At some time in the recent past, the Taliban realised that there was no point in invading and controlling Afghanistan, which is a barren state anyways. Pakistan on the other hand was a lucrative target; it has food, money and modern cities with complete socio-economic infrastructure in markets, roads, telecom and medical facilities. The Taliban sought and formed a cartel with other major fundamentalist forces like Al Qaeda, Jamaat-e-Islami, Lashkar-e-Toiba and aimed to capture Islamabad.

The sudden surge in terror attacks against Pakistan army, police and its military establishment in the recent year or two is a pointer to the gradual realisation of their strategy. That Taliban and the Al Qaeda militia have been trained by Pakistan’s ISI is the biggest irony of it all; they fully know the strengths and weaknesses of Pakistan’s military and easily exploit them.

All is not lost still and Zardari’s realisation of this threat is a positive sign. The next step is to realise that in the fight against Taliban, the world community is on his side. South Asia needs a civilian and democratic government calling all the shots in Pakistan and it is time that the Pakistan political establishment capitalised on this fact to mount an all out offensive against rogue fundamentalists.

It’s cricket

Union Minister Pranab Mukherjee was right in his disclosure that he was offered the post of BCCI president by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in the early eighties. Gandhi indeed had a keen interest in cricket and she wanted to promote the game. When there was a call for an effective BCCI president three decades ago, the then BCCI officials approached her to suggest a candidate. She immediately suggested Pranab’s name.

... contd.