, Allah ke wajood ka saboot hai(8:55) Make viral Qaisar Raja's YouTube channel(9:58) Mufti sahab ki taraf se chai ki dawat(10:23) Mufti sahab ki murghiyon ke yadgar waqia mein khawateen ke liye naseehat(11:55) Kainat ki management (Sooraj aur chaand ki khaas gardish)(12:56) Zameen par pahaar aur pani(13:10) Pairing system(13:41) Single hona aisa hai(14:25) Raat aur din ka nizaam(15:06) Aik hi zameen aur pani se mukhtalif rang/zaiqay ke phal(17:13) Allah ki qudrat par hairangi vs mushrikeen ka dobara zindagi par hairangi(20:19) Kainat ki har cheez, Allah ko sajda kar rahi hai(20:56) Barish ke pani se safai ki tarah haqq ki barish se khara/khota alag hona(22:52) Deen ke daai ko Allah ki tasalli(23:38) Don't get impressed by YouTube/Facebook comments(24:02) G. Musharraf ki fan following(24:30) Reality of social media fan following(26:44) Sabaq amoz farzi qissa(28:07) Batil ki pehchan(28:40) Barish na hone ka nuqsan(29:59) Naik logon ki sifaat(30:08) Wa'ada poora karna, rishtay jorna, sabar karna, namaz parhna, charity(31:15) Taqwa ka haiza(35:54) Ashab-e-Kahf ka taqwa(36:57) Dikha kar charity karne ka faida(38:41) Tabligh mein burai ka badla achhai se dena(39:02) Jannatiyon ki aulad bhi jannati(40:20) Dozakhiyon ki sifaat(40:27) Wa'ada torna, rishtay torna, zameen mein fasad phailana(41:15) Kafon ki dolat se mutasir log(41:54) Jab dozakhi dozakh mein chalay jaayenge to Shaitan ka ailaan-e-bara'at(44:11) Jannatiyon ki nematain(44:27) Kalma-e-Tauheed ki misaal(45:50) Hazrat Ibrahim (AS) ki dua Makkah ke liye(46:53) Thailand mein har hotel mein button ka maqsad(47:27) Tasveer sazi ke ehkaam(49:18) Hinduon ne Muhammad Bin Qasim ki tasveer kyun banai?(51:02) Hazrat Ibrahim (AS) ki dua aur qurbaniyon ka phal(54:48) Zalimon ki saza ka asool Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Manmohan Singh was an appointed Prime Minister, not an elected one. A wise economist, he was aware of his limitations. Notwithstanding, his tenure in public office was eventful: liberalisation of the Indian economy, Indo-US nuclear deal, devaluation of Indian rupee, and conversations with Pakistan's Musharraf. In Episode 1581 of Cut The Clutter, Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta recalls his interactions with Dr Singh—filled with candor, intellect, and wisdom.----more----Watch Walk the Talk with Dr Manmohan Singh's here: https://www.ndtv.com/video/walk-the-talk-with-dr-manmohan-singh-aired-february-2004-360298----more----Read Walk the Talk with Dr Manmohan Singh's transcript here: https://theprint.in/walk-the-talk/bjp-never-believed-in-reform-what-ex-pm-manmohan-singh-said-in-2004/2285419/----more----Watch Walk the Talk with PV Narsimha Rao's here: https://www.ndtv.com/video/walk-the-talk-p-v-narasimha-rao-296375----more----Read Walk the Talk with PV Narsimha Rao's transcript here: https://theprint.in/walk-the-talk/this-secret-will-perish-with-me-when-narasimha-rao-was-asked-if-india-delayed-nuclear-test/1961746/

Clive Stafford Smith OBE is a civil rights and internationally acclaimed lawyer currently representing Dr. Aafia Siddiqui in her quest for justice and release. His advocacy has enabled Aafia's sister to meet her in prison for the first time in 20 years. Recently, Clive returned from Afghanistan, where he uncovered new evidence that could significantly impact Aafia's case. AAFIA MOVEMENT LINKS INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/aafiamovementofficial?igsh=Y2I5a3cxdzR5Y2dh YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/@aafiamovementofficial7361?si=n_DYeo1D5gBc1FAk FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/aafiamovement.official?mibextid=ZbWKwL TIKTOK https://www.tiktok.com/@aafiamovementofficial WEBSITE: https://aafiamovement.com/ To send Letters to Aafia in Prison Letters4Aafia@gmail.com Fundraiser for Donations (Zakat Eligible): www.muslimgiving.org/freeaafia WhatsApp: +92 3000901258 WhatsApp Activist Group: https://chat.whatsapp.com/DiigWDMmzPYIRBBCkqIwZd The Pakistan Experience is an independently produced podcast looking to tell stories about Pakistan through conversations. Please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thepakistanexperience To support the channel: Jazzcash/Easypaisa - 0325 -2982912 Patreon.com/thepakistanexperience And Please stay in touch: https://twitter.com/ThePakistanExp1 https://www.facebook.com/thepakistanexperience https://instagram.com/thepakistanexpeperience The podcast is hosted by comedian and writer, Shehzad Ghias Shaikh. Shehzad is a Fulbright scholar with a Masters in Theatre from Brooklyn College. He is also one of the foremost Stand-up comedians in Pakistan and frequently writes for numerous publications. Instagram.com/shehzadghiasshaikh Facebook.com/Shehzadghias/ Twitter.com/shehzad89 Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC44l9XMwecN5nSgIF2Dvivg/join Chapters: 0:00 Introduction and Afghanistan 3:40 What is currently happening in the Dr. Aafia Siddiqui case 4:55 Post 9/11 America 9:30 Guantanamo Bay and the Nuclear Bomb Theory 12:30 Binyam Mohammad Story 15:52 Mohammad Al Gherani Story 18:30 Musharraf sold Pakistanis 23:00 How Dr. Aafia got on FBI's radar 25:27 Amjad Khan and Dr. Aafia's marriage and issues 29:00 The Majid Khan PO Box story 32:00 Dr. Aafia's marriage to Ammar Al Balochi 35:34 Story of Younus Chekhouri 38:18 KSM named Dr. Aafia 44:30 FBI's Most Wanted and Amjad Khan 47:30 Shams ul Hasan 49:30 Aafia Siddiqui's Abduction and time in Afghanistan 56:30 Bagram Base and the Prisoner 650 thing is wrong 1:03:40 Why would the Americans let her go? and the bn al-Shaykh al-Libi story 1:10:30 The Ghazni Story and Dr Aafia's Capture 1:23:00 Story of Dr Aafia attacking US Soldiers 1:31:30 The case in New York against Dr. Aafia Siddiqui 1:40:43 Dr. Aafia Siddiqui's Mental and Physical Health 1:47:00 Options now for Dr. Aafia Siddiqui and What People Can Do 1:56:00 Does the State of Pakistan want Dr. Aafia Siddiqui back? 1:59:00 Audience Questions

Miftah Ismail is the former Finance Minister of Pakistan and the General Secretary of Awaam Pakistan. Miftah Ismail comes back on TPE to discuss whether the Economy has stabilized, IPPs, IMF, Elite Capture, Education, Awaam Pakistan, Constitutional Amendments, Politics and more. The Pakistan Experience is an independently produced podcast looking to tell stories about Pakistan through conversations. Please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thepakistanexperience To support the channel: Jazzcash/Easypaisa - 0325 -2982912 Patreon.com/thepakistanexperience And Please stay in touch: https://twitter.com/ThePakistanExp1 https://www.facebook.com/thepakistanexperience https://instagram.com/thepakistanexpeperience The podcast is hosted by comedian and writer, Shehzad Ghias Shaikh. Shehzad is a Fulbright scholar with a Masters in Theatre from Brooklyn College. He is also one of the foremost Stand-up comedians in Pakistan and frequently writes for numerous publications. Instagram.com/shehzadghiasshaikh Facebook.com/Shehzadghias/ Twitter.com/shehzad89 Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC44l9XMwecN5nSgIF2Dvivg/join Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 2:00 Has the Economy stabilized? 9:27 PSDP budget, Defence Budget and Development 15:30 Economic Structure of Pakistan and Elite Capture 22:44 Elite Capture, Fertilizer subsidies and Gas 29:27 Trickle down Economics and Free Market 38:16 IPPs and Musharraf's policies 47:45 2016-2017 what went wrong with the Economy 53:50 Awaam Pakistan: Why should people vote for you? 1:04:40 Is Awaam Pakistan pro Establishment or anti Establishment? 1:12:40 Karachi Business Community and fighting the elite 1:14:42 What makes Miftah Ismail different from Imran Khan and PTI? 1:18:20 Constitutional amendments and Political Consensus 1:27:47 Audience Questions

In this episode, Sahil Adeem discusses the critical conversation between General Musharraf and Dr. Israr Ahmed on the Ulema's influence over Pakistan's national decisions. Discover how Islamic scholars shape the country's political and strategic direction. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Vikram Jit Singh is a distinguished journalist and columnist. With a career spanning several decades, he has gained recognition for his in-depth reporting and analysis on defense and security issues. Singh served as a war correspondent, notably covering the Kargil War and counter-terrorism operations in Kashmir from 1997 to 1999 and again in 2004. His frontline experiences during these conflicts have provided him with unique insights into military operations and the challenges faced by the Indian armed forces. In addition to his written work, Singh is a TV analyst specializing in defense, where he offers expert commentary and analysis on current military and security affairs. 00:00 Musharraf crossed LoC in March 1999 02:06 Kargil War started on 6th May? 5:05 Pak started Kargil intrusion in 1998 10:22 Army top brass ignored intrusion signs 14:53 Kargil was not intelligence failure 17:26 Army keeps repeating THIS MISTAKE 23:57 Vikram Jit climbs Tololing with soldiers 26:58 When Vikram Jit faced Pak shelling 30:30 When Indian soldiers buried Pak soldiers 31:32 Vikram Jit's Near death experience 33:20 Experience of Bofors in action at night 36:17 Bravest of Brave - Naik Digendra Kumar 39:32 Indians don't even know about these Kargil Veers 41:39 Integrity of Rifleman Kripal Singh 43:35 Veer Wife of Lance Naik Durg Narayan Shreshth 47:32 Incompetent Generals got soldiers killed 50:36 Generals misled Vajpayee government also 52:16 Generals got medals instead of punishment 55:29 Not crossing LoC was a BIG MISTAKE 58:15 What India lost by not crossing LoC 1:01:38 Unsung heroes of Kargil War 1:07:29 It was HELL for Indian soldiers 1:13:01 There were COWARD soldiers also 1:15:11 Story of A Pak soldier Rommel Akram 1:18:47 GREAT ROLE of Infantry Forward Officers 1:21:30 How Vikram Jit used to report from Kargil

Zahid Hussain comes on for an explosive episode of The Pakistan Experience on the history of militancy in Pakistan. On this episode, Zahid Hussain talks about TTP 2.0, Afghanistan, Kashmir, the 1980s, Benazir Bhutto, Hamid Gul, Musharraf, Lal Masjid, Baloch Insurgency, 9th May and more. Zahid Hussain is an award-winning journalist and writer. He is a correspondent for The Times of London and The Wall Street Journal. He also has covered Pakistan and Afghanistan for several other international publications, including Newsweek, the Associated Press and The Economist. Hussain has authored two books: Frontline Pakistan: The struggle with militant Islam (2007) and The scorpion's Tail: The relentless rise of Islamic militants in Pakistan (2010). The books have won widespread acclaim as seminal texts on the subject. The Pakistan Experience is an independently produced podcast looking to tell stories about Pakistan through conversations. Please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thepakistanexperience To support the channel: Jazzcash/Easypaisa - 0325 -2982912 Patreon.com/thepakistanexperience And Please stay in touch: https://twitter.com/ThePakistanExp1 https://www.facebook.com/thepakistanexperience https://instagram.com/thepakistanexpeperience The podcast is hosted by comedian and writer, Shehzad Ghias Shaikh. Shehzad is a Fulbright scholar with a Masters in Theatre from Brooklyn College. He is also one of the foremost Stand-up comedians in Pakistan and frequently writes for numerous publications. Instagram.com/shehzadghiasshaikh Facebook.com/Shehzadghias/ Twitter.com/shehzad89 Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:15 TTP 2.0, Militancy and Afghan Policy 8:30 History of Militant Policy in Pakistan and Kashmir 14:00 ISI and the 1980s 17:49 Pakistan as a Frontline State 20:30 Benazir Bhutto's policy on militancy and her assassination's 28:30 Musharraf and Zia-ul-Haq 34:30 Lal Masjid, State Patronage and Legacy 43:00 Musharraf, Bugti and Baloch Insurgency 56:30 State Policy, Doctrines and 9th May 1:05:32 Audience Questions

In our latest podcast, we dissect the events of May 9, 2023, in Pakistan and the infamous Capitol Hill incident in the U.S. Tune in as we explore the dangerous parallels between these seemingly disparate events, sparked by populism, that threaten to undermine democracy in both nations. In Pakistan, we witnessed the alarming rage of the populist political party, PTI, as workers vandalized government and military installations, reminiscent of the aggressive scenes at the U.S Capitol Hill earlier. We discuss how the bitter results of the U.S election spurred Trump's supporters to breach Capitol Hill, highlighting the power of misinformation and the perilous potential of a polarized public. The podcast delves into the dangerous mindset being nurtured, one that transcends borders and can have catastrophic consequences. We discuss Pakistan's military establishment's history of political engineering, from General Saul Haq to President Musharraf, and its current experiment with the charismatic cricket-star-turned-politician. We liken this to the rise of a celebrity leader in the U.S, leading us to question the potential risks of such populist experiments. Drawing parallels with historical events, we refer to Samiri's exploitation of the people in Prophet Moses's absence, as mentioned in the Quran. This serves as a warning that history can repeat itself if the public remains gullible to political manipulation. The episode sheds light on the perils of populism, examining how it can potentially foster a dangerous form of modern fascism. We highlight how social media can amplify these risks by blowing minor issues out of proportion, thereby contributing to the problem. Our conversation extends to the broader context of the ongoing tussle between old and new establishments in Pakistan and the international forces intent on destabilizing the region. However, we also recognize the diverse stakeholders in Pakistan, from Shia Muslims and Urdu speakers to the Baloch and Pashtun tribal belts, who, despite their grievances, have resisted resorting to violent protests. Join us as we navigate this complex political landscape, advocating for rational protest and dialogue over destruction. Let's learn from our past to build a more resilient future.

Danny and Derek welcome to the program Arsalan Khan, assistant professor of anthropology at Union College, for a primer on Imran Khan, Pakistan's cricket star-turned-prime minister-turned-opposition leader. They discuss his celebrity background, his early ideology, the state of Pakistan in the the 1990s, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), his relationship with the military, activity during the Musharraf government, his term as prime minister, the subsequent no confidence vote, and more.Keep your eyes out for Dr. Khan's book The Promise of Piety: Islam and the Politics of Moral Order in Pakistan, coming soon on Cornell University Press! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.americanprestigepod.com/subscribe

The so-called ‘conspiracy theorists' are scoring points left and right: Yes, the NSA is spying on everyone. Yes, strange things went down at Area 51. And now, yes again, Lady Di was murdered. With Scotland Yard “assessing [the] relevance and credibility” of surrounding her death nearly 16 years ago, what does this say about the current state of political assassinations? Should we ask Musharraf? Tonight on Ground Zero, Clyde Lewis welcomes Paranoia Magazine‘s Editor-In-Chief, Elana Freeland, back to the show to help us reopen the case of the ‘Killer Queen: Royal Hounds On The Grassy Knoll‘!Originally Broadcast On 08/20/2013

TPE's Book of the month was Hussain Haqqani's 'Between the Mosque and the Military' - in this video we discuss the first three chapters of the book. The third and last part of the series looks at the lost decade of the 90s. CORRECTION: Ghulam Ishaq Khan is Taimur Jhagra's Nana not Dada. Watch the first episode in this three part series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDqAxVwTTp0 Watch the second episode in this three part series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqoUvVAurx0 Watch the podcast with Hussain Haqqani: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1whXAXmn9A&t=0s Essay on Musharraf's legacy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0Uzgx1x8mE The Pakistan Experience is an independently produced podcast looking to tell stories about Pakistan through conversations. Please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thepakistanexperience To support the channel: Jazzcash/Easypaisa - 0325 -2982912 Patreon.com/thepakistanexperience And Please stay in touch: https://twitter.com/ThePakistanExp1https://www.facebook.com/thepakistanexperiencehttps://instagram.com/thepakistanexpeperience The podcast is hosted by comedian and writer, Shehzad Ghias Shaikh. Shehzad is a Fulbright scholar with a Masters in Theatre from Brooklyn College. He is also one of the foremost Stand-up comedians in Pakistan and frequently writes for numerous publications. Instagram.com/shehzadghiasshaikh Facebook.com/Shehzadghias/ Twitter.com/shehzad89

A version of this essay has been published by rediff.com at https://www.rediff.com/news/column/rajeev-srinivasan-target-eject-modi/20230208.htmNow that the hosannas to Pervez Musharraf have reached a crescendo (eg. Michael Kugelman of Foreign Policy: “...[he] could have well authored a peace deal with India”) perhaps it's worth remembering not only the ‘how' of the Gujarat riots of 2002, but also the ‘why'. People seem to be suffering from selective amnesia about what happened then, and that's what the BBC's hatchet-job on Modi is taking advantage of. Most of us have forgotten. I was paying close attention then, and wrote quite a bit about what happened, but the details are a bit hazy. And so it is easy to ‘frame' the events in ways that push certain agendas. Here are a few facts that I remember from those days:* Narendra Modi was an unknown then. He had been thrust into the limelight after the Bhuj Earthquake in 2001, and underwent a baptism by fire, so to speak* After the torching of the Sabarmati Express and the gruesome burning alive of 59 pilgrims, the chatterati felt that they deserved it for being Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya. The Washington Post quoted Teesta Setalvad saying exactly that * There were no funeral processions for the dead, which would have inflamed passions; indeed the dead remain nameless, and nobody knows their individual stories. This is in sharp contrast to the funeral processions of slain terrorists in J&K, and tear-jerking stories from sympathetic media about their being sons of headmasters or whatever* The Sabarmati Express burning was perpetrated on February 27th, riots began on the 28th, and the Indian Army was on the ground one day later, on March 1st. But analysts pretended that February has 31 days, and said “Modi did nothing for 3 days”* Nearby Congress governments (eg in Madhya Pradesh) refused to send armed police contingents that might have controlled the riots* There is, in the background, the massing of the Indian Army at the Pakistan border, in Operation Parakram. The Gujarat riots entirely dissipated the momentum behind a possible punitive invasion.I wrote several columns at the time, and re-reading them brings up a number of points I had forgotten: Blaming the hindu victim http://usnews.rediff.com/news/2002/mar/07rajeev.htm, Godhra, secular progressives https://www.rediff.com/news/2002/mar/25rajeev.htm, Predatory intelligentsia https://www.rediff.com/news/2002/may/13rajeev.htm Most of the focus of the coverage has been on the riots, in which officially 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus were killed. There was a Banerjee Commission that concluded the train coach had been subject to spontaneous combustion. A Supreme Court SIT concluded, on the contrary, that there was a conspiracy to set the coach on fire. Activists contributed plenty of disinformation.Thus a lot has been said about how the riots happened, but there has been relatively little about why they did. That's where Operation Parakram and Musharraf (who was in power in Pakistan at the time) come into the picture. By several accounts, Musharraf was a good tactician, but a poor strategist, as seen, for example, in the Kargil War: he had the advantage of surprise, but he was forced into an ignominious retreat. The same thing was probably behind the Parliament attack on 13th December 2001. In the wake of the September 2001 (“9/11”) attack on the World Trade Center in New York, Pakistan was facing heat from the Americans for possibly harboring Osama bin Laden. What better than to divert attention with an assault on the hated BJP government in India, using terrorist cannon-fodder? There had also been an attack on the J&K Assembly in October 2001, for which there had been no serious consequences. Tactically clever, but not so strategic. For, not only did the attacks fail to do any major damage, it got India so riled up that under Operation Parakram India massed troops on the border. The signal was that India was going to invade, despite the Pakistani threat of first use of nuclear warheads. India seemed resolute, and counter-mobilization was getting expensive to sustain. There was interesting chatter on the leftist Internet at the time that ‘something' would happen to break the deadlock (I was not aware of it then, but it was discussed by the Bharat-Rakshak forum). Lefties knew something would happen, but not what it was. And that ‘something' was quite likely the Sabarmati Express burning. It was a tactical success: India had to abandon Operation Parakram. But perhaps it was a strategic failure because it launched Narendra Modi's national political career, and here we are in 2023: Musharraf is dead, Modi is popular, and the Indian economy is doing rather well. Of course, there are forces that are not so happy with all this: e.g. the very same Deep State that likes Armani-suited, Gucci-wearing generalissimos like Musharraf. There is a regime-change operation in the works. First, there was Victoria Nuland, the architect of Ukraine's regime-change (and we all know how well that has turned out for Ukraine), who showed up in Delhi last year, and met the usual suspects. Then there has been a slew of recent activity that is, one might hypothesize, aimed at containing India's rise, and a key aspect of it is ejecting Modi. The full-court press on India over Ukraine, the BBC ‘documentary', the Oxfam report, the Hindenburg attack on Adani and obliquely on the Indian economy, and any number of other acts are signs that India is a target. The most recent incident is a visit by Hillary Clinton to Gujarat. A case could have been made for denying her a visa, for war crimes in Libya on her watch, including the brutal killing of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. That would only have been sweet revenge for the US denying Modi a visa citing the Gujarat riots. Modi, as the WSJ reports, was the only person ever denied a visa based on an obscure law on religious freedom.The attention being paid to India by the Deep State is alarming. We can expect any number of additional acts. The 2024 Election Season is well and truly up and running, although it would be wise of Deep State to focus on what's happening in the US: their candidate may well lose, given the stories coming out of the woodwork about election manipulation. 1050 words, 7 Feb 2023 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rajeevsrinivasan.substack.com

Most Americans hadn't seen or heard the name of former Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf for many years before news broke of his death earlier this month. Musharraf had been ill, living a quiet existence in self-imposed exile in Dubai, a long way in space and time from his once esteemed position as an important U.S. ally in the war against the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. Musharraf's reluctant embrace of the U.S. war helped lead to his downfall, as it riled segments of Pakistan's population of fundamentalist Islamists who opposed helping the U.S. oust the Taliban from Kabul. As the backlash to his policies escalated, Musharraf became increasingly despotic, ultimately suspending the Pakistani constitution and imposing emergency rule in 2007. In this episode, New America national security expert Peter Bergen discusses the legacy of a ruler who, after coming to power in a bloodless coup in 1999, relented to U.S. "with us or against us" ultimatums. In the end, American interests could never align with Pakistan's strategy of backing a Pashtun force in Afghanistan for strategic depth against India.

Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman comes on TPE for a fiery episode of the podcast where we discuss Karachi, local body elections, PTI, Aurat March, JI's history, dictatorships, the role of a mayor and JI's vision for Karachi. What is JI's vision for Pakistan? Will Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman be able to deliver for Karachi? Will we see restrictions on Karachi's culture? Find out this and more on this week's episode of The Pakistan Experience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXMrYmPtDW8 The Pakistan Experience is an independently produced podcast looking to tell stories about Pakistan through conversations. Please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thepakistanexperience To support the channel: Jazzcash/Easypaisa - 0325 -2982912 Patreon.com/thepakistanexperience Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman is the Ameer of JI Karachi, the President of Al-Khidmat in Karachi and JI's candidate for mayor for Karachi. And Please stay in touch: https://twitter.com/ThePakistanExp1 https://www.facebook.com/thepakistanexperience https://instagram.com/thepakistanexpeperience The podcast is hosted by comedian and writer, Shehzad Ghias Shaikh. Shehzad is a Fulbright scholar with a Masters in Theatre from Brooklyn College. He is also one of the foremost Stand-up comedians in Pakistan and frequently writes for numerous publications. Instagram.com/shehzadghiasshaikh Facebook.com/Shehzadghias/ Twitter.com/shehzad89 Chapters: 0:00 New mayor, election recounts 13:49 Coalition governments, culture, Aurat March 30:38 Infrastructural work and cantonments 40:26 JI history, dictatorships, Zia and Musharraf, martial law 59:38 Tanker mafia, infrastructural tax and reforms 1:07:50 QnA ( national politics, extremist parties) 1:20:41 QnA (JI identity, religious policing) 1:37:10 QnA ( Trans rights, religious legality) 1:42:13 QnA (Provincial identity, quota system)

Where the pod meanders - rather unpreparedly - through the budget, wades into the Hindenburg row, samples some bloody sweet Leo, plays through the Asia and indeed the World Cups and finished on the passing of Gen. Musharraf and Vani Jairam.

In this episode, we talk about the silent strikes in Myanmar marking two years since the country's military coup. We also look at security in Pakistan in the wake of a suicide bomb blast in Peshawar, and the spiralling impact of the country's debt crisis on the wellbeing of citizens. In “Around Southasia in Five Minutes”, we discuss the impact of a report by Hindenburg Research accusing the Adani Group of stock manipulation and marketing fraud, the Indian National Congress's recently concluded Bharat Jodo Yatra, the controversy surrounding the citizenship of the politician Rabi Lamichchane in Nepal, the release of the Sri Lankan student activist Wasantha Mudalige, the contentious Maldivian presidential primaries, and much more. For “Bookmarked”, we talk about the documentary ‘The Elephant Whisperers', shot in the Nilgiri Mountaints in Tamil Nadu, which has been nominated for an Oscar. Full episode and transcript: https://www.himalmag.com/silent-strikes-myanmar-coup-militancy-debt-pakistan-peshawar-elephant-whisperers/ Episode notes: Resisting a coup: https://www.himalmag.com/resisting-a-coup-myanmar-interview-2021/ Southasiasphere episode 25 January 2023: https://www.himalmag.com/southasiasphere-protests-gwadar-bbc-documentary-modi-gujarat-riots-tamil-fiction-translation/ Rebound or relapse: Debt restructuring in a time of crisis: https://www.himalmag.com/debt-restructuring-imf-economic-crisis-southasia/ Pakistan needs to go beyond the 18th amendment to end the military's role in politics: https://www.himalmag.com/pakistan-military-beyond-18th-amendment-constitution-politics/ Musharraf's last stand: https://www.himalmag.com/musharrafs-last-stand/ Adani Group: How the world's third richest man is pulling the largest con in corporate history: https://hindenburgresearch.com/adani/ The Elephant Whisperers: https://www.netflix.com/title/81312835 Southasiasphere is our roundup of news events and analysis of regional affairs, now out twice a month. If you are a member, you will automatically receive links to the new episodes in your inbox. If you are not yet a member, you can still get it for free by signing up here: https://himalmag.us3.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=0c87df9f0948bcfa1bc80d2b4&id=2c748501e0

Photo: No known restrictions on publication. @Batchelorshow #Pakistan:What to remember of the double game by the late General Musharraf? Bill Roggio, FDD. https://news.yahoo.com/officials-plane-carrying-musharrafs-body-200253641.html

*) Erdogan declares seven-day national mourning in Türkiye over deadly quakes President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced seven days of national mourning in Türkiye after deadly earthquakes shook several provinces, killing at least 3,381 people and injuring 20,426 others. A 7.7 earthquake hit the country's southern Kahramanmaras Province at 4:17 am local time Monday, triggering numerous aftershocks and strongly shaking several neighbouring provinces and a few countries. A second earthquake of 7.6 magnitude also struck Kahramanmaras at 1:24 pm local time. Authorities fear the death toll will keep climbing as thousands of rescuers look for survivors among tangles of metal and concrete. *) War-torn Syria grapples with aftermath of deadly quake centred in Türkiye The 7.7 magnitude earthquake centred in southern Türkiye sent residents of Damascus and Beirut rushing into the street and was felt as far away as Cairo. The impact was felt hard in northern Syria where people are already suffering under a 12-year civil war and a refugee crisis. At least 1,602 people have been killed and 4,800 others have been wounded according to the regime's Ministry of Health and the White Helmets rescue organisation. So far, over 4,900 people are confirmed dead in Türkiye and Syria. *) Russian reinforcements pour into eastern Ukraine, says governor Russia is pouring reinforcements into eastern Ukraine ahead of a new offensive that could begin next week along a strategic front, a Ukrainian governor said. Ukraine anticipates that the major offensive could be launched for "symbolic" reasons around the February 24 anniversary of the conflict. . Ukraine is itself planning a spring offensive to recapture lost territory, but awaiting delivery of promised longer-range Western missiles and battle tanks. Some analysts say Ukraine is months away from being ready for an offensive. *) France's Macron faces third round of pension reform strikes President Emmanuel Macron and his government are bracing for a third wave of nationwide strikes and protests against plans to make the French work longer before retirement, as the bill started its bumpy passage through parliament. The government says people must work two years longer - meaning for most until the age of 64. The French spend the largest number of years in retirement among OECD countries - a deeply cherished benefit that a substantial majority are reluctant to give up, polls show. *) Plane carrying Musharraf's body lands in Pakistan Pakistan's former president Pervez Musharraf will be buried after a special plane transporting his body from the United Arab Emirates arrived in Karachi on Monday amid tight security. Family members were also on board when the plane landed at the airport in the city where he will be buried Tuesday. Musharraf, who remains Pakistan's longest-serving president, died in Dubai on Sunday after a prolonged illness.

Pakistan's last military dictator, Pervez Musharraf, has died in Dubai at the age of 79. I was in Islamabad as a correspondent for The Hindu when General Musharraf took power through a bloodless coup in October 1999. He was the presiding officer for the Kargil incursion but later turned peacemaker, signing a milestone agreement with then Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in January 2004. Gen. Musharraf, like the man he ousted from office, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, had to eventually leave Pakistan for medical treatment in March 2016. He resigned as President in 2008 following a protracted civil society movement led by lawyers. As the Pakistani Government announced that Musharraf's body would be flown to Islamabad from Dubai, what is the former General's legacy? How is he perceived today in Pakistan? 

US military searching for remains of Chinese spy balloon. Pakistan's former President Musharraf, has died. Magnitude 7.9 earthquake hits Turkey.  You can subscribe to Five Minute News with Anthony Davis on YouTube, with your preferred podcast app, ask your smart speaker, or enable Five Minute News as your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing skill.  Subscribe, rate and review at www.fiveminute.news  Five Minute News is an Evergreen Podcast, covering politics, inequality, health and climate - delivering independent, unbiased and essential world news, daily.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

His worldview was shaped by the foundational logic of Pakistan — that its people could preserve its purity only in a separate State achieved by mutilating India.

*) Major earthquakes kill hundreds across Turkiye, Syria A powerful 7.7 earthquake has struck southern Türkiye early Monday, killing at least 912 people and injuring at least 5,385 across several provinces. According to Türkiye's disaster agency AFAD, the quake was centred in the Pazarcik district of Kahramanmaras Province and was followed by magnitude 6.6 and 6.5 quakes that struck Gaziantep province. The quake was felt hard in Syria where at least 326 people were killed and 1,042 were injured in regime-controlled regions, according to regime media. In rebel-held regions, 147 people were killed and more than 340 were injured, rescue workers said. *) Former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf's passing leaves divided legacy Pakistan's former President Pervez Musharraf has passed away at a hospital in Dubai on Sunday after a protracted illness, according to the country's military and mission in the UAE. Musharraf is remembered for overseeing rapid economic growth and attempting to usher in socially liberal values in the conservative country. But his heavy-handed use of the military to quell dissent as well as his continued backing of the United States in its fight against Al Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban ultimately led to his downfall. Musharraf served as President from 2001 to 2008, when he resigned following a movement led by the ruling coalition government to impeach him. *) Hong Kong's largest national security trial gets underway The trial of 16 Hong Kong activists charged under a national security law imposed by China has begun in a case that some observers say will be a test of the city's judicial independence. The defendants are those who pleaded not guilty out of 47 arrested during a raid in January 2021. The activists were charged with conspiracy to commit subversion for participating in an unofficial primary election organised by anti-Beijing activists in 2020. *) Israeli approves new illegal Jewish settlement near Gaza The Israeli government has approved the construction of a new settlement near the border with the besieged Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that his ministry will officially start budgeting the planning of the settlement. Construction and Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf said the new settlement will house nearly 500 families. *) Italy sounds alarm on massive computer hacking attack Thousands of computer servers around the world have been targeted by a ransomware hacking attack, Italy's National Cybersecurity Agency (ACN) said. The hacking attack on Sunday sought to exploit a software vulnerability, ACN director general Roberto Baldoni said, adding it was on a massive scale. Italy's ANSA news agency, citing the ACN, reported that servers had been compromised in other European countries such as France and Finland as well as the United States and Canada. Dozens of Italian organisations were likely to have been affected and many more had been warned to take action to avoid being locked out of their systems.

Cựu tổng thống Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf đã qua đời ở tuổi 79, sau nhiều năm sống lưu vong và chiến đấu với bệnh tật trong bệnh viện. Vị tướng bốn sao đã lên nắm quyền trong một cuộc đảo chính và sau đó đã sống sót sau nhiều lần bị các chiến binh Hồi giáo săn đuổi trong nhiều năm.

- Trong quy định mới nhất mà Bộ Chính trị vừa ban hành về lấy phiếu tín nhiệm với chức danh, chức vụ lãnh đạo, quản lý trong hệ thống chính trị, cán bộ có từ 2/3 số phiếu tín nhiệm thấp trở lên sẽ bị miễn nhiệm. - Các địa phương trên cả nước tổ chức lễ giao nhận quân từ ngày hôm nay đến ngày 10/2. - Việt Nam đoạt nhiều giải thưởng Du lịch ASEAN năm 2023. - 4 học sinh trung học nước ta vừa đoạt Huy chương Vàng Olympic Phát minh và Sáng tạo thế giới. - Nhóm Các nước xuất khẩu dầu mỏ cùng các đối tác có thể xem xét lại chính sách sản lượng khi nhu cầu từ Trung Quốc phục hồi. - Người dân Pakistan tiếc thương và ca ngợi cựu Tổng thống Musharraf là “Nhà lãnh đạo vĩ đại”. Chủ đề : 4 học sinh trung học, Huy chương Vàng, Olympic Phát minh, Sáng tạo thế giới --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/vov1thoisu0/support

Morse code transcription: vvv vvv Weekend avalanches kill 10 in Austria and Switzerland Epsom College head found dead with husband and daughter, 7 Google News Situation in east Ukraine getting tougher, says Zelensky France score late try to avoid shock loss in Italy Google News Google News Iran protests Thousands of prisoners pardoned by ayatollah China balloon US searches in Atlantic for wreckage Google News GB win first world four man medal for 84 years Pope and protestant leaders denounce gay criminalisation Google News Google News Google News Google News Google News Grammy Awards 2023 Viola Davis becomes an EGOT Google News Pakistans ex president Musharraf dies aged 79

Morse code transcription: vvv vvv Google News Google News Google News Google News Deadly wildfires rage across Chile Pope Mass in South Sudan Pontiff urges people to reject venom of hatred Death was chattering to me, says writer Hanif Kureishi How to cook Spanish tortilla Salmonella outbreak sparks national debate Wealthy UK family to apologise in Grenada over slave owning past Google News Google News Google News Google News Pakistans ex president Musharraf dies aged 79 China balloon US going to take care of it, says Joe Biden Perth shark attack Teenage girl dies in Swan River Google News Israel protests Tens of thousands in anti government rally Google News Grammy Awards 2023 How to watch and who will win

In this episode, Amber and Uzair talk about the growing threat of terrorism in Pakistan, focusing on the fallout of the Peshawar suicide bombing. We also talk about Musharraf's death and the dictator's legacy, and touch on the ongoing talks with the IMF. This week's guest interview is with Roohan Ahmed, a journalist based in Islamabad who has covered terrorism and terror groups like the TTP for a number of years. As always, please do subscribe to the podcast and share it with your friends. Share your comments and feedback with us in the comments section or by tweeting at us @uzairyounus and @amberrshamsi. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 2:20 Musharraf's legacy 20:10 Growing terrorism in Pakistan 24:06 Interview with Roohan Ahmed on Peshawar bombing 40:38 What happens after Peshawar? 47:10 IMF negotiates in Islamabad 54:04 Winners and losers Listen to the Pakistonomy conversation with Khurram Husain here - https://youtu.be/vUPOfKn0UXc And for your Gham Hour listening, here's Aadat by Atif Aslam - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXkFk7zSnT0

Be part of our community by joining our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtbehindthings In tonight's conversation with our special guest, Bilal Musharraf. What was his early life and education like? What was studying at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign like? What is Actuarial science? What was growing up in Pakistan in the 70s and 80s like? Parvez Musharraf & his growth? Why he did not accept the luxuries offered to him because of his father? How can a country's ecosystem evolve economically & socially? The difference in economic cultures between the US & Pakistan? Non-profit organizations in Pakistan & their efficiency? How the Netherlands can be a role model for other countries? Why did he switch from the financial sector to educational technology? What was his work experience with Khan Academy & Edmodo like? The idea behind Noon Academy? What is Bilal's long-term projection for Pakistan? His thoughts on the future leadership of Pakistan? How does he see the Pakistan of 2050? Catch this and much more in tonight's episode. Do not forget to subscribe and press the bell icon to catch on to some amazing conversations coming your way Connect with us: • https://www.instagram.com/thoughtbehindthings • https://www.instagram.com/muzamilhasan Bilal Musharraf's Twitter: https://twitter.com/platonist_bm?lang=en One8nine Media: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6akyz6EpkwyzBmKh0L2rSQ Support our podcast: https://anchor.fm/syed-muzamil-hasan-zaidi3/support You can also audio stream our podcast on the following platforms: • Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3z1cE7F • Google Podcast: https://bit.ly/2S84VEd • Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3cgIkfI --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/syed-muzamil-hasan-zaidi3/support

In this episode of The Pakistan Pivot, Abdul Basit Khawaja, Managing Editor of Pakistan Now, sits down Professor Ahsan Iqbal, Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives to find answers to Pakistan's biggest problems. From development to power politics, from being oppressed during Musharraf's era to the horrors of a polarized world today, for envisioning a better Pakistan to actually realizing the dream - Professor Ahsan Iqbal bares it all. #ThePakistanPivot #PakistanNow #AhsanIqbal

Folks GHQ in Pakistan has decided to eliminate Imran Khan like they did to Liaqat Ali, Bhutto, Benazir and hundreds of other political. For then their plunderinng, Looting. And corruption like Bajwa, Kiyani, Musharraf is more important than the country.

Pakistan herätti muun maailman huomion vuonna 1998, kun se teki ensimmäisen ydinkokeensa. Kallis ydinaseohjelma nosti Pakistanin alueelliseksi mahtitekijäksi, mutta samalla se ajoi maan lähes vararikkoon. Ydinasevaltion kiistaton johtajuus oli armeijan komentaja Pervez Musharrafille liian houkutteleva mahdollisuus, ja hän teki verettömän vallankaappauksen vuonna 1999. Siitä tuli Musharrafille vuoteen 2008 asti kestänyt voimaannuttava kokemus, joka loi hänelle kihelmöivän tunteen siitä, että maan ydinaseet olivat parhaiten turvassa juuri hänen käsissään.  Musharraf noteerattiin tuolloin vasta kolmannen luokan diktaattoriksi, mutta syyskuun 2001 terrori-isku Yhdysvalloissa nosti Musharrafin kertaheitolla diktaattorirankingin ykkösketjuun. Pakistanista, joka ainoana alueen valtioista oli tunnustanut naapurimaan Afganistanin Taleban-hallinnon, tuli yksi Yhdysvaltain tärkeimpiä liittolaisia syyskuun 11. päivän terroristijahdissa. Siinä sivussa Musharraf yritti paaluttaa Pakistaniin oman pilvilinnansa, jossa utopia eli ”liberaali diktatuuri” kelpasi politiikaksi.  Asiantuntijana Kauppalehti Option toimituspäällikkö Mikko Metsämäki. Toimittajana Raimo Tyykiluoto, tuottajana Sami Hahtala / Yle.

The Pakistan Experience is an independently produced podcast looking to tell stories about Pakistan through conversations. Please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thepakistanexperience To support the channel: Jazzcash/Easypaisa - 0325 -2982912 Patreon.com/thepakistanexperience Yousuf Nazar comes on The Pakistan Experience to set the record straight on the role of Bangladesh in the creation of Bangladesh. On this deep dive podcast, we discus 1971, the Pakistani Economy, Rent Seeking, Trade and the role of Pakistan today in the Global World. Yousuf Nazar is the former Citigroup Head of Emerging Market Investments, international financial expert and author. He worked with Benazir Bhutto during the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy during 1977-81 as a student union leader and spent many years in exile before returning to Pakistan in 1988. As an emerging markets specialist and also an independent investment consultant and author with extensive experience in investment management and strategic planning in global finance. He advised international investors over one decade, managing assets of nearly US$400 million. And Please stay in touch: https://twitter.com/ThePakistanExp1 https://www.facebook.com/thepakistanexperience https://instagram.com/thepakistanexpeperience The podcast is hosted by comedian and writer, Shehzad Ghias Shaikh. Shehzad is a Fulbright scholar with a Masters in Theatre from Brooklyn College. He is also one of the foremost Stand-up comedians in Pakistan and frequently writes for numerous publications. Instagram.com/shehzadghiasshaikh Facebook.com/Shehzadghias/ Twitter.com/shehzad89 Chapters: 0:00 Intro 01:37 Bhutto & the creation of Bangladesh 25:10 Federation and what makes a country 35:15 censorship under Zia and living to fight another day 46:25 the Pakistani elite and who are the real victims 1:01:22 “corruption” and the real (e)state 1:09:00 brave journalism, Arshad Sharif and violence in politics 1:17:01 the automotive industry and state protection of monopolies 1:22:30 Musharraf, Pakistan's shortcut billionaires and bad work ethic 1:44:50 Q&A

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Mustafa Kamal is the founder and chairperson of the Pak Sarzameen Party. He previously was a Senator and the mayor of Karachi from Oct 2005 to Oct 2010 as part of MQM. Mustafa Kamal comes on The Pakistan Experience to discuss MQM, Karachi, The Establishment, RAW, the operation against MQM, PTI and what he will do if he is elected as the next mayor of Karachi. Is PSP an Establishment party? Where was Mustafa Kamal on 12th May 2007? Why did Mustafa Kamal leave MQM? Find out this and more on this week's episode of The Pakistan Experience. The Pakistan Experience is an independently produced podcast looking to tell stories about Pakistan through conversations. Please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thepakistanexperience And Please stay in touch: https://twitter.com/ThePakistanExp1 https://www.facebook.com/thepakistanexperience https://instagram.com/thepakistanexpeperience The podcast is hosted by comedian and writer, Shehzad Ghias Shaikh. Shehzad is a Fulbright scholar with a Masters in Theatre from Brooklyn College. He is also one of the foremost Stand-up comedians in Pakistan and frequently writes for numerous publications. Instagram.com/shehzadghiasshaikh Facebook.com/Shehzadghias/ Twitter.com/shehzad89 Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:48 Were seats promised to PSP? 7:42 Is PSP an establishment party? 12:04 Solution based politics 15:20 Accountability in Pakistan 17:42 Did the establishment betray MQM 23:02 Weapons and instability within Karachi 28:02 Memories of MQM 31:12 The Karachi riots 33:27 Musharraf, MQM, and your success 36:57 Corruption cases 42:08 China cutting 45:02 Malik Riaz and housing societies 52:26 The value of Character and actions 57:37 Political narrative and strategy 1:03:37 TLP vs PSP violence 1:10:17 Is PSP an MQM splinter group 1:14:22 PSP members and works 1:17:02 Peoples Question and Answers

Happy Independence Day!- Pranay Kotasthane and RSJThis newsletter can often seem pessimistic about India. That isn’t true, though. Every year, on Independence Day, we remind ourselves and our readers why we write this newsletter. This is how we ended the Independence Day edition of 2020:“What we have achieved so far is precious. That’s worth reminding ourselves today. We will go back to writing future editions lamenting our state of affairs.We will do so because we know it’s worth it.”  This year we thought it would be fun (?) to run through every year since 1947 and ask ourselves what happened in the year that had long-term repercussions for our nation. This kind of thing runs a serious risk. It can get tedious and all too familiar. Most of us know the landmark events of recent history and what they meant for the nation. Maybe. Maybe not. We’ve given an honest try (of over 8000 words) to see if there’s a different way of looking at these familiar events and their impact on us. Here we go.1947 - 1960: Sense Of A Beginning 1947Perhaps the most significant “What, if?” question for independent India surfaced on 17th August 1947 when the Radcliffe Line was announced. The partition of the Indian subcontinent has cast a long shadow. What if it had never happened? What if Nehru-Jinnah-Gandhi were able to strike a modus vivendi within a one-federation framework? These questions surface every year around independence.The indelible human tragedy of the partition aside, would an Akhand Bharat have served its citizens better? We don’t think so. We agree with Ambedkar’s assessment of this question. In Pakistan or the Partition of India, he approaches the question with detachment and realism, concluding that the forces of “communal malaise” had progressed to such an extent that resisting a political division would have led to a civil war, making everyone worse off. The partition must have been handled better without the accompanying humanitarian disaster. But on the whole, the partition was inevitable by 1947.“That the Muslim case for Pakistan is founded on sentiment is far from being a matter of weakness; it is really its strong point. It does not need deep understanding of politics to know that the workability of a constitution is not a matter of theory. It is a matter of sentiment. A constitution, like clothes, must suit as well as please. If a constitution does not please, then however perfect it may be, it will not work. To have a constitution which runs counter to the strong sentiments of a determined section is to court disaster if not to invite rebellion.” [Read the entire book here]1948What if Mahatma Gandhi wasn’t killed that year? How would the course of our history change? Gandhi spoke like an idealist and worked like a realist. He was possibly the most aware of the gap between the lofty ideals of our constitution and the reality of the Indian minds then. He knew the adoption of the constitution was only half the work done. He’d likely have devoted the rest of his life to building a liberal India at the grassroots level. His death pushed a particular stream of right-wing Hindu consciousness underground. We still carry the burden of that unfinished work.1949The Constituent Assembly met for the first time in December 1946. By November 26th 1949, this assembly adopted a constitution for India. Even a half-constructed flyover in Koramangala has taken us five years. For more context, Pakistan’s Constituent Assembly began work on 10th August 1947, and their first constitution came into force in March 1956, only to be abrogated two years later. India’s founding fathers and mothers were acutely aware that they were elite, unelected, and unrepresentative of the median Indian. They dared to imagine a new nation-state while grappling with that period's harsh economic, social, and political realities. Their work should inspire us to strengthen, improve, and rebuild—but never to give up on—the Republic of India.For more, check out the miracle that is India’s Constitution in our Republic Day 2021 special edition.1950We have written about our Constitution a number of times. It is an inspiring and audacious document in its ambition to shape a modern nation. It has its flaws. Some consider it too liberal; others think it makes the State overbearing. Some find it too long; others feel it comes up short. This may all be true. However, there is no doubt our constitution has strengthened our democracy, protected the weak and continues to act as a tool for social change. It is our North Star. And a damn good one at that. 1951Few post-independence institutions have stood the test of time as the Finance Commission (FC), first established in 1951. In federal systems, horizontal and vertical imbalances in revenue generation and expenditure functions are commonplace. Closing the gap requires an impartial institution that is well-regarded by various levels of government and the people. The Finance Commission is that institution.It’s not as if it didn’t face any challenges. As a constitutional body established under article 280 of the Constitution, it was sidelined by an extra-constitutional and powerful Planning Commission until 2014. But we have had 15 FCs in total, and each key tax revenue-sharing recommendation has become government policy.1952Our Constitution adopted a universal adult franchise as the basis for elections. Every citizen was to be part of the democratic project. There was to be no bar on age, sex, caste or education. And this was to be done in one of the most unequal societies in the world. The ambition was breathtaking. To put this in context, women were allowed to vote in Switzerland only in 1971. Not only did we aim for this, but we also moved heaven and earth to achieve it in 1952. In his book India After Gandhi, Ram Guha describes the efforts of the government officials led by the first Election Commissioner, Sukumar Sen, to reach the last man or woman for their ballot. The elites may lament vote bank politics or cash for votes scams and question the wisdom of universal franchise. But we shouldn’t have had it any other way. And, for the record, our people have voted with remarkable sophistication in our short independent history. 1953 For a new nation-state, the Republic of India punched above its weight in bringing hostilities on the Korean peninsula to an end. Not only did the Indian government’s work shape the Armistice Agreement, but it also chaired a Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission (NNRC) that was set up to decide the future of nearly 20,000 prisoners of war from both sides. This experience during the Cold War strengthened India’s advocacy of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).  1954Article 25 guaranteed the freedom of conscience and the freedom to profess, practice, and propagate religion to all citizens. But how does one define a religious practice? And can a practice under the garb of religion breach the boundary of individual rights or public morality? This is a familiar conflict zone in secular States and would inevitably show up in India because everything in India can be construed as a religious practice. Like Ambedkar said during the constituent assembly debates:“The religious conceptions in this country are so vast that they cover every aspect of life from birth to death…there is nothing extraordinary in saying that we ought to strive hereafter to limit the definition of religion in such a manner that we shall not extend it beyond beliefs and such rituals as may be connected with ceremonials which are essentially religious..."In 1954, the Supreme Court gave a landmark judgment on what constitutes a religious practice in what’s known as the Shirur Math case. It held that the term religion would cover all practices integral to that religion. Further, the Court will determine what practice will be deemed essential with reference to doctrines within that religion itself.This test of ‘essentiality’ in religion has kept the public, the legislature and the courts busy since (entry of women in Sabarimala, headscarf in Islam, to name two). The outcome has bent towards individual liberty in most contexts, but the ambiguity in the definition of essential means it could go the other way too.1955Another wild "What, if” moment that we like to recall relates to Milton Friedman’s visit to the Indian finance ministry in 1955. What shape would India’s economy have taken had his seminal document “A Memorandum to the Government of India 1955” been heeded?In this note, Friedman gets to the root of India’s macroeconomic problems—an overburdened investment policy, restrictive policies towards the private sector, erratic monetary policy, and a counterproductive exchange control regime. Being bullish about India’s prospects was courageous when most observers wrote epitaphs about the grand Indian experiment. But Friedman was hopeful and critical both.The Indian government, for its part, was humble enough to seek the advice of foreigners from opposing schools of thought. At the same time, it was too enamoured by the Soviet command and control model. In fact, many items from Friedman’s note can be repurposed as economic reforms even today.Here’re our points from Friedman’s note.1956The idea of One Nation, One ‘X’ (language, election, song, tax, choose any other) is both powerful and seductive. It is not new, however. Back in the 50s, there was a view that we must not strengthen any identity that divides us. So when the question of reorganisation of the colonial provinces into new states came up, an argument was made that it must be done on factors other than language. Nehru, ever the modernist, thought the creation of language-based states would lead us down the path of ethnic strife. The example of nation-states in Europe built on language in the 19th century and the two devastating world wars thereafter were too recent then. So, he demurred.Agitation, hunger strikes and deaths followed before we chose language as the primary basis for reorganising the states. It was perhaps the best decision taken by us in the 50s. As the years since have shown, only a polity assured of its heritage and identity will voluntarily accept diversity. The melding of our diversity into a single identity cannot be a top-down imposition. We should never forget this.1957India’s economic strategy of state-led industrialisation through deficit financing in pursuit of import substitution took off with the Second Five-Year Plan. Heavy industries needed imported machinery, inflating India’s import bill. Since the exchange rate was pegged to the British pound, it meant that Indian exports became pricier. This imbalance between rising imports and flagging exports was financed by running down the foreign exchange reserves. By 1957, India witnessed its first foreign exchange crisis. This event had a significant effect on India’s economy. Instead of devaluing the rupee, the government opted for foreign exchange budgeting - every investment in a project needed government approval for the foreign exchange required to buy foreign inputs. The immediate crisis in 1957 led to controls that worsened India’s economic prospects over the next 35 years.1958The government nationalised all insurance companies a couple of years earlier. India hadn’t gotten into a socialist hell yet, so this was a bit of a surprise. The proximate cause was a fraud that few private life insurers had committed by misusing the policyholders’ funds to help their industrialist friends. A run-of-the-mill white-collar crime that should have been dealt with by the criminal justice system. But the government viewed it as a market failure and moved to nationalise the entire industry. It would take another 45 years for private players to come back to insurance. Insurance penetration in India meanwhile remained among the lowest in the world.  Also, in 1958, Feroze Gandhi took to the floor of Lok Sabha to expose how LIC, the state insurer, had diverted its funds to help Haridas Mundhra, a Calcutta-based businessman. The same crime that private insurers had done.The government would repeat this pattern of getting involved where there was no market failure. The outcomes would inevitably turn out to be worse. Seven decades later, we remain instinctively socialist and wary of capital. Our first reaction to something as trifling as a surge price by Ola or a service charge levied by restaurants is to ask the State to interfere.1959“The longest guest of the Indian government”, the 14th Dalai Lama pre-empted the Chinese government’s plans for his arrest and escaped to India. Not only did India provide asylum, but it also became home to more than a hundred thousand Tibetans. Because of the bold move by the Indian government in 1959, the Central Tibetan Administration continues its struggle as a Nation and a State in search of regaining control over their Country to this day. This event also changed India-China relations for the decades to come.1960Search as hard as we might; we hardly got anything worth discussing for this year. Maybe we were all sitting smugly waiting for an avalanche of crisis to come our way. Steel plants, dams and other heavy industries were being opened. The budget outlay for agriculture was reduced. We were talking big on the international stage about peace and non-alignment. But if you had looked closer, things were turning pear-shaped. The many dreams of our independence were turning sour.The 60s: Souring Of The Dream1961The Indian Army marched into Goa in December 1961. The 450-year Portuguese colonial rule ended, and the last colonial vestige in India was eliminated. It took this long because Portugal’s dictator Antonio Salazar stuck to his guns on controlling Portuguese colonies in the subcontinent, unlike the British and the French. Portugal’s membership in NATO further made it difficult for the Indian government to repeat the operations in Hyderabad and Junagadh. Nevertheless, that moment eventually arrived in 1961. This was also the year when India’s first indigenous aircraft, the HAL HF-24 Marut, took its first flight. Made in Bengaluru by German designer Kurt Tank, the aircraft was one of the first fighter jets made outside the developed world. The aircraft served well in the war that came a decade later. It never lived up to its promises, but it became a matter of immense pride and confidence for a young nation-state.1962Among the lowest points in the history of independent India. We’ve written about our relationship with China many times in the past editions. The 1962 war left a deep impact on our psyche. We didn’t recover for the rest of the decade. The only good thing out of it was the tempering of idealism in our approach to international relations. That we take a more realist stance these days owes its origins to the ‘betrayal’ of 1962.1963ISRO launched the first sounding rocket in November 1963. Over the years, this modest beginning blossomed into a programme with multiple launch vehicles. The satellite programmes also took off a few years later, making India a mighty player in the space sector. 1964If you told anyone alive in 1964 that less than 60 years later, Nehru would be blamed for all that was wrong with India by a substantial segment of its population, they would have laughed you out of the room. But here we are in 2022, and there’s never a day that passes without a WhatsApp forward that talks about Nehru’s faults. It seems inevitable that by the time we celebrate the centenary of our independence, he would be a borderline reviled figure in our history. But that would be an aberration. In the long arc of history, he will find his due as a flawed idealist who laid the foundation of modern India. 1964 was the end of an era.1965As the day when Hindi would become the sole official language of the Indian Union approached, the anti-Hindi agitation in the Madras presidency morphed into riots. Many people died in the protests, and it led to the current equilibrium on language policy. The “one State, one language” project moved to the back burner, even as Hindi became an important link language across the country. The lesson was the same as in the case of the 1956 states reorganisation: melding our diversity into a single identity cannot be a top-down imposition.1966The two wars in the decade's first half, the inefficient allocation of capital driven by the second and third five-year plans, and the consecutive monsoon failure meant India was on the brink in 1966. The overnight devaluation of the Rupee by over 50 per cent, the timely help with food grains from the US and some providence pulled us back from it. The green revolution followed, and we have remained self-sufficient in food since.The experience of being on the brink taught us nothing. We still believe in the Pigouvian theory of market failure, where government policies are expected to deliver optimality.  Strangely, the idea that we reform only in crisis has only strengthened. There cannot be worse ways to change oneself than under the shadow of a crisis. But we have made a virtue out of it.1967This was the year when the Green Revolution took baby steps, and the Ehlrichian prediction about India’s impending doom was put to rest. But it was also the year when the Indian government made a self-goal by adopting a policy called items reserved for manufacture exclusively by the small-scale sector. By reserving whole product lines for manufacturing by small industries, this policy kept Indian firms small and uncompetitive. And like all bad ideas, it had a long life. The last 20 items on this list were removed only in April 2015. We wrote about this policy here. 1968In the past 75 years, we have reserved some of our worst public policies for the education sector. We have an inverted pyramid. A handful of tertiary educational institutions produce world-class graduates at the top. On the other end, we have a total failure to provide quality primary education to the masses. It is not because of a lack of intent. The National Education Policy (NEP) that first came up in 1968 is full of ideas, philosophy and a desire to take a long-term view about education in India. But it was unmoored from the economic or social reality of the nation. We often say here that we shouldn’t judge a policy based on its intentions. That there’s no such thing as a good policy but bad implementation because thinking about what can work is part of policy itself. NEP is Exhibit A in favour of this argument.1969 The nationalisation of 14 private-sector banks was a terrible assault on economic freedom under the garb of serving the public interest. The sudden announcement of a change in ownership of these banks was challenged in the courts, but the government managed to thwart it with an ordinance. Fifty years later, we still have low credit uptake even as governments continue to recapitalise loss-making banks with taxpayer money.1970The dominant economic thinking at the beginning of the 70s in India placed the State at the centre of everything. But that wasn’t how the world was moving. There was a serious re-examination of the relationship between the State and the market happening elsewhere. The eventual shift to a deregulated, small government economic model would happen by the decade's end. This shift mostly passed India by. But there were a few voices who questioned the state orthodoxy and, in some ways, sowed the intellectual seeds for liberalisation in future. In 1970, Jagdish Bhagwati and Padma Desai published their monograph, India: Planning for Industrialisation, which argued that our economic policies since independence had crippled us. It showed with data how central planning, import substitution, public sector-led industrial policy and license raj have failed. But it found no takers. In fact, we doubled down on these failed policies for the rest of the decade. It was a tragedy foretold. What if someone had gone against the consensus and paid attention to that paper? That dissent could perhaps have been the greatest service to the nation. It is useful to remember this today when any scepticism about government policies is met with scorn. Dissent is good. The feeblest of the voice might just be right.The 70s: Losing The Plot1971Kissinger visited China in July 1971 via Pakistan. Responding to the changing world order, India and the USSR signed an Indo–Soviet Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation in August of that year. India had become an ally of the USSR. Four months later, the India-Pakistan war pitted India and the USSR against Pakistan, China, and the US. The Indian strategic community came to internalise USSR as a super-reliable partner and the West as a supporter of India’s foes. It took another three decades, and the collapse of the USSR, for a change in this thinking. Even today, Russia finds massive support in the Indian strategic establishment. We had problematised this love for Russia here. 1972India won the 1972 war with Pakistan and liberated Bangladesh. India’s unilateral action stopped a humanitarian disaster. The victory was decisive, and the two parties met in Simla to agree on the way forward. This should have been a slam dunk for India in resolving festering issues on the international boundary, Kashmir and the role of the third parties. But international diplomacy is a two-level game, and Bhutto played that to his advantage. We explained this in edition 30. We paid a high price for giving away that win to Bhutto.1973The Kesavananda Bharti verdict of the Supreme Court rescued the Republic of India from a rampaging authoritarian. The basic structure doctrine found a nice balance to resolve the tension between constitutional immutability and legislative authority to amend the constitution. Bibhu Pani discussed this case in more detail here. 1974You are the State. Here are your crimes. You force import substitution, you regulate the currency, you misallocate capital, you let the public sector and a handful of licensed private players produce inferior quality products at a high cost, you raise the marginal tax rate at the highest level to 97 per cent, you run a large current account deficit, and you cannot control Rupee depreciation.Result?People find illegal ways to bring in foreign goods, currency and gold. And so was born the villain of every urban Bollywood film of the 70s. And a career option for a capitalist-minded kid like me. The Smuggler.But the State isn’t the criminal here. The smuggler is. And the State responded with a draconian law to beat all others. An act the knowledge of whose expanded form would serve kids well in those school quizzes of the 80s. COFEPOSA — The Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Act. A predatory state's defining feature is how it forces ordinary citizens to do unlawful activities. COFEPOSA was the mother of such laws. It has spawned many children. 1975This blank editorial by the Indian Express says it all. 1976We view our population as a core problem. The politicians, the public servants and the ordinary citizens share this view. We don’t want to acknowledge our governance deficit. Calling population a problem allows us to shirk the responsibility of running a functioning State. We have written about the flaw in thinking about the population as a problem on many occasions.How far could we go to control the population? Well, in 1976, during the peak of the Emergency, the State decided to sterilise male citizens against their wishes. This madness ended when the Emergency was lifted. But even today calls for population control keep coming back. 1977The first non-Congress union government was an important milestone for the Indian Republic. While Morarji Desai’s government did reverse the worst excesses of the Emergency rule, its economic policies were less successful. This period went on to witness a demonetisation in search of black money (2016 from the future says Hi!), and the same old counter-productive policies in search of self-reliance.1978Despite all available evidence that statist socialism was an abject failure, the Janata government that came to power decided to double down on it. One of the great ideas of the time was to force MNCs to reduce their stake in their Indian subsidiaries to below 40 per cent. A handful agreed, but the large corporations quit India. One of those who left was IBM in 1978. The many existing installations of IBM computers needed services and maintenance. In a delightful case of unintended consequences, this led to the nationalisation of IBM’s services division (later called CMC). Domestic companies started to serve this niche. Soon there were the likes of Infosys, Wipro and HCL building a business on this. CMC provided a good training ground for young engineers. And so, the Indian IT services industry got underway. It would change the lives of educated Indians forever.1979In a classic case of violating the Tinbergen rule, the Mandal Commission recommended that the reservation policy should be used to address relative deprivation. While the earlier reservations for oppressed castes stood on firm ground as a means for addressing unconscionable historical wrongs, the Mandal Commission stretched the logic too far. Its recommendation would eventually make reservation policy the go-to solution for any group that could flex its political muscles. We wrote about it here. 1980After ditching the Janata experiment and running out of ideas to keep Jan Sangh going, the BJP was formed. It wasn’t a momentous political occasion of any sort then. A party constitution that aimed for Gandhian socialism and offered vague promises of a uniform civil code and nationalism didn’t excite many. Everything else that would propel the party in later years was to be opportunistic add-ons to the ideology. The founding leaders, Advani and Vajpayee, would have been shocked if you told them what the party would be like, four decades later.The 80s: A Million Mutinies Now1981This year witnessed a gradual shift away from doctrinaire socialism in economic policymaking. “The Indira Gandhi government lifted restrictions on the expansion of production, permitted new private borrowing abroad, and continued the liberalisation of import controls,” wrote Walter Anderson. The government also “allowed” some price rises, leading to increased production of key input materials. The government also permitted foreign companies to compete in drilling rights in India. All in all, a year that witnessed changes for the better. 1982The great textile strike of Bombay in 1982 was inevitable. The trade unions had gotten so powerful that there was a competitive race to the bottom on who could be more militant. Datta Samant emerged intent on breaking the monopoly of RMMS on the city's workers. And he did this with ever spiralling demands from mill owners in a sector that was already bloated with overheads and facing competition from far eastern economies. There was no way to meet these demands. The owners locked the mills and left. Never to come back. The old, abandoned mills remained. The workers remained. Without jobs, without prospects and with kids who grew up angry and unemployed. The rise of Shiv Sena, political goondaism and a malevolent form of underworld followed. Bombay changed forever. It was all inevitable.1983The Nellie massacre in Assam and the Dhilwan bus massacre in Punjab represent the year 1983. Things seemed really dark back then. It seemed that the doomsayers would be proved right about India. Eventually, though, the Indian Republic prevailed. 1984Her Sikh bodyguards assassinated India Gandhi. The botched Punjab policy of the previous five years came a full circle with it. An unforgivable backlash against innocent Sikhs followed. A month later, deadly gas leaked out of a Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, killing and paralysing thousands. 1984 will rank among the worst years of our republic. There were two silver linings in retrospect. One, we would learn to manage secessionist movements better from the harrowing Punjab experience. Two, had Indira continued, would we have had 1991? Our guess is no.1985This was an eventful year in retrospect. Texas Instruments set up shop in Bangalore. It was to begin one of modern India’s true success stories on the world stage. This was also the year when the Anti-defection law transformed the relationship between the voter and her representative. Political parties became all-powerful, and people’s representatives were reduced to political party agents. We have written about this changing dynamic here. This was also the year when the then commerce minister, VP Singh, visited Malaysia. The visit was significant for India because it served as a reference point for Singh when he visited that country again in 1990, now as the Prime minister. Surprised by Malaysia’s transformation in five years, he asked his team to prepare a strategy paper for economic reforms. This culminated in the “M” document, which became a blueprint for reforms when the time for the idea eventually came in 1991.1986Who is a citizen of India?  This vexing question roiled Assam in the early 80s. The student union protests against the widespread immigration of Bangladeshis turned violent, and things had turned ugly by 1985. The Assam accord of 1985 sought to settle the state's outstanding issues,, including deporting those who arrived after 1971 and a promise to amend the Citizenship Act. The amended Citizenship Act of 1986 restricted the citizenship of India to those born before 1987 only if either of their parents were born in India. That meant children of couples who were illegal immigrants couldn’t be citizens of India simply by virtue of their birth in India. That was that, or so we thought.But once you’ve amended the definition of who can be a citizen of India, you have let the genie out. The events of 2019 will attest to that.1987Rajiv Gandhi’s ill-fated attempt to replicate Indira Gandhi’s success through military intervention in another country began in 1987. In contrast to the 1971 involvement, where Indian forces had the mass support of the local populace, the Indian Peacekeeping Force (IPKF) got itself embroiled in a bitter Sri Lankan civil war. Not only did this involvement end in a failure, it eventually led to Rajiv Gandhi’s brutal murder in a terrorist attack. The policy lesson internalised by the strategic community was that India must stay far away from developing and deploying forces overseas.1988Most government communication is propaganda in disguise. However, there are those rare occasions when government messaging transcends the ordinary. In 1988, we saw that rare bird during the peak era of a single government channel running on millions of black and white TV sets across India. A government ad that meant something to all of us and that would remain with us forever. Mile Sur Mera Tumhara got everything right - the song, the singers, the storyline and that ineffable thing called the idea of India. No jingoism, no chest beating about being the best country in the world and no soppy sentimentalism. Just a simple message - we might all sing our own tunes, but we are better together. This is a timeless truth. No nation in history has become better by muting the voice of a section of their own people. Mile Sur Mera Tumhara, Toh Sur Bane Hamara, indeed.  19891989 will be remembered as the year when the Indian government capitulated to the demands of Kashmiri terrorists in the Rubaiya Sayeed abduction case. It would spark off a series of kidnappings and act as a shot in the arm of radicals. 1990VP Singh dusted off the decade-long copy of the Mandal Commission report and decided to implement it. This wasn’t an ideological revolution. It was naked political opportunism. However, three decades later, the dual impact of economic reforms and social engineering has increased social mobility than ever before. Merit is still a matter of debate in India. But two generations of affirmative action in many of the progressive states have shown the fears of merit being compromised were overblown. The task is far from finished, but Mandal showed that sometimes you need a big bang to get things going, even if your intentions were flawed.1990 also saw the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits (KPs) from the valley. A tragedy that would bookend a decade of strife and violence in India. The only lesson one should draw from the sad plight of KPs is that the State and the people must protect minority rights. We’re not sure that’s what we have taken away from it. And that’s sad.The 90s: Correcting The Course1991With the benefit of hindsight, the 1991 economic reforms seem inevitable. But things could well have been different. In the minority government, powerful voices advocated in favour of debt restructuring instead of wholesale reforms. In the end, the narrative that these changes were merely a continuation—and not abandonment—of Nehru and Indira Gandhi’s vision for India carried the day. This political chicanery deserves some credit for transforming the life of a billion Indians. 1992Harshad Mehta scammed the stock markets. It wasn’t a huge scam. Nor did it hurt the ordinary Indians. Fewer than 1% invested in markets back then. Yet, the scam did something important. It set in motion a series of reforms that made our capital markets stronger and safer for ordinary investors. Notably, over the years, Mehta came to be seen as some kind of robber baron figure. Capitalism needed an anti-hero to catch the imagination of people. Someone who could reprise in the 90s the Bachchan-esque angry young man roles of the 70s. Mehta might not have been that figure exactly, but he helped a generation transition to the idea that greed could indeed be good.Also, Babri Masjid was brought down by a mob of kar sevaks in 1992. It will remain a watershed moment in our history. The Supreme Court judgement of 2019 might be the final judicial word on it. But we will carry the scars for a long time.1993The tremors of the demolition of the Babri Masjid were felt in 1993. Twelve bombs went off in Bombay on one fateful day. The involvement of the city’s mafia groups was established. The tragic event finally led to the government rescuing the city from the underworld. Not to forget, the Bombay underworld directly resulted from government policies such as prohibition and gold controls. 1994One of the great acts of perversion in our democracy was the blatant abuse of Section 356 of the constitution that allowed the union to dismiss a state government at the slightest pretext. Indira Gandhi turned this into an art form. S. R. Bommai, whose government in Karnataka was dismissed in this manner in 1988, took his case up to the Supreme Court. In 1994, the court delivered a verdict that laid out the guidelines to prevent the abuse of Section 356. It is one of the landmark judgments of the court and restored some parity in Union and state relationship.Article 356 has been used sparingly since. We are a better democracy because of it.1995India joined the WTO, and the first-ever mobile phone call was made this year. But 1995 will forever be remembered as the year when Ganesha idols started drinking milk. This event was a precursor to the many memes, information cascades, and social proofs that have become routine in the information age. 1996Union budgets in India are occasions for dramatic policy announcements. It is a mystery why a regular exercise of presenting the government's accounts should become a policy event. But that’s the way we roll. In 1996 and 1997, P. Chidambaram presented them as the FM of a weak ragtag coalition called the United Front. But he presented two budgets for the ages. The rationalisation of income tax slabs and the deregulation of interest rates created a credit culture that led to the eventual consumption boom in the next decade. We still carry that consumption momentum.1997The creation of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is an important public policy milestone for India. By no means perfect, the setting up of TRAI helped overturn a norm where government departments were both players and umpires. TRAI made the separation of “steering” and “rowing” functions a new normal. That template has been copied in several sectors thereafter, most recently in the liberalisation of the space sector. 1998India did Pokhran 2, which gave it the capability to build thermonuclear weapons. We faced sanctions and global condemnation. But the growing economy and a sizeable middle class meant those were soon forgotten. Economic might can let you get away with a lot. We have seen it happen to us, but it is a lesson we don’t understand fully.Also, in 1998, Sonia Gandhi jumped into active politics. The Congress that was ambling towards some sort of internal democracy decided to jettison it all and threw its weight behind the dynasty. It worked out for them for a decade or so. But where are they now? Here’s a question. What if Sonia didn’t join politics then? Congress might have split. But who knows, maybe those splinters might have coalesced in the future with a leader chosen by the workers. And we would have had a proper opposition today with a credible leader.1999This was a landmark year for public policy. For the first time, a union government-run company was privatised wholly. We wrote about the three narratives of disinvestment here. 2000We have a weak, extended and over-centralised state. And to go with it, we have large, unwieldy states and districts that make the devolution of power difficult. In 2000, we created three new states to facilitate administrative convenience. On balance, it has worked well. Despite the evidence, we have managed to create only one more state since. The formation of Telangana was such a political disaster that it will take a long time before we make the right policy move of having smaller states. It is a pity.The 2000s: The Best Of Times2001Not only was the Agra Summit between Musharraf and Vajpayee a dud, but it was followed by a terrorist attack on the Indian parliament. It confirmed a pattern: PM-level bilateral meetings made the Pakistani military-jihadi complex jittery, and it invariably managed to spike such moves with terrorist attacks. 2002There was Godhra and the riots that followed. What else is there to say?2003The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act and the Civil Services Pension Reform are two policy successes with many lessons for future policymakers. We have discussed these on many occasions. 2004The NDA government called for an early election, confident about its prospects. India Shining, its campaign about how good things were, wasn’t too far from the truth. It is how many of us felt during that time. The NDA government had sustained the reform momentum of the 90s with some of the best minds running the key departments. Its loss was unexpected. Chandrababu Naidu, a politician who fashioned himself like a CEO, was taken to the cleaners in Andhra Pradesh. Apparently, economic reforms didn’t get you votes. The real India living in villages was angry at being left out. That was the lesson for politicians from 2004. Or, so we were told.Such broad narratives with minimal factual analysis backing them have flourished in the public policy space. There is no basis for them. The loss of NDA in 2004 came down to two states. Anti-incumbency in Andhra Pradesh where a resurgent Congress under YS Reddy beat TDP, a constituent of NDA. TDP lost by similar margins (in vote share %) across the state in all demographics in both rural and urban areas. There was no rural uprising against Naidu because of his tech-savvy, urban reformist image. Naidu lost because the other party ran a better campaign. Nothing else. The other mistake of the NDA was in choosing to partner with the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu (TN) over DMK. TN was famous for not giving split verdicts. It swung to extremes between these two parties in every election. And that’s what happened as AIADMK drew a blank.Yet, the false lesson of 2004 has played on the minds of politicians since. We haven’t gotten back on track on reforms in the true sense. 2005The Right to Information Act and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act came into force in 2005. The “right to X” model of governance took root.2006In March 2006, George W Bush visited India and signed the Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement with Manmohan Singh. From facing sanctions in 1998 for Pokhran 2 to the 123 Agreement, this was a victory for Indian diplomacy and its rising status in the world. You would think this would have had bipartisan support among the political class in India. Well, the Left that was part of UPA and the BJP that worked on the deal when it was in power, opposed it. Many shenanigans later, the deal was passed in the parliament in 2008. It is often said there’s no real ideological divide among parties in India. This view can be contested on various grounds. But events like the opposition to the nuclear deal make you wonder if there are genuine ideological positions on key policy issues in India. Many sound policy decisions are opposed merely for the sake of it. Ideology doesn’t figure anywhere. 2007It was the year when the Left parties were out-lefted. In Singur and Nandigram, protests erupted over land acquisition for industrial projects. The crucible of the resulting violence created a new political force. As for the investment, the capital took a flight to other places. The tax on capital ended up being a tax on labour. Businesses stayed away from West Bengal. The citadel of Left turned into its mausoleum.2008Puja Mehra in her book The Lost Decade traces the origin of India losing its way following the global financial crisis to the Mumbai terror attack of 2008. Shivraj Patil, the home minister, quit following the attack and Chidambaram was shifted from finance to fill in. For reasons unknown, Pranab Mukherjee, a politician steeped in the 70s-style-Indira-Gandhi socialism, was made the FM. Mehra makes a compelling case of how that one decision stalled reforms, increased deficit and led to runaway inflation over the next three years. Till Chidambaram was brought back to get the house in order, it was too late, and we were halfway into a lost decade. It is remarkable how bad policies always seem easy to implement while good policies take ages to get off the blocks.2009The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) was established in January 2009 to architect a unique digital identity for persons in a country where low rates of death and birth registrations made fake and duplicate identities a means for corruption and denial of service. Under the Modi government, the digital identity — Aadhaar — became the fulcrum of several government services. This project also set the stage for later projects such as the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and Abha (Health ID).2010There’s petty corruption everywhere in India. It is pervasive. Not surprisingly, it is one political issue leading to mass movements in India. The anti-corruption mood gripped India in 2010 on the back of the 2G spectrum scam, where the chief accountant of the government claimed a notional loss of about Rs. 1.8 trillion to the exchequer. Auctioning of natural resources wasn’t exactly a transparent process then. It was evident there was a scam in the allotment of the 2G spectrum. But the 1.8 trillion number was a wild exaggeration that anyone with a semblance of business understanding could see through. It didn’t matter. That number caught the imagination. UPA 2 never recovered from it. More importantly, the auction policy for resources was distorted forever. We still suffer the consequences.The 2010s: Missed Opportunity2011India’s last case of wild poliovirus was detected in 2011. Until about the early 1990s, an average of 500 to 1000 children got paralysed daily in India. The original target for eradication was the year 2000. Nevertheless, we got there eleven years later. India’s pulse polio campaign has since become a source of confidence for public policy execution in India. We internalised the lesson that the Indian government can sometimes deliver through mission mode projects. 2012If you cannot solve a vexing public policy issue, turn it into a Right. It won’t work, but it will seem like you’ve done everything. After years of trying to get the national education policy right, the government decided it was best to make education a fundamental right in the Constitution. Maybe that will make the problem go away. A decade later, nothing has changed, but we have an additional right to feel good about.2013This year saw the emergence of AAP as a political force via the anti-corruption movement. AAP combines the classic elements of what makes a political party successful in India - statist instincts, focus on aam aadmi issues, populism and ideological flexibility. Importantly, it is good at telling its own version of some future utopia rather than questioning the utopia of others. 2014The BJP came to power with many promises; the most alluring of them was ‘minimum government, maximum governance’. Over the past eight years it has claimed success in meeting many of its promises, but even its ardent supporters won’t claim any success on minimum government. In fact, it has gone the other way. That a party with an immensely popular PM, election machinery that rivals the best in the world, and virtually no opposition cannot shake us off our instinctive belief in the State's power never ceases to surprise us.2015The murder of a person by a mob on the charges of eating beef was the first clear indication of the upsurge of a new violent, majoritarian polity. It was also one of the early incidents in India of radically networked communities using social media for self-organisation. Meanwhile, 2015 also witnessed the signing of a landmark boundary agreement between India and Bangladesh, which ended the abomination called the third-order enclave. The two States exchanged land peacefully, upholding the principle that citizen well-being trumps hardline interpretations of territorial integrity. 2016There will be many case studies written in future about demonetisation. Each one of them will end with a single conclusion. Public policy requires discussion and consensus, not stealth and surprise. We hope we have learnt our lesson from it.2017Until 2017, many in India still held the hope of a modus vivendi with China. Some others were enamoured by the Chinese model of governance. However, the Doklam crisis in 2017, and the Galwan clashes in 2020, changed all that. Through this miscalculation, China alienated a full generation of Indians, led to better India-US relations, and energised India to shift focus away from merely managing a weak Pakistan, and toward raising its game for competing with a stronger adversary. For this reason, we wrote a thank you note to Xi Jinping here. 2018It took years of efforts by the LGBTQ community to get Section 377 scrapped. In 2018, they partially won when the Supreme Court diluted Section 377 to exclude all kinds of adult consensual sexual behaviour. The community could now claim equal constitutional status as others. There’s still some distance to go for the State to acknowledge non-heterosexual unions and provide for other civil rights to the community. But the gradual acceptance of the community because of decriminalisation is a sign that our society doesn’t need moral policing or lectures to judge what’s good for it.2019The J&K Reorganisation Act changed the long-standing political status quo in Kashmir. Three years on, the return to political normalcy and full statehood still awaits. While a response by Pakistan was expected, it was China that fomented trouble in Ladakh, leading to the border clashes in 2020. 2020We have written multiple pieces on farm laws in the past year. The repeal of these laws, which were fundamentally sound because of a vocal minority, is the story of public policy in India. Good policies are scuttled because of the absence of consultation, an unclear narrative, opportunistic politicking or plain old hubris. We write this newsletter in the hope of changing this. 2021The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic left behind many bereaved families. People are still trying to pick up the pieces. The sadness was also interrupted by frustration because of the delays in getting the vaccination programme going. India benefited immensely from domestic vaccine manufacturing capability in the private sector. Despite many twists and turns in vaccine pricing and procurements, the year ended with over 1 billion administered doses. In challenging times, the Indian State, markets, and society did come together to fight the pandemic. So, here we are. In the 75th independent year of this beautiful, fascinating and often exasperating nation. We are a work in progress. We might walk slowly, but we must not walk backwards. May we all live in a happy, prosperous and equal society. Thanks for reading Anticipating the Unintended! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit publicpolicy.substack.com

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Imaan Zainab-Mazari Hazir, an activist and a lawyer, comes on the podcast to discuss the recent harassment her, and her family, faced at the hands of the state. We discuss the missing persons issues and the remedies that the law provides. On this deep dive podcast we discuss State Fascism, the role of the judiciary, what our politicians and bureaucrats should do, the inaction of our mainstream parties and the law. The Pakistan Experience is an independently produced podcast looking to tell stories about Pakistan through conversations. Please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thepakistanexperience And Please stay in touch: https://twitter.com/ThePakistanExp1 https://www.facebook.com/thepakistanexperience https://instagram.com/thepakistanexpeperience The podcast is hosted by comedian and writer, Shehzad Ghias Shaikh. Shehzad is a Fulbright scholar with a Masters in Theatre from Brooklyn College. He is also one of the foremost Stand-up comedians in Pakistan and frequently writes for numerous publications. Instagram.com/shehzadghiasshaikh Facebook.com/Shehzadghias/ Twitter.com/shehzad89 Chapters: Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 2:00 Privilege and Fascism 6:30 Silence on Balochistan 11:00 Judiciary and the Missing Persons issue 14:00 Mainstream Political Parties not doing anything on Enforced Disappearances 23:50 The Legal Process and remedies 36:30 Twitter Toxicity 46:30 Musharraf 50:30 Qazi Fes Isa 52:00 Peoples Questions

Dictator Musharraf badly damaged Pakistan: Assassination of Benazir, 26/11 attacks in India and the US Navy SEALs raid that killed Osama in Abbottabad. But he believed he was a democrat. Watch this week's #NationalInterest by ThePrint's Editor-In-Chief Shekhar Gupta. Brought to you by  @Kia India    To know more, read: https://theprint.in/national-interest/the-great-damagers-why-pakistan-will-debate-which-dictator-harmed-it-more-musharraf-or-zia/992000/

Wajahat Saeed Khan, is an Emmy Award-nominated Pakistani multimedia journalist based in New York City who is currently an editor and correspondent at Nikkei Asia. Khan has produced, reported and anchored for Pakistan's major cable networks, as well leading U.S., U.K. and Indian publications. Wajahat S. Khan comes on The Pakistan Experience for a deep dive on the role of the Pakistani military in politics. From Zia-ul-Haq to Musharaf to the current political climate, we discuss how we got to where we are. Does the Establishment want to oust Imran Khan? What are the inner workings of the Military Establishment? What does it mean to report on the Military? Find out this and more on this week's episode of The Pakistan Experience The Pakistan Experience is an independently produced podcast looking to tell stories about Pakistan through conversations. Please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thepakistanexperience And Please stay in touch: https://twitter.com/ThePakistanExp1 https://www.facebook.com/thepakistanexperience https://instagram.com/thepakistanexpeperience The podcast is hosted by comedian and writer, Shehzad Ghias Shaikh. Shehzad is a Fulbright scholar with a Masters in Theatre from Brooklyn College. He is also one of the foremost Stand-up comedians in Pakistan and frequently writes for numerous publications. Instagram.com/shehzadghiasshaikh Facebook.com/Shehzadghias/ Twitter.com/shehzad89 Chapters: 0:00 No Confidence and Extension 11:00 General Kiyani and General Musharraf 15:00 Extensions 20:30 The Current Situation and how we got here 25:00 Imran Khan's Grooming and rfits with the Establishment 33:30 The Army's role in Politics 40:00 The Opposition's Calculations 44:00 Reporting on the Military vs Reporting for the MIlitary 50:30 Lying in the Prime Minister's bathtub and Musharraf's Mahaz 1:02:30 Laughing with Musharaf 1:07:30 The Soldier and The Institution 1:21:00 Bloody Civilians 1:26:00 Peoples QandAs

Farahnaz Ispahani is a Public Policy Fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC and the author of the book Purifying The Land of The Pure: The History of Pakistan's Religious Minorities (Oxford University Press, 2017). In 2015, she was a Reagan-Fascell Scholar at the National Endowment for Democracy, where she worked on women and extremist groups with a particular focus on the women of ISIS. A Pakistani politician, Ispahani served as a Member of Parliament and Media Advisor to the President of Pakistan from 2008-2012. She returned to Pakistan with Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007 after opposing the Musharraf dictatorship in the preceding years. In Parliament she focused on the issues of terrorism, human rights, gender based violence, minority rights and US-Pakistan relations. The most notable pieces of legislation enacted with her active support include those relating to Women's Harassment in the Workplace and Acid Crimes and Control, which made disfiguring of women by throwing acid at them a major crime. She was also a member of the Women's caucus in the 13th National Assembly, which was instrumental in introducing more legislation on women's issues than has ever been done before during a single parliamentary term. Ms. Ispahani spent the formative years of her career as a print and television journalist. Her last journalistic position was as Executive Producer and Managing Editor of Voice of America's Urdu TV. She has also worked at ABC News, CNN and MSNBC. She has contributed opinion pieces to The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy, The National Review, and others.

This episode is part of our COVID Reflections series where we feature different healthcare providers and their experiences during the pandemic. This week, we talk to Dr. Wajeeha Musharraf, an emergency medicine physician in India. She'll discuss what it has been like working in India during the most recent surge, a bit of advice, and her YouTube channel, EM Code. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Ammar Rashid, the President of Punjab of the Awami Workers Party, comes on the podcast to discuss the 'populous' nature of Imran Khan's politics and the left's response to Pakistan's economic crisis. Ammar Rashid is an academic, researcher and activist, whose work focuses on development, housing, informal settlements, health, gender and education. On this episode, we get into a deep dive discussion on the Budget, how Imran Khan's politics have evolved, how Pakistan can stop being a rentier state, Education, BISP/Ehsaas, Identity Politics, Weaponization of liberal ideas by the right, and after a while, Psychedelics. Please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thepakistanexperience And Please stay in touch: https://twitter.com/ThePakistanExp1 https://www.facebook.com/thepakistanexperience https://instagram.com/thepakistanexperience The podcast is hosted by comedian and writer, Shehzad Ghias Shaikh. Shehzad is a Fulbright scholar with a Masters in Theatre from Brooklyn College. He is also one of the foremost Stand-up comedians in Pakistan and frequently writes for numerous publications. He can be found on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Tinder. https://www.facebook.com/Shehzadgs/ https://twitter.com/shehzad89 https://instagram.com/shehzadghiasshaikh Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:00 Imran Khan and PTI's evolution 9:00 Is PTI actually populous? 15:00 Musharraf and Imran Khan 28:00 Manufacturing, Industrialism, Consumption and Investment 40:00 How can Pakistan stop being a rentier state? 51:00 Budget deficit and economic recovery 59:00 BISP and Ehsaas 1:04:00 Minimum wage and the price-wage surge 1:11:00 Internet Tax 1:20:30 Education 1:26:30 Weaponization by the right of liberal ideas 1:35:00 The Politics of Recognition 1:57:00 New Left Party being launched 2:00:30 How to join AWP 2:04:00 Land Reform 2:10:00 What do we need to do to make policy pro-poor? 2:17:25 PSYCHEDELICS

Welcome to the Instant Trivia podcast episode 76, where we ask the best trivia on the Internet. Round 1. Category: It's Unreal 1: Lee makes them in active length in such colors as Joyful and Fascinating. artificial nails. 2: This company is putting the kibosh on sellers of those Jelly Kelly knock-offs of its Kelly bags. Hermes. 3: In 1966 Clark and Gollan performed experiments that led to artificial this, probably exciting news to artificial vampires. artificial blood. 4: On April 8, 1966 the L.A. Dodgers played on this surface for the first time (it was during an away game). astroturf. 5: Pam Anderson is a supporter of pleather, which is short for this. plastic leather. Round 2. Category: May Day 1: On May 1, 1996 this national railway passenger service celebrated its 25th anniversary. Amtrak. 2: This Palestinian leader's status was confirmed in 1996 when President Clinton met with him. Yasser Arafat. 3: He was ready and he fired May 1, 1898. Captain Charles Gridley. 4: The Croats opened fire again May 1, 1995 after the ceasefire negotiated by this ex-U.S. president expired. Jimmy Carter. 5: On May 1, 1937, 5 days after the town was bombed, he began sketching "Guernica". Pablo Picasso. Round 3. Category: British Fashion 1: Sharp suits and skinny ties typified the '60s look of the "squad" of these young Britishers. the mod squad. 2: David and Elizabeth Emanuel got the assignment to design this for Princess Diana to wear on July 29, 1981. her wedding dress. 3: This "Superwaif" model made news in 1993 when she went topless at a Vivienne Westwood show. Kate Moss. 4: 19th century Englishmen Thomas and William Bowler got their names in the dictionary by making these. hats. 5: With grenade loops added, the coat designed by Thomas Burberry got this new name during World War I. trenchcoat. Round 4. Category: Libros En Espanol 1: Wells:"La Maquina del Tiempo". "The Time Machine". 2: Hemingway: "El Viejo y el Mar". "The Old Man and the Sea". 3: Alcott:"Hombrecitos". "Little Men". 4: Dickens:"Historia de Dos Ciudades". "A Tale of Two Cities". 5: Vonnegut:"Matadero Cinco". "Slaughterhouse Five". Round 5. Category: World Leaders 1: This general took power in Pakistan in a 1999 coup. Musharraf. 2: On May 25, 1946 this grandfather of Hussein was crowned the first king of Jordan. King Abdullah. 3: She gave birth to her 1st child, a son, during her successful 1988 campaign to become P.M. of Pakistan. Benazir Bhutto. 4: The U.S. wishes this trained ophthalmologist could see his way to support our Mideast policy. Bashar al-Assad. 5: On November 22, 2001 he personally sent his first e-mail, a message to Roman Catholics in Oceania. Pope John Paul II. Thanks for listening! Come back tomorrow for more exciting trivia!

Be part of our community by joining our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtbehindthings In conversation with Faheem Azam, a Multipotentialite, having many interests and creative pursuits. He’s a writer, director, actor, stand-up comedy performer. This episode explores Faheem’s journey and the insights he has to offer on the media industry. How he got into media side of things? How has he groomed himself in all art forms? How he became part of ‘Teeli’? Why theatre in Islamabad faced declined after Musharraf? How was his experience working ‘Parey Hut Love’? Where he sees films of Pakistan today? What is the future of films? Why we are not able explore new forms of storytelling? Tune in to know more on Standup comedy space, art culture in Pakistan, disconnect with masses and importance of strong scripts! Follow us on Instagram: • https://www.instagram.com/thoughtbehindthings • https://www.instagram.com/muzamilhasan Faheem Azam’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/faheemazam --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/syed-muzamil-hasan-zaidi3/support

The Nirmal district collector has cautioned against a fake FB profile of his.

Some podcasts we do are group chats, some are smaller conversations with one or two people and some others still are friends just hanging out. This is probably the first episode that seems closest to a distilled lesson, where there is somebody with the information and we ourselves are part of the audience. Pakistan's music industry is dead. Pakistani music survives in patches and bursts but there exists no real industry in any sense of how the word is understood in the modern world. Ahmer Naqvi, columnist, podcast host, prolific commentator on cricket & music and esteemed member of the Pakistani Twittersphere is on the show. The episode was supposed to be a discussion on how the industry is dead and what this artist said and what that show did but it quickly turned into a journey through time with events, decisions, social structures and personal memory linked in an intricate and nuanced manner. the story is tragic and the "what could have been" unimaginable, which is probably true for most things related to this country. But hope remains in some places and understanding our history must be the key to not repeating it. Check out the chapters below and take your time with this one. Things discussed in this episode: 1. 00:00 Intro 2. 05:43 Music’s place in our society, defining what “industry” means and the importance of 1971’s events 3. 15:03 The 80’s: Zia, a cinema industry in trouble, the golden era of TV and the introduction of piracy 4. 20:16 The 80’s: Pop music’s inroads into urban elite & diaspora, jeans on TV 5. 25:52 The 90’s: Folk/traditional vs pop music, wild concerts & the facade of an industry 6. 31:58 The 90’s: Dish/Satellite TV arrives, the rise of piracy and the collapsed facade 7. 40:01 The 00’s: Musharraf, private channels showing change is possible, the last real era before the internet and a tragic end 8. 44:41 The 00’s: Coke Studio, NFAK, artistic experimentation & a sponsor’s limits 9. 54:07 The 10’s: The internet arrives, only free music allowed, people have other places to spend their money 10. 59:17 The 10’s: The struggles of working in a streaming music service (Patari) in a country with no music infrastructure 11. 1:06:40 How those without financial freedom eventually get kneecapped (feat. Lyari Underground’s story) & where the real money is now 12. 1:13:35 The control of & dependency on corporate sponsorships, and how good trends never seem to last 13. 1:20:54 How today’s musicians end up moving into video, drama, social media influencing, and how Nescafe Basement stripped artists of their brand identity 14. 1:31:13 Despite the darkest of dark times and all the difficulties, music remains a part of the nation’s psyche (feat. a very dark anecdote) LINKS: Ahmer's Twitter: https://twitter.com/karachikhatmal Ahmer's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karachikhatmal Ahmer's writings for Dawn: https://www.dawn.com/authors/130/ahmer-naqvi Ahmer's writings for CricInfo: https://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/story/author.html?author=527 Find all our previous episodes on SoundCloud, Spotify & Apple Podcasts and follow us all on Twitter! Links to everything below! SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/tprpod Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6PvTahp... Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tprpod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TPRPod Ali: https://twitter.com/themaholupper Rizwan: https://twitter.com/RizwanPehelwan Sarkhail: https://twitter.com/Sarkhail7Khan

Dr. Musharraf Hussain is a Sunni Scholar and the chief Executive of Karimia Institute Nottingham. He came to Britain from Pakistan in 1966 with his parents to the town of Halifax, where he memorized the Quran, learned Tajweed and basic Quranic Arabic. After completing a degree in Biochemistry at Aston University, he went on to gain a Science doctorate. He worked as a Scientist till 1990 and then decided to dedicate himself to serving the Muslim community. He studied the Islamic sciences at a seminary in Pakistan under the guidance of Justice Pir Muhammad Karam Shah and then at Al-Azhar University, Cairo. He was awarded an OBE in 2008 for his services to community relations in Britain. Formerly he was the director of the PGCE teacher training course and vice-chair of the Association of Muslim Schools (2000-2003) as well as the chairman of the Christian Muslim forum (2008-2010). --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/muslimsonfire/message

An engaging conversation with Musharraf Ali Farooqi on his latest book "The Merman and the Book of Power", storytelling and publishing and distributions challenges in Pakistan. You can order the book. Farooqi is an author, translator, and storyteller. The Merman and the Book of Power brings into the English the classical qissa genre, a fabulist storytelling form. The book begins with the Mongol conquest of Baghdad in 1258. The city are convinced they are the manifestation of the creatures of Apocalypse, Gog and Magog, imprisoned by the legendary King Alexander. Musharraf Ali Farooqi is the founder of the publishing house Kitab (2012), launched the online Urdu Thesaurus (2016), and designed the interactive storytelling and activity-based learning program Storykit (2016) as three segments of this project.

An engaging conversation with Musharraf Ali Farooqi on his latest book "The Merman and the Book of Power", storytelling and publishing and distributions challenges in Pakistan. You can order the book. Farooqi is an author, translator, and storyteller. The Merman and the Book of Power brings into the English the classical qissa genre, a fabulist storytelling form. The book begins with the Mongol conquest of Baghdad in 1258. The city are convinced they are the manifestation of the creatures of Apocalypse, Gog and Magog, imprisoned by the legendary King Alexander. Musharraf Ali Farooqi is the founder of the publishing house Kitab (2012), launched the online Urdu Thesaurus (2016), and designed the interactive storytelling and activity-based learning program Storykit (2016) as three segments of this project.

In this episode, we continue our look back at the greatest speeches by Modiji. We discuss his DeMo speech, the Atal-Modi-Jyotiraditya audio spectrum, the Harvard jibe and a lot more in this episode of BJPod. Correction to an error in mentioning the MOM expansion. It is Mars Orbiter Mission and not Mission on Mars as incorrectly mentioned on the pod. We, unlike Modiji are human, and apologize for the error. The Intro and Outro track used in this episode -- Celebration by Suraj Nepal (https://artlist.io/song/3085/celebration).

In the latest episode of #YahoodiSausage, Hamza Ghaznavi hosts Pakistani journalist and satirist Nadeem Farooq Paracha. They discuss topics ranging from political such as Musharraf, Zia and censorship to social such as musicians, artists and Maula Jutt. The return of the sausage couldn't be any better!!

The boys are back this week ready to take up our local issues heads on! We start off on the Digitize Pakistan initiative & the possibility of new payment gateways like PayPal entering the market (4:00). We also touch briefly upon Shahid Afridi's short-lived tweet on the plight of Uighur Muslims (10:33), as well as throw some light on the recently held Kashmir March in the capital (17:49). The boys then wish they could take a moment's worth of silence on the low supply of Pakistani CEOs on the Global map, compared to our Indian counterparts (21:29). Did the PTI government mishandle the KL Summit? Was it an opportunity lost? We try to make sense out of the prevailing confusion (25:53) before we finally come to address the elephant in the room. The elephant being Musharraf's treason case, and not much room to beat about it (30:30). Email us at thepodcastchowk@gmail.com with any comments, feedback, critique, topic recommendations, etc. Follow us on Twitter: @PodcastChowk Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/podcastchowk/

This week on Friday Night Live, host Hafiz Sha'ban discusses fierce protests against "anti-Muslim" citizenship laws in India, Musharraf death sentence, Muslim MPs in the 2019 elections, other news.

This week's episode, we're back with our full panel, with another special guest as promised. We engage in a conversation with our Indian Muslim friend who, with a different background and viewpoint from our previous guest, on the plight of the Indian Muslims while answering the same set of questions we received from our Reddit communities of r/Pakistan and r/Chapati. We also briefly discuss the important events of last week in Pakistan (49:50), focusing on the disturbing mob rioting by the lawyers in Lahore, and on the Musharraf's verdict by the special court. Email us at thepodcastchowk@gmail.com with any comments, feedback, critique, topic recommendations, etc. Follow us on Twitter: @PodcastChowk Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/podcastchowk/

In this episode of Daily Dose, Snigdha Sharma brings you the latest news from New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Pakistan, and the United States. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Daily Dose, Snigdha Sharma brings you the latest news from New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Pakistan, and the United States. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A three-member bench of the special court, headed by Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth has held former Pakistani military dictator Pervez Musharraf guilty of high treason for suspending the Pakistani constitution and imposing emergency in 2007.The death sentence is based on the Article 6 of the Pakistani Constitution which holds anybody who subverts the constitution by use of force or unconstitutional means guilty of high treason and the punishment for that in the country is death or lifetime imprisonment.What does this judgment mean for Pakistan's judiciary? What message does it send to Pakistan's army that has attempted several coups since the formation of the country? Tune in to The Big Story for more! Host and Producer: Shorbori PurkayasthaGuests: Taher Siddiqui, Senior Journalist, PakistanMurtaza Solangi, Senior Journalist, PakistanEditor: Shelly Walia Listen to The Big Story podcast on:Apple: https://apple.co/2AYdLIlSaavn: http://bit.ly/2oix78CGoogle Podcasts: http://bit.ly/2ntMV7SSpotify: https://spoti.fi/2IyLAUQDeezer: http://bit.ly/2Vrf5NgCastbox: http://bit.ly/2VqZ9ur

*)Impeachment vote set for Wednesday as Trump lashes out Donald Trump could become the third US President to be impeached if today’s House vote favours his trial. Trump said in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that he was being subjected to an "attempted coup" and a witch trial. Trump is accused of attempting to force Ukraine to investigate his main 2020 re-election rival, Joe Biden. *)US Congress authorises sanctions on Syria, Iran, Russia US lawmakers have approved a bill that seeks to place new sanctions on Syria, Iran and Russia for alleged war crimes in Syria. The sanctions could target Syrian security officials and companies doing business with the regime. The bill is known as the Caesar Syrian Civilian Protection Act of 2019. UN urges 'reboot' of response to refugees as millions displaced The UN has called on governments and businesses to 'reboot' their response to refugees. The first-ever global refugee forum in Geneva discussed the issues involving more than 70 million displaced people around the world. Participants hope the optimism and promises made at the forum will translate into concrete action. *)Pakistan’s former president handed death penalty in treason case In Pakistan, a special court has sentenced former military ruler Pervez Musharraf to death. The court found him guilty of treason for suspending the constitution and imposing a state of emergency in 2007 while he was president. Musharraf is now living in exile, but is expected to file an appeal. The ruling has been criticised by both the army and the government. And finally, *)Australia experiences hottest day on record Australia has sweltered through its hottest day on record. The country's average temperature on Tuesday was 40.9 degrees Celsius, beating the 2013 record of 40.3. Bushfires triggered by a heatwave have killed at least six people and destroyed hundreds of homes across the country in recent months.

Many of Pakistan’s leaders, or at least their careers, have met an untimely end – and now a court in Islamabad has sentenced former president Pervez Musharraf to death for high treason. Andrew Mueller looks at what Musharraf might have done to deserve this.

U. a. mit diesen Themen: Dritter großer Streik- und Protesttag in Frankreich / Seehofer, BKA und Verfassungsschutz wollen Arbeit gegen Rechts intensivieren / Pakistan – Todesurteil gegen Ex-Präsident Musharraf wegen Hochverrats

The boys are back this week, somewhat optimistic about Lahore rising in rank on the safe city index (3:47), but still a little skeptical about the women on wheels campaign (16:10) as they discuss some potential risks that could undermine the actual benefit. The guys also go behind the scenes on the Student Solidarity March (23:14) & delve deeper into the hype surrounding it, what could be the greater objective of the marchers beyond the stated goals, and how this could shape the future of our politics. The guys briefly discuss the confusing back peddling by the Government on the Musharraf case (42:40), and what further developments could be expected on the COAS extension issue (47:44). We close off on a developing story of Dar Ul Aman's shocking allegation on the abuse of female orphans at the hands of some state officials (52:57). Email us at thepodcastchowk@gmail.com with any comments, feedback, critique, topic recommendations, etc. Follow us on Twitter: @PodcastChowk Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/podcastchowk/

This week the boys discuss Musharraf's supposed return to politics, soup kitchens/lungars project by the government and Imran Khan's visit to China. Email us at thepodcastchowk@gmail.com with any comments, feedback, critique, topic recommendations, etc. Follow us on Twitter: @PodcastChowk Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/podcastchowk/

11/10/18 Saturday 1pm ET/12pm CTRL/11am MTN/10am Pac Call in at 1-347-934-0379 to listen or share comments or ask questions during the Q and A segment of the debate also online at:  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/healingxoutreach/2018/11/10/hxo-debate-is-the-trinity-biblical-ancient-musharraf-hussain-vs-albrecht Not in the United States compare your times available using: https://www.worldtimebuddy.com Also check out our new You Tube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/user/Gusdaberean/videos?view_as=subscriber  The topic of today's debate iw whether the doctrine of the trinity is biblical and ancient? William Albrecht takes the positive position and Dr. Musharraf Hussain takes the negative position.  Dr. Musharraf Hussain is an accomplished Islamic scholar, educator, author, and scientist. You can learn more about him in detail and of his work at: http://www.musharrafhussain.com/ William Albrecht has a B.A. in theology and is a member of the Catholic apostolate, the Catholic Legate. You can find out more about him at his You Tube page and on facebook at: http://catholic-legate.com/    http://www.youtube.com/gnrhead    http://www.godtube.com/catholic/

1.Waarom annuleert Amerika het militaire hulpprogramma? Minister Pompeo van Buitenlandse Zaken had daar al eerder mee gedreigd. De regering-Trump vindt dat Pakistan de strijd tegen de Taliban in Afghanistan niet steunt. Sterker nog: Pakistan is de stille kracht achter de Afghaanse Taliban. Die 300 miljoen is niet het eerste hulpbedrag dat wordt bevroren, eerder kondigde de regering de annulering aan van 800 miljoendollar. 2. De regering-Trump heeft ernstige kritiek op Pakistan, maar het is ook een bondgenoot. Hoe zit dat? Sinds 2001, toen de oorlog in Afghanistan begon, hebben de Amerikanen enorm ingezet op een betere relatie met Pakistan, in de hoop dat het een bondgenoot zou worden. Dat is begrijpelijk, want de Taliban is verspreid over Afghanistan en Pakistan, en de hoop was dat de Pakistani een alliantie zouden vormen met de internationale coalitie die in Afghanistan vocht. Dat was een enorme misrekening, want Pakistan saboteert de pogingen van de VS en coalitie, waarvan ook Nederland deel uitmaakt. 3. Hoelang duurt het hulpprogramma al, en om hoeveel gaat het? Je zou kunnen zeggen: het loopt al sinds de jaren 70, toen Jimmy Carter besloot gevechtsvliegtuigen te leveren aan de Pakistaanse dictator Zia Ul Haq. Af en aan is de hulp opgevoerd. Bush jr liet 10 miljard dollar overmaken aan de door en door corrupte president Musharraf, bedoeld voor de strijd tegen de Taliban. Een groot deel verdween in de zakken van Musharraf en zijn kornuiten, de rest gebruikte hij om de grens met India militair te verstevigen. Bush draaide uiteindelijk de kraan dicht. Obama zette die af en toe open en dan weer dicht. Trump zegt nu, terecht: het is mooi geweest. 4. Pakt Pakistan de Taliban nou aan of niet? Allebei. Tegen de Pakistaanse Taliban wordt hard opgetreden. Maar de Afghaanse Taliban krijgt al die jaren al steun van Pakistan. Pakistan vindt namelijk dat die Afghaanse Taliban heult met India,dat als de échte vijand wordt gezien. Het is dus een pervers dubbelspel. 5. Osama bin Laden werd uiteindelijk in Pakistan gevonden en geliquideerd. Heeft dat met deze ontwikkelingen te maken? Indirect absoluut. Obama was ervan overtuigd dat Pakistan al die tijd wist waar Bin Laden zat en hem heeft beschermd. Dat is niet de aanleiding voor het intrekken van de hulp, maar het kan niet anders dan dat het in het hoofd van Trump een rol speelt. Dank, Cora Boomsma. In de Wereld volgens Hammelburg beantwoord ik elke zaterdag vijf vragen over een internationaal thema. Hebt u een onderwerp? Stuur dan een mail naar onlineredactie@bnr.nlSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Ishrat Husain is a leading economist, who has played many important roles both in policy and academia. Today we discuss a subject on which he has been very passionate—civil service reform. He led the National Commission on Government Reform in Musharraf’s time and has recently written a book called “Governing the Ungovernable”. He has important ideas on institutions, governance and civil service reform. In the coming days the new government might even use his ideas to implement their much-awaited reform.  There a number of research and writing themes that emerge in this podcast. So please listen and further the debate.  Listen to this and let us reinvigorate research and debate into change.  Listen to this fascinating discussion. There is much to learn and research here.  You can also look at my book “Looking Back: How Pakistan Became an Asian Tiger in 2050” now available in hard copy in Pakistan here http://www.libertybooks.com/index.php?route=product/search&search=Nadeem%20ul%20haque&category_id=0Soft copy here. https://www.amazon.com/Looking-Back-Pakistan-Became-Asian-ebook/dp/B06X94135J/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1488133596&sr=1-1&keywords=nadeem+haque Listen and learn and write some papers on this subject.  Don’t forget to cite Soch Bichar Please subscribe to Soch Bichar if you like it. Tell you friends about it. That is the only way to grow a public discussion. And we need a wider conversation on these important subjects.

Evangelist Glen Scrivener of Speak Life engages with Imam Musharraf Hussain on whether the Old Testament scriptures support the Christian view of God as Trinity or the Islamic view of Tawhid - the indivisible oneness of God. At the end of the show Jonathan McLatchie also talks to Justin about his weekly online Apologetics Academy.For Glen Scrivener http://christthetruth.net/about-2/  For Musharraf Hussain http://www.musharrafhussain.com/biography/ For Apologetics Academy http://apologetics-academy.org/online-training  Get Unbelievable? the book www.unbelievablebook.co.uk  Get Unbelievable? the Conference 2017 DVD/CD & Digital Download: http://www.premier.org.uk/shop  For more faith debates visit http://www.premierchristianradio.com/Shows/Saturday/Unbelievable Join the conversation: Facebook and TwitterGet the MP3 Podcast of Unbelievable? Via RSS or Via Itunes

David Garrison, author of 'A Wind in the House of Islam' says that movements of Muslims becoming Christians are occurring globally in unprecedented numbers. Imam Musharraf Hussain and Nazam Guffoor question David on whether the conversions are authentic and debate the death penalty for apostasy. For David Garrison's book: http://windinthehouse.org For David's UK speaking Tour in June: http://hopeformuslims.org For Mahhaba Network: http://www.mahabbanetwork.com/ For Musharraf Hussain: http://www.karimia.com/about-us/our-staff/ For more faith debates visit www.premierchristianradio.com/unbelievable> Join the conversation: Facebook and Twitter Get the MP3 podcast of Unbelievable? http://www.kaltura.com/api_v3/getFeed.php?partnerId=618072&feedId=1_jlj47tkv> or Via Itunes

SAJA (@sajaHQ) and CPJ (@PressFreedom) present a conversation about the state of press freedom in Pakistan. Join Umar Cheema, who won this year's International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists, and Bob Dietz, CPJ's Asia director as they talk about what's happening in Pakistan today. More on Cheema below.  Umar Cheema, a reporter with Islamabad's The News, was abducted in September 2010 by unknown assailants who stripped, beat, and photographed him in humiliating positions. Cheema's unwillingness to stay silent about his abduction and the abuses he suffered has drawn wide attention to the nationwide issue of anti-press violence in Pakistan. Almost immediately after he was released, Cheema went on television to tell the world of the abuses and humiliation he endured at the hands of "men in police commando uniforms." He said his captors asked why he continued with his critical reporting--was he trying to discredit the government and bring back former President Musharraf?  In the months since his kidnapping, Cheema has been harassed and threatened for his coverage of politics, national security, and corruption. In keeping with Pakistan's record of near-perfect impunity in the cases of hundreds of journalists threatened, abducted, and killed, Cheema's case remains unprosecuted and unsolved. But his courage has rallied his colleagues across the nation. An editorial in the English-language daily Dawn said, "No half-hearted police measures or words of consolation from the highest offices in the land will suffice in the aftermath of the brutal treatment meted out to journalist Umar Cheema of The News. This paper's stand is clear: the government and its intelligence agencies will be considered guilty until they can prove their innocence."  

Egypt showed the world how the common man can wake up and throw everything hes got against an oppressive regime. Aditya feels that India has reached its inflection point too. I beg to differ and the argument continues... In our neighbouring country, not all is well. Former president Musharraf has been accused of murdering Bhutto. In sports, the Cricket World Cup 2011 has begun. Who are you betting on

Egypt showed the world how the common man can wake up and throw everything hes got against an oppressive regime. Aditya feels that India has reached its inflection point too. I beg to differ and the argument continues... In our neighbouring country, not all is well. Former president Musharraf has been accused of murdering Bhutto. In sports, the Cricket World Cup 2011 has begun. Who are you betting on

The Democrats will convene in Denver just a week from today.  The Republicans will be in St. Paul a week later.  What did McCain and Obama reveal in Saturday's "conversations" with evangelical pastor Rick Warren?  What about the vice presidential selections?  Also, Pakistan's Musharraf announces his resignation, and the US continues to condemn the Russian attack on Georgia as a violation of sovereignty.

With news of the abrupt resignation of Pakistani general-cum-president, Pervez Musharraf, comes the stark realization that, in Islamabad, democracy means the power of the people over that of a dictator. It also means that Pakistanis so believe in their Constitution that they were willing to confront a military dictator who violated it. Musharraf, buffeted by the bellows of opposition, chose to switch, rather than fight. He knew that parliamentary opposition parties were intent on impeaching him for violation of the national constitution. They protested in the streets from the elites to the poor, and Musharraf threw them into jails. Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated under suspicious circumstances. Some 7,000 miles away, another president violates the constitution at will, and breaks both statutory and international laws on torture, secret prisons, renditions, illegal detentions, wiretaps -- and on and on. But,of course, in this other democracy, the constitution is an historical artifact, held under special glass in a vacuum of a special gas, something to be worshipped from a distance, while violated daily. And the national legislature? They favor false stability over all things -- and when the party in opposition recently gained the majority, they immediately announced impeachment was "off the table." In a nation based on precedent, this means every president -- from now on- can feel free to violate the constitution at will. He - or she - can go to war on a whim - or lies. She may order her subordinates to torture, to kidnap, to break any law with impunity, and be sure that she is protected by precedent. The political classes have decided that the only avenue left for the people is every four years or so, during an election where millionaires are the candidates. In the meantime, anything goes. Right? In the US, democracy is a word that we throw out to justify armed invasions and illegal violations of international law -- it has no intrinsic meaning. In Pakistan, democracy is thriving and alive. It marched in the streets, it spoke in the courts, and it ran in the actions of Parliament, demanding impeachment. In democracy, it seems, Americans have a great deal to learn. --(c) '08 maj

When Pakistani filmmaker Sabiha Sumar chose to make a film about democracy in her country, she didn't just request a traditional interview with President Musharraf: she insisted on a formal dinner. To her surprise, the man who ran Pakistan for nearly eight years agreed, and Sumar spent the evening grilling Musharraf about the state of affairs in their sharply polarized culture. Sumar's documentary "My Dinner with the President," intercuts the dinner discourse with candid interviews with a wide range Pakistanis, from religious fundamentalists to partiers on a Pakistani beach. On Friday, August 8 at 8:30 pm (check local listings), NOW's David Brancaccio talks with Sumar about the film, about our cultural and political relationship with Pakistan, and about Musharraf's desire to democratize his nation while functioning as its dictator.

Join SAJA for a live discussion about the Pakistan elections. A group of journalists, scholars and experts will discuss what they mean for the future of Pakistan and the U.S.-Pakistan relations. Speakers: Asif Alam, Kiran Khalid, Todd Baer, Anil Kalhan...

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Earl is on the show this week.The show starts talking about Saddam's surprise with the attack on Iraq.Mail Bag:A couple more from Mike this weeka) Barack is not Muslim.b) Social Security change for 2008.The Rest of the Show:1) Fred Thompson quits.2) Wrongful conviction. 3) Pakistan's president Pervez Musharraf's rant this week.4) Earl goes off on the stock market and the United States' handling of recent events. Including the Prime Rate, Federal Reserve, a French trader causing it all, governmental priorities and more.5) Money and politics: Illuminating the connection.    Your guide to the money in U.S. elections.

On January 25, Carnegie Senior Associate Ashley J. Tellis presented the findings of his Carnegie Report, Pakistan and the War on Terror: Conflicted Goals, Compromised Performance, at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London. Tellis and Carnegie Visiting Scholar Frederic Grare provided first-hand commentary following President Musharraf's keynote speech at RUSI.

On January 25, Carnegie Senior Associate Ashley J. Tellis presented the findings of his Carnegie Report, Pakistan and the War on Terror: Conflicted Goals, Compromised Performance, at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London. Tellis and Carnegie Visiting Scholar Frederic Grare provided first-hand commentary following President Musharraf's keynote speech at RUSI.

On January 25, Carnegie Senior Associate Ashley J. Tellis presented the findings of his Carnegie Report, Pakistan and the War on Terror: Conflicted Goals, Compromised Performance, at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London. Tellis and Carnegie Visiting Scholar Frederic Grare provided first-hand commentary following President Musharraf's keynote speech at RUSI.

On January 25, Carnegie Senior Associate Ashley J. Tellis presented the findings of his Carnegie Report, Pakistan and the War on Terror: Conflicted Goals, Compromised Performance, at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London. Tellis and Carnegie Visiting Scholar Frederic Grare provided first-hand commentary following President Musharraf's keynote speech at RUSI.

Former President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf spoke at RUSI about the challenges Pakistan has faced in recent years and how he envisioned the future of his country and the region. The speech was given while Mr Musharraf was President of Pakistan.

Introduction of this weeks guests:Earl, Gene and Pat join Dan and John.Mail Bag:Biff sends us a couple this week:1) Texas judge overturns a sex crime conviction.2) 2 cleaning women trapped in an elevator for 2 days.Mike's article states Musharraf says Bhutto ignored warnings.The Rest of the Show:1) Benazir Bhutto's assassination.2) More on the destroyed CIA Tapes.3) American Al Qaeda leader to Bush: "We will be waiting for you."4) Iowa caucus, New Hampshire and primaries in general.5) Predictions for New Hampshire.

Have a Happy and Prosperous New Year.Mail Bag:Biff - Topless woman lured perverts in police sting.Mike - In remembrance of Ronald Reagan.Earl on the accused baby killer from last weeks show.Denny - 14 signposts to slavery.The campaign trail has Hillary looking a little haggard.This weeks show:1) Benazir Bhutto's assassination. This weeks Snake of the Week Pervez Musharraf.2) Iowa Caucus.3) Mike Huckabee.4) CIA practicing torture.EOTS's 2007 Top Stories (Dan's thoughts, what are yours?)1) 13 year old kills herself after internet friendship ended.2) Illegal Immigration.3) Nebraska teacher, 25, and a 13 year old student run off to have a life together. 4) Very 1st Snake of the Week  Assistant U.S. Attorney from Florida, John David R. Atchison, under arrest for traveling to Detroit to have sex with a 5 year old girl.5) Southwest attendant  confronts a Hooters gal for inappropriate  attire.6) Campaign Issues.7) Alleged nukes in Iran.8) Alberto Gonzales.

When no WMD could be been found in Iraq, several members of the Bush administration justified the imminent preemptive invasion because we could “not afford for the smoking gun come in the form of a mushroom cloud.” Turns out Saddam had no bomb, probably no bomb program. We've heard consistent fear-mongering from a Bush administration that appears eager to attack Iran. Bush himself recently linked Iran to WWIII! Now comes word from the National Intelligence Estimate that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003. The administration handles Musharraf with kid gloves as he asserts dictatorial powers to control a very volatile Pakistan, home of Doctor Khan's global atomic sales operation. 2005 Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has high praise for JOSEPH CIRINCIONE'S BOMB SCARE. "At a time of challenges and uncertainties regarding the nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament regime, the book offers a comprehensive review of the history and theory of nuclear weapons, as well as of the policy options before us today in our common endeavor to address the most pressing threats; existing arsenals, the emergence of new nuclear-armed states, and nuclear terrorism.” CHEF ANN COOPER is a renegade lunch lady who works to transform cafeterias into culinary classrooms for students - one school lunch at a time. She has transformed public school cafeterias in New York City, Harlem and Bridgehampton, NY, and now in Berkeley, CA, to teach more students why good food choices matter by putting innovative strategies to work and providing fresh, organic lunches to all students. __Currently, Chef Ann is the director of nutrition services for the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD), improving meals at 16 public schools with a population of over 9,000 students. In her work with public schools, Chef Ann is at the forefront of the movement to transform the National School Lunch Program into one that places greater emphasis on the health of students than the financial health of a select few agribusiness corporations. Chef Ann's lunch menus emphasize regional, organic, fresh foods, and nutritional education, helping students build a connection between their personal health and where their food comes from. Chef Ann's newest book, LUNCH LESSONS: CHANGING THE WAY WE FEED OUR CHILDREN, is overflowing with strategies for parents and school administrators to become engaged with issues around school food - from public policy to corporate interest. It includes successful case studies of school food reform, resources that can help make a difference and healthy, kid-friendly recipes that can be made at home, or by the thousands for a public school cafeteria.

Vladimir Putin has restored authoritarian rule, but growth and stability have made him wildly popular with most Russians. This weekend's parliamentary elections are expected to increase Putin's strength, even as his presidency will soon come to an end. Will he hold on to political power? Are America's frayed relations with Russia in for further deterioration? Also, citizen Musharraf is sworn in as Pakistan's president, and fireworks from last night's Republican debate in Florida.

Since 9/11 the Bush Administration has supported the government of General Pervez Musharraf. Washington has provided more than $10 billion in aid in return for Pakistan's support in the fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda. Now that Musharraf has declared emergency rule. Also, the Bush Administration's Middle East peace initiative, and the FBI is questioning hundreds of criminal convictions. Jim Sterngold guest hosts.

Dave notices that our ally, Pervez Musharraf, can't quite abide free speech

Pakistani police are cracking down on political opposition under President Musharraf 's state of emergency, creating a delicate problem for US diplomacy. Also, television and film writers are on strike in New York and Los Angeles.

We investigate the substance of the allegations against Benazir Bhutto and ask whether she could still face charges, despite the deal she has just struck with President Musharraf.

Global Crisis Watch discusses the wave of suicide attacks, increasing instability and Musharraf's survival game in Pakistan, and the convergence of crime and terror and how it plays into law enforcement counterterrorism strategy. Guests: B. Raman, Director, Institute for Topical Studies in Chennai, India, and former head of Indian intelligence, and Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, Vice President of Research, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington, DC.

Global Crisis Watch analyzes Musharraf's support within Pakistan's armed forces within the context of the continuing standoff at the Red Mosque and the attempted takedown of his plane, and also discusses the ongoing terror investigations in the UK and credibility of chatter within al Qaeda's rank and file. Guests: Military analyst Bill Roggio in New Jersey, B. Raman, former head of India's external intelligence agency R&AW and current Director of the Institute for Topical Studies in Chennai, and Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, VP of Research, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, Washington, DC.

Protests against Pakistan's President and chief of the Army Pervez Musharaf turned bloody last week but thousands turned out again today to protest. The US calls Musharraf an ally in the war on terror and yet he has reduced his efforts. On Reporters Notebook, ninety-million American war records have gone online. 

At the Arab Summit, Saudi Arabia has taken the lead from Egypt in the effort to make peace between Israel and the Palestinians.  Meantime, two participants at the meeting--Egypt's President Mubarak and Musharraf of Pakistan--are accused of reneging on promises of democracy. Is the US supporting repressive leaders to pursue its own interests?  How great is the threat of extremist takeover in either Egypt or Pakistan?  Also, a captured sailor tells Iranian TV that her British boat was trespassing on that country's water and, on Reporter's Notebook, another showdown is shaping up between President Bush and the Congress.