Pakistan displays military muscle
Monday, 12 April 2010
Fazle Rashid
In a bid to display its military muscle, Pakistan will hold its biggestever military exercise with participation of over 50,000 soldiers in an undisclosed area contiguous to Indian border. A mix of military hardwares from the US, France and China will be on display.
With Pakistan's economy in tatters and the ascendancy of Islamic Jihadists growing by the day, the announcement of the military exercise has taken the world capitals by surprise. The announcement of the military exercise came barely 24 hours after the lower house of Pakistan's National Assembly passed an epoch-making constitutional amendment vesting more power in Prime Minister and the National Assembly by clipping the power of the President.
Pakistan's allies, notably the US, are urging them to intensify the offensive against the Islamic Jihadists. Thousands of people have died in recent months in attacks launched by the Talebans. There has been no count of the deaths in past two months in Pakistan which has witnessed Taleban onslaught against even well-fortified military installations. There have been civilian casualties in US air strikes on Taleban sanctuaries.
Artillery, infantry and armoured units will be involved in the monthlong exercise codenamed, 'Azm-e-nau' or new resolve. Indian reaction to the exercise has been muted. Earlier this month the Pakistan Air Force held a demonstration for invited guests to show its capacity to contribute to the fight against militants.
India had similarly organised an exercise close to Pakistan border by its air force. The defence attaches of all nations, barring China and Pakistan, were invited to the exercise.
Economic conference: An economic conference was recently held at the King's College, Cambridge, which inspired John Maynard Keyne's revolution of the discipline in the 1930s. At the conference, some reputed economists sprang a major surprise by stating that the theories in the economics text-books have been proved wrong by the recent crippling economic meltdown that swept all across the world. "Financial and economic crisis had exposed fatal flaws in their subject (economics) and ideas were urgently needed to keep economics relevant", the academics asserted. An analyst said that the conference participants could neither agree on the causes of the crisis nor the necessary remedies.
In a bid to display its military muscle, Pakistan will hold its biggestever military exercise with participation of over 50,000 soldiers in an undisclosed area contiguous to Indian border. A mix of military hardwares from the US, France and China will be on display.
With Pakistan's economy in tatters and the ascendancy of Islamic Jihadists growing by the day, the announcement of the military exercise has taken the world capitals by surprise. The announcement of the military exercise came barely 24 hours after the lower house of Pakistan's National Assembly passed an epoch-making constitutional amendment vesting more power in Prime Minister and the National Assembly by clipping the power of the President.
Pakistan's allies, notably the US, are urging them to intensify the offensive against the Islamic Jihadists. Thousands of people have died in recent months in attacks launched by the Talebans. There has been no count of the deaths in past two months in Pakistan which has witnessed Taleban onslaught against even well-fortified military installations. There have been civilian casualties in US air strikes on Taleban sanctuaries.
Artillery, infantry and armoured units will be involved in the monthlong exercise codenamed, 'Azm-e-nau' or new resolve. Indian reaction to the exercise has been muted. Earlier this month the Pakistan Air Force held a demonstration for invited guests to show its capacity to contribute to the fight against militants.
India had similarly organised an exercise close to Pakistan border by its air force. The defence attaches of all nations, barring China and Pakistan, were invited to the exercise.
Economic conference: An economic conference was recently held at the King's College, Cambridge, which inspired John Maynard Keyne's revolution of the discipline in the 1930s. At the conference, some reputed economists sprang a major surprise by stating that the theories in the economics text-books have been proved wrong by the recent crippling economic meltdown that swept all across the world. "Financial and economic crisis had exposed fatal flaws in their subject (economics) and ideas were urgently needed to keep economics relevant", the academics asserted. An analyst said that the conference participants could neither agree on the causes of the crisis nor the necessary remedies.