As he is laid to rest, Indian cricket bids farewell to one of its greatest administrators -- a visionary who understood that breaking monopolies and building stadiums were about the same thing: Giving millions of cricket-loving Indians the infrastructure worthy of their passion.
In an interview with a private television channel, Former Pakistan Intelligence Bureau chief Brigadier (retd) Imtiaz Ahmad claimed that US masterminded the Bahawalpur plane crash, in which Haq was killed, in collaboration with 'internal powers of Pakistan'.
'Amrishji had a fascination for the colour red and wanted it in every movie costume of his.'
Why not stream all the data in real time to multiple recipients? It would make the investigation of aviation incidents much easier and far more transparent, recommends Devangshu Datta.
'Pakistan will also try to turn Bangladesh into a base for terrorist attacks on India.'
'We are too important to want to be paired with Pakistan but too intensely connected to it to successfully detach ourselves,' asserts Aakar Patel.
While all minorities in Pakistan are under threat, the country has turned as an inferno especially for Ahmadi minorities and either converting their religion or quitting the country seems the only way of their survival.
Glimpses into the life of Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, who at 31, is Pakistan's youngest first lady.
Khan said Pakistan could have become a nuclear power as early as 1984 but the then President General Zia ul Haq 'opposed the move'.
Pervez Musharraf, the architect of the Kargil War in 1999, loved his cricket.
An exclusive excerpt from the most exciting novel this year, Mohammed Hanif's A Case of Exploding Mangoes.
In a strong indictment of Pakistan, Germany said on Thursday that groups like Lashkar-e-Tayiba were a creation of the Inter-Services-Intelligence and Islamabad will have to satisfy India that it was acting against the terror outfit if it wants to improve relations with its neighbour.
'The recent surrender by the Pakistani State to the Taliban in the Swat valley may well turn out to be a watershed in the history of the Indian subcontinent. In terms of long-term impact, this may even overshadow the recent Mumbai massacres. All signs point to the Talibanisation of Pakistan.'
'The eight-mile drive from the airport to the Minar-i-Pakistan in Iqbal Park usually takes 15 minutes. On the unbelievable day of April 10, 1986, it took us ten hours,' Bhutto recalls in her 1988 memoir Daughter of the East.
The actor is to star in a film alongside Hollywood biggies Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts.
'I believe one of the pro-Taliban groups could be behind her killing. The fact that she created the Taliban now seems like an irony.'
Recent disclosures allege large scale corruption, nepotism and kickbacks by Pakistan air chief Air Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Babar Sidhuin housing land deals in Islamabad and in buying of new aircraft, points out Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
The modern world will not accommodate bigotry of the sort India is showing the world today, argues Aakar Patel.
Learning perhaps from the Kargil debacle, Musharraf tried hard to evolve as a statesman in his dealings with India, recalls Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
'There is no point in just saying, 'hum wapas bhej denge (we will send Kashmiri Pandits back)'.'
If General Asim Munir, Pakistan's new army chief, wants to help defuse the current polarised atmosphere and shepherd civilian politicians towards negotiations on an acceptable date for elections, he may need to distance himself from any perception of needless hostility to Imran Khan, explains Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W, India's external intelligence agency.
AQ Khan, a controversial scientist known as the father of Pakistan's clandestine nuclear programme, passed away here on Sunday after a brief illness. He was 85.
Water is going to be a central part of the government's 2024 election campaign. And Gajendra Singh Shekhawat's work will be crucial for it.
'What the long term repercussions of the Ayodhya judgment are will unfold in time.' 'And I hope the consequences are not going to be as damaging to us as they were to Pakistan,' says Aakar Patel.
'By annoying the Arabs and cozying up to Iran, Pakistan may end up losing Arab economic support, annoying the Americans and increase Shia-Sunni tensions domestically,' Colonel Anil A Athale (retd) points out.
ISI chief Faiz Hameed coerced the Taliban to announce an interim government guaranteed to preserve Pakistan's control over the levers of power in Kabul, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
In India, Sartaj Azizis respected as a man of grace, wit and patience. He is a wizened soldier of many diplomatic battles between the two neighbouring nations
Kashmir has a deep resonance inside Pakistan and the tense situation in the Valley acts as bait and encourages radical elements 'to wage jihad to liberate fellow Muslims', says former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri.
Pakistan would want to take full advantage of the situation to direct Taliban trained terrorists into the Kashmir Valley, alert Lieutenant General Ashok Joshi (retd) and Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'The generals couldn't care less about political corruption, being complicit themselves.' 'Coup d'etats are out of fashion.' 'Their only desire is backroom control,' says Sunil Sethi.
'Steve was the foremost strategic analyst on South Asia,' remembers Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'Under the more strident Modi version of Hindutva, Nehru has almost become a contemporary political figure.' 'The ruling party knows that without total erasure and distortion of Nehru, their fantasies will always be wobbly.'
'Imran had the misfortune to be in an age when there was a surfeit of mighty all-rounders.' 'Indians would not put him on a par with Kapil Dev or Vinoo Mankad,' points out Uddalok Bhattacharya.
'What is required is to make Pakistan less war-like and more modest in its ambitions. To normalise with India and to reduce the State's fondness for religion.' 'It is pragmatism and not charisma that it required and it is by being boring and not heroic that this can be achieved.' 'This is the moment of realisation which brings the Pakistani leader into conflict with the army.' 'Imran Khan will learn the lesson in time,' says Aakar Patel.
'Its internal economic rot and corrupt political elite have made the resurgent supremacy of the military establishment more invincible,' says Sunil Sethi.
'Afghanistan cannot be at peace until the Pashtuns regain their pre-eminent role in the country's governance,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Gujaratis need not be ashamed of the lack of martial tradition.' 'They contribute to their country in other ways.' 'And, of course, they can also claim that while they may not have produced many martyrs, they produced the greatest one: Gandhi.'
'When it vanishes as a national force (meaning when it can no longer get sufficient votes to hold onto its symbol, the hand) it will not have been the first large Indian party to die,' says Aakar Patel.
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