Word: civilian
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Publicly, Rice has talked up the idea that Pakistan is now ruled by a democratic civilian government committed to eradicating militant groups from Pakistani soil, and making peace with India. But neither Pakistan's generals nor India's political leadership have any doubt about who controls the critical levers of power in Pakistan - and it's not the government of President Asif Ali Zardari...
...reportedly following a midnight meeting between army chief General Ashfaq Kiyani, on one side, and Zardari and his prime minister, on the other, - and said a more junior official would be sent instead. To date, no one has gone. So nobody believes the ISI takes its orders from the civilian government. In fact, when the government tried earlier this year to put the ISI under the control of the Interior Ministry, it was quickly sent packing...
India's leadership, for its part, is well aware of the fragility of Pakistan's civilian government and of the danger that military action -like possible air strikes against LeT camps inside Pakistan - can prompt a very dangerous escalation between the nuclear-armed neighbors. At the same time, the Indian public is incensed at its government's shoddy security performance. With the Hindu nationalist opposition exploiting the national-security failures ahead of next year's election, the Indian government is likely to discover that showing patience and moderation in response to Mumbai will come at a high cost...
...need to be seen to be responding to the Mumbai atrocities; at the same time, it has to prevent a confrontation with Pakistan that jeopardizes the U.S. effort in Afghanistan; and finally, it must avoid provoking a domestic political crisis in Pakistan that could bring down Zardari's civilian government. President-elect Barack Obama has made clear his desire to resolve the India-Pakistan conflict as a basis for stabilizing democracy and eliminating terrorism in Pakistan. The Mumbai massacre, however, may make crisis-management, rather than resolution, the order of the day for quite some time to come...
...been in India and knew that New Delhi wanted Washington's help in getting Pakistan to crack down on groups implicated in last week's terrorist attack on Mumbai. But she also knew that such a crackdown would be unpopular in Pakistan and could very well destabilize its weak civilian government. How then to mollify India's saber-rattling public while getting Pakistan's officials to act against their own interest? The two nuclear-powered nations of the subcontinent have been to war against each other three times, and tempers are now rising on both sides of the border...