Rhetorical Analysis

Such is the frenzied state of lawmakers in Pakistan today that even a sneeze emanating from New Delhi is enough to upset the balance of power in South Asia. Whether it is news of a new Indian-made interceptor missile, or Indian premier Narendra Modi’s historic speech to the joint session of US Congress in June: they all cut like a knife.

Various theories have been put forth to explain this phenomenon. Some suggest the absence of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from Islamabad–of late under fire for his family’s offshore accounts as named in the Panama Papers and presently recuperating from open heart surgery in London–has shifted the rhetorical bullseye to India since Members of Parliament (MPs) must somehow justify their bloated perks and paychecks.

The second theory has to do with the Muslim month of fasting, Ramadan. In its early days,

It allowed the establishment, with Washington’s blessings now that everyone was pals fighting the ungodly commies, to inextricably fasten itself to Afghanistan’s political future by manipulating the war theater to Pakistan’s advantage. By permanently sidelining Afghan nationalists that were partial to India from the days of King Amanullah, Pakistan yielded a new crop of Afghan leaders: all virulent Islamists and every one anti-India.

This worked well with Pakistan’s own brand of Islamic nationalism, a way to paper over its lopsided federation built on ethnic groups that deeply distrusted each other. That the Kalabagh Damn, a direly needed hydropower plant in an energy starved country, never got off the drawing board is testament to this distrust.

Still, to make doubly sure that Afghanistan could never again threaten Pakistan’s geography, the establishment cast a wide net of spies westwards of the Durand Line charged with buying and retaining the loyalties of warlords that could be used as pawns to destabilize future Afghan governments. “Strategic depth,” they called