India Narrative

After tabling a no-confidence motion, the opposition, now short of single digit numbers, is closing in to topple Prime Minister Imran Khan. The arithmetic to oust the mercurial Khan is simple. The opposition needs to muster the magic number of 172 lawmakers to oust Khan. After the decision of Shahzain Bugti of the Jamhoori Watan Party to step out of the ruling coalition on Sunday, treasury members have been slashed to 178 in the 342-member lower house of the parliament. With that the opposition has 163 in the bag, only 9 shorts of the required numbers. Later on, Monday, the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), an ally of the ruling Pakistan-Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Party announced that it was joining the opposition in the no-confidence motion against the premier. Khalid Magsi's parliamentary leader of BAP made the dramatic announcement of ditching the ruling coalition in the National Assembly at a joint press conference accompanied by heavyweights in the Pakistani political spectrum. The bi

“It is a butcher…do not get deceived by its look,” said my photographer friend. A beautiful bird with a dark black stripe across its eyes, it resembles Zorro, the hero with the black mask.  The bird with the mask of Zorro in front of my tele lens is called the Long-tailed Shrike. It is  also known as Rufous-backed Shrike. This myna or bulbul-sized bird is petite and attractively coloured, with a reddish-brown back, grey neck, white underparts and a black tail with white lining. A closer look, however, would probably diminish the cuteness factor a great deal. For starters the black bandit mask that runs across the shrike’s eyes, giving the little bird a decidedly sinister look. Also, the bird has a strong hooked beak like raptors, with a vicious downward curve. This beak is clearly not meant for nibbling forest berries on a nippy morning. It is designed for tearing flesh, as the Shrike is a complete carnivore. Read more

It is said that the urge for dignity is at the core of each individual. And for a nation-state that dignity is its independence. Unfortunately, victims of crafty geopolitics, the people of Balochistan have been denied rights that would govern their natural existence. Unsurprisingly, the people of Balochistan are mourning today, because their vast resource-rich land remains enslaved, first by the British imperialists and then by Pakistan, which had connived with the fading empire. On 27th March 2022 it will be 74 years since Pakistan occupied Balochistan by force. What is the backstory of the Baloch enslavement? How come unlike many other nations who were breaking the shackles of colonisation, Balochistan did not get its promised independence? The story of Pakistan’s “conquest” of Balochistan begins on 26th March 1948 when troops marched through the coastal town of Pasni and Jiwani. With no help in sight through neighbours and upon contemplating horrific consequences for people of Balo

Heavily-armed terrorists swooped on the village Wandhama, now in Central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district, on Lailatul Qaddr, the holiest night of the holy month of Ramzan, on the eve of the Indian Republic Day, January 25/26, 1998. While all the Muslims were busy with the nightlong prayers at the local community mosque, the resident Pandits and their guests were dragged out on the gun point. Twenty-three of them, including nine women and four children, were mercilessly massacred. It was for the first time after the killing of seven Pandits at Sangrampora, Budgam, on 21 March 1997, that this big number of the members of the minority community was gunned down at one place. A pall of gloom engulfed the whole of Kashmir valley, with nobody daring to publicly condemn the carnage but everybody looking melancholic. There were scenes of mourning across the ripples from Ganderbal where the revered Kheer Bhawani temple shrine stands at Tulmulla. Obviously the bloodshed had an impact on the Republic

  Western commentators are struggling to describe the significance of the ongoing war in Ukraine. Fareed Zakaria has described it as a “seismic event”, the most significant international event since the fall of the Berlin Wall, and believes it marks “the end of an age”. Francis Fukuyama has called it “a critical turning point in world history”. He views it as the latest assault on liberalism that had started well before the war when illiberal authoritarian regimes had emerged in several major countries; he sees the war as a reminder “in the most vivid way possible what the consequences of illiberal dictatorship are”.  Thomas Friedman simply says: “Our world is not going to be the same again.” These cataclysmic prognostications from Western sources have not had the same reverberations in West Asia. Four years of the anarchy wreaked in the region by Donald Trump followed by one year of Joe Biden’s insipid and shaky presidency have already created a diplomatic churn, with regional states

The Taliban regime in Afghanistan continues to receive widespread international condemnation, including from the Islamic world, for reneging on its promise to let Afghan girls return to school. Earlier this week, the Taliban administration had announced the reopening of all schools in the country, including those just for girls, on March 21 - the first day of the Afghan New Year.   However, as thousands of secondary-school girls around the country turned up at their school for the first time in seven months on Wednesday, they were sent back home by the hardcore fundamentalists, thus contradicting their public assurances to the Afghan people and to the international community. Mawlawi Aziz Ahmad Ryan, Director of Publications and spokesman for the Ministry of Education, said that schools for girls from the sixth grade and above will remain closed until further notice. "After compiling a comprehensive plan in this field in accordance with Islamic law and Afghan culture and tradition

For the West to build pressure on India to condemn Russia for its invasion of Ukraine as some kind of a political and moral obligation for a democracy is a brazenly manipulative exercise. If western democracies genuinely believe that all democratic countries have an obligation to band together against Russia on this issue shows how much they have become prisoners of their own rhetoric and are incapable of seeing the incongruities in their position. If, on the other hand, they are aware that they themselves have not adhered to the principle that they now espouse in the case of Russia, it denotes outright cynicism bred by a sense of unaccountable power. India, which has been a democracy since 1947, has not received any special consideration on the political economic and security fronts from the West. On the contrary, it has been subject to decades of sanctions in the strategic nuclear, space and high technology areas. It was pushed toward a close relationship with the Soviet Union in the

  The US imposed sanctions on five North Korean and Russian organisations as well as one entity in China on Thursday after Pyongyang fired its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) after 2017. Announcing the sanctions, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said: "The United States today announced sanctions on five entities and individuals located in Russia and the DPRK, and one entity in the People's Republic of China (PRC) for proliferation activities under the Iran, North Korea, and Syria Nonproliferation Act". Price said the measures are part of American efforts to prevent  North Korea advance its missile programme and "highlight the negative role Russia plays on the world stage as a proliferator to programs of concern", reported The Korea Times. Meanwhile, the ICBM tested by North Korea flew 1,100 km for around one hour and fell in Japanese waters, increasing distrust among neighbours--Japan, South Korea and North Korea. The missile was report

Right from the inception of life on the Earth, some or the other mighty predator dominated the world, it could be a mighty shark in water or a dinosaur on the land. Likewise, a report in sciencenews,.org talks about a sabre-toothed mammal which was among the first hypercarnivores, that existed 42 million years. This menacing creature whose size was that of a bobcat, stalked in the jungles and forests of those days located in today’s San Diego. As compared to the other animals that existed in that era, this was a hypercarnivore – it evolved to consume meat and probably only meat. What was distinctive about this creature or Diegoaelurus vanvalkenburghae as it is scientifically known, and which belonged to the now vanished and unusual Machaeroidine family, is its fangs which were sabre-like and its sharp and slicing teeth. Till now a dozen fossils or remains of other Machaeroidine have been discovered, which mostly are from Wyoming but some were found in Asia too. It was with the help of

  Faiz M Baluch is the editor of the online news website Balochwarna and the UK-based treasure of the Free Balochistan Movement (FBM). On a rare sun-filled British day, India Narrative met up with Faiz for a chat at the Trafalgar Square while he was busy organising a demonstration to highlight the kidnappings of Baloch students by the Pakistani government. To sustain his family which has migrated to the UK, Faiz works in a logistics company but as the treasurer of the FBM, Faiz fundraises within the community to print leaflets, posters and banners. His work also includes making arrangements for travel and works with other Baloch volunteers to organise demonstrations against Pakistan in a bid to highlight human rights atrocities against the impoverished Baloch community which resides in south-west of Pakistan. The FBM is a Baloch political party which supports independence of Balochistan from both Pakistan and Iran. It has been active in the UK, Germany and other European nations with t