July 2008
Praful Bidwai
The UPA’s decision to get the nuclear deal through by embracing the S.P.
July 2008
Praful Bidwai
Whether or not the Manmohan Singh government survives the confidence vote next Tuesday, it will be remembered for its deviousness, stealth and deception in pushing the India-US nuclear deal without a democratic mandate, and by betraying the promise it made to its own Left supporters. Why, it even falsely claimed that the safeguards agreement...
July 2008
Praful Bidwai
Faced with a crisis following the withdrawal of the People's Democratic Party from the Congress-led ruling coalition, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad resigned without going through the vote of confidence he had tabled.
The fall of the Congress-PDP coalition, the first of its kind in J&K, is a major setback to the cause of...
July 2008
Praful Bidwai
The Indian government has taken a major step towards completing its controversial nuclear cooperation deal with the United States by moving the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency for approving an inspections (safeguards) agreement it signed last year with the IAEA secretariat pertaining to civilian nuclear reactors.
The...
July 2008
Praful Bidwai
THE Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh has plunged the Congress party and the United Progressive Alliance into a grave crisis by staking his personal reputation and India’s ‘national prestige’ on pushing through the United States-India nuclear cooperation deal just when the deadline for completing it is about to close.
July 2008
Praful Bidwai
Primer Minister Singh never had, and still lacks, a democratic mandate to complete the
US-Indian nuclear deal, which will cause a radical shift in India’s nuclear, strategic
and foreign policy postures.
July 2008
Praful Bidwai
The UPA lacks a democratic mandate to push the nuclear deal, but Manmohan Singh’s obstinacy on the issue is driving it towards self-destruction.
PRIME Minister Manmohan Singh is truly an enigma.
June 2008
Zia Mian
India and Pakistan have been talking peace since 2003, yet they have continued to expand their nuclear arsenals. This suggests a failure both of imagination and of political will to seriously engage with the nuclear danger. The peace process does not seem to recognise the fact that since the two countries conducted their nuclear tests in 1998...
June 2008
Praful Bidwai
As Pakistan stumbles towards democratisation amidst domestic political uncertainty, armed unrest led by Islamists along the Afghanistan border, and strained military relations with the U.S., a broad consensus in favour of the peace process with India survives -- almost miraculously.
However, proponents of the process on both sides of the border...
June 2008
Praful Bidwai
Pakistan stands at a fork in history. It could either decisively shift to wholesome democratisation, or lapse into military-dominated half-civilian government. Long-term social and political trends favour democratisation. But the actual outcome will depend upon how the main actors — President Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan People's Party (PPP) co-...
