Maloy Krishna Dhar started life off as a junior reporter for Amrita Bazaar Patrika in Calcutta and a part-time lecturer. He joined the Indian Police Service in 1964 and was permanently seconded to the Intelligence Bureau. During his long stint in the Bureau, Dhar saw action in almost all the Northeastern states, Sikkim, Punjab and Kashmir. He also handled delicate internal political matters and several counterintelligence assignments. After retiring in 1996 as joint director, he took to freelance journalism and writing books. Titles credited to him are Open Secrets-India`s Intelligence Unveiled; Fulcrum of Evil- The ISI, CIA Al Qaeda Nexus, and Mission to Pakistan. Maloy is considered a top security analyst and a social scientist who tries to portray Indian society through his writings.
Most Pakistanis - barring close aides and admirers of General Pervez Musharraf, power-starved followers of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and chronic dreamers of democracy - have been foxed by the twists and turns in Pakistan’s political fortune and its internal security concerns.
Democracy and military rule in Pakistan have a peculiar malarial syndrome. The nation is periodically gripped by democratic shivers. And the guardian angel - the armed forces - allows it to wear the quilt of democracy till the shiver subsides, and forces out the malarial democratic bugs by peaceful or bloody coups.
Nawaz Sharif was invented by the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and the armed forces to install a Punjabi face on the gaddi of Pakistan when Benazir proved embarrassing and inconvenient to the military rulers. Nawaz was blessed by the ISI and the army, till he crossed the Laxman Rekha drawn by his mentors. He talked loudly about peace with India, a slogan considered blasphemous in most quarters in Pakistan. So despite his overwhelming popular mandate, he was ousted by Musharraf. Besides, after the Kargil fiasco Musharraf had no other option, because he knew Nawaz wanted to get rid of him.
Image: Former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto addresses a press conference in Dubai on October 17, a day before her planned return from exile to Pakistan (AP)
