Internal Developments

The Jatiya Sangsad has formed a 15 member special committee to review the constitution and suggest amendments in order to undo the 5th Amendment that has been ruled ultra vires by the High Court and the Supreme Court. The committee is headed by the Deputy Leader of the House, Sayeda Chowdhry and all the 15 members belong to the Awami League (AL) led coalition allies. The government had invited the BNP to nominate a member to the committee but after deliberations within the party, the BNP decided not to depute anyone to the committee.

Political and Internal Development

Gen. Kayani gets another three years

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani announced the decision to extend Kayani’s tenure by three years. The rationale for the extension has been explained in terms of the need to maintain continuity in leadership in the War on Terror and because of the general’s ‘commitment to democracy’. Both President Asif Zardari and the Americans were on board on this decision.

Scuttling the fake degrees probe

he major lesson we should draw from the foreign minister-level talks is that Pakistan is not serious about addressing our concerns on terrorism.

This should have been clear to us long ago because we have been talking to Pakistan on terrorism ever since 1997, says Satish Chandra, the former deputy national security advisor and distinguished fellow, Vivekananda International Foundation.

The recently held India-Pakistan foreign minister level talks designed to bridge the trust deficit between the two countries have only served to accentuate it.

Internal Developments

The BNP is planning to launch the next phase of its anti-government movement after Eid and will work with its alliance partners and like-minded parties for this purpose. According to reports, the plan is to first focus on the ground work for building up support for the movement rather than rush into a headlong confrontation with the government. But the political work will be interspersed by the occasional street protest.

Political and Internal Developments

PMLN exposes fascistic tendencies

It is not clear what External Affairs Minister’s visit to Pakistan in mid-July can realistically achieve in bridging the trust deficit between India and Pakistan. This distrust spans sixty three years. So long as Pakistan persists with its claim on Kashmir, pursues confrontationist policies, rejects substantive steps towards normalization, uses Islam as a rallying force against India and resorts to terrorism to bleed it, the existing trust deficit will endure whatever Pakistani’s diplomatic protestations and India’s hopes.