South Asia Citizens Web

Whenever a French president comes to India, so do arms deals. During President Nicolas Sarkozy’s recent visit, India and France discussed or signed several weapons agreements. These include a $2 billion deal to upgrade Mirage fighters and a $900 million contract to equip them with missiles. French and Indian agencies are now in advanced talks on jointly developing new fighter jets and surface-to-air missiles in deals worth $7 billion-plus. Overshadowing all these is the Indo-French agreement on two European Power Reactors (EPRs) developed by Areva. The EPRs, each of 1,650 MW, carry a price-tag estimated at $13 billion and are to be erected at Jaitapur, in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district.

Thirty-nine years have passed since Bangladesh was created. Surely, it is time to set the record straight and tell the future generation of Pakistanis what really led to the fall of East Pakistan. Similarly its time Bangladeshi children have learning materials that do not promote hate and rancour for all things Pakistan.

A tribute to Surendra Mohan by NAPM

If (a big if) they come to power in Afghanistan, they will establish a strong nexus between the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and their regime in Afghanistan. Then there will be double route traffic. Herds and herds of Taliban will be moving to and from Pakistan, some will be driven, others will move willingly and they will kill, destroy and pick up whatever will come in their way. There will be pitched battles among them and perhaps we will find ourselves standing in their rows.

Come to think of it, there is, really, nothing new about corporates trying to influence either the formation or the functioning of governments — and with the connivance of the media and media-persons.