BetweenTheLines

Muhammad Ali Jinnah died on this day, 78 years ago, just 394 days after Pakistan's creation on September 11, 1948, of chronic tuberculosis at 71. His terminal illness, as he led the campaign for India's division in the 1940s, remained a secret until his death. Last month, Pakistan announced one of its highest civilian honours, the Nishan-e-Imtiaz, for two Bombay (now Mumbai) Parsi doctors, Jal Ratanji Patel, Jinnah’s physician, and Jal Daeboo, a radiologist, acknowledging their inadvertent contribution to the circumstances that made Pakistan's creation possible by maintaining this secret. They will receive the honour posthumously next year on Pakistan Day, which marks the 1940 Lahore Resolution that spelled out the two-nation theory. Pakistani minister Ahsan Iqbal wrote on social media that British viceroy Louis Mountbatten acknowledged he might have delayed Partition, potentially altering history's course and jeopardising Pakistan's creation, had he known how serio...

Sameer Arshad Khatlani Pakistan's top court ordered former Prime Minister Imran Khan's transfer to a private hospital amid concerns about his health. Khan, 73, who was ousted in 2022 and has been imprisoned since August 2023 on what are largely believed to be politically driven convictions, is reported to have lost significant vision in his right eye.  Pakistan's Supreme Court cited Khan's fundamental right, while ordering the authorities to ensure his health and safety. A federal minister promised to implement the order in letter and spirit, while another said they seek Khan's treatment at a public hospital.  Khan's arrest after falling out with the military establishment sparked unprecedented protests and attacks on military installations. His party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), was stripped of its election symbol, the cricket bat, ahead of the 2024 election, and its candidates were forced to contest as independents. Yet they emerged as the single largest ...

By Sameer Arshad Khatlani Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey signed a defence agreement on August 7 in Mecca, Islam’s holiest city, stating that an attack against any of the three countries will be regarded as an assault on them all. The Mecca Joint Defense Agreement comes amid growing doubts about the US as a security provider, even as Saudi Arabia signed a civilian nuclear pact with Washington in July. In 1963, the then-Saudi Crown Prince Faisal told US ambassador Parker T Hart that “after Allah, we trust America,” underlining the depth of their relationship.  The Saudi-US ties remain strong, but successive US administrations have sought to reduce their involvement in West Asia.  President Donald Trump has vocally articulated the need for allies across regions to spend more on their defence and take more responsibility. The Trump administration’s National Defense Strategy is categorical in saying the US is stretched and cannot shoulder the responsibility alone amid simultane...

By Sameer Arshad Khatlani P rime Minister Narendra Modi visited the 10th-century Prambanan Temple dedicated to Hindu gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, on the last day of the Indonesian leg of his three-nation tour of the Indo-Pacific region on July 8, 2026. He called the temple a testament to the close cultural ties between India and Indonesia.  A day earlier, Modi addressed the Indonesian Parliament and said that the relationship between the two countries is rooted in local versions of the Hindu epics Ramayana and Mahabharata and monuments such as Borobudur, the world's largest Buddhist temple, around 50 km from Prambanan. He referred to Indonesia's national emblem, Garuda, which is Lord Vishnu's mount in the Hindu tradition. Modi spoke about traders and Sufis from his home state of Gujarat, who brought the message and values of Islam to Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation and home to roughly one in eight Muslims worldwide. He highlighted aspects of Indones...

By Sameer Arshad Khatlani In April, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra visited Saudi Arabia for a third time since assuming office 11 years ago. During this period, India has enhanced its centuries-old ties with the Persian Gulf nations, which host the largest (25%) share of the Indian expatriate population globally (about nine million), to the level of strategic cooperation. In an interview with Arab News ahead of his April visit, PM Modi emphasised the long-standing ties between India and the Arab world. He said Indians and Arabs have interacted with each other since the days of Kalila wa Dimna. Much of this interaction has centred on culture, through the transmission of ideas and translations of texts. The PM did not elaborate on Kalila wa Dimna; nor did Arab News add a parenthesis, for it has been among the most popular books in the Arab world since Ibn Muqaffa compiled it in the 8th century from Panchatantra for philosophers to benefit from the wisdom of the Indian classic. Panchatantra...

  In an era when we had just one TV channel and no remote controls, we consumed all available content including advertisements. The peppy and catchy advertisement of Campa Cola made it particularly attractive and an instant hit. I was around four or five years old when I had the short-lived joy of having my first Cola drink while we were on our way to a picnic.  The fizzy drink perhaps cost a princely sum of Rs seven each for a bunch of kids. The ever-so-indulgent Ghulam Rasool Malik uncle was again there to indulge and buy colas for us. We could always count on the large-hearted and generous Malik uncle. We would eagerly wait for the Jammu and Kashmir State Road Transport bus from Baramulla, where he was posted as an industries officer, to pull in for us to get our almost daily share of Pan Pasand candies.  I perhaps did my first set of writings for the Springer children's magazine (Kashmir Times Group, Jammu) on a chair-cum-desk he bought for his children, Umake and Mis...

From left to right: Heena Grover Menon, Ena Jain Kejriwal, Tanvi, and Sameer Arshad Khatlani. By Sameer Arshad Khatlani I have no control over how quickly I crawl back into my shell. That is perhaps how I am and I have finally made peace with it. People mostly give up on me and rightly so. But there are a few who have not and I cannot thank them enough. Among them is Heena Grover Menon. Heena and I are chalk and cheese. Outgoing uninhibited and pleasant, I can go on and on using similar adjectives for Heena that do not even remotely apply to me. There were, as such, heavy odds against Heena and me becoming acquaintances let alone being friends.  But Heena overcame and how! I was as usual on the sidelines of a social event—my first Times of India party at the Hotel Samrat in Delhi's diplomatic enclave in 2008—when Heena had enough of my reclusiveness. She literally dragged me to the heart of the party. Only Heena could have pulled this off.  I had joined the Times of India over...

  By Sameer Arshad Khatlani In the summer of 2004, I arrived in Delhi for good to live my dream of being a journalist. Though eternally optimistic, lurking fears did weigh me down. A teacher subtly fanning the kind of prejudice that is now in one's face, and some classmates openly expressing it confirmed these fears. Hanging onto my firm belief in the innate goodness of humans was among the ways I dealt with it. The belief has since stood me in good stead. Vanita Raghuvanshi, one of my classmates at the journalism school, was among the first ones in Delhi to strengthen my belief in the values that I grew up with. She personified what innate goodness means: humans are inherently good and doing good comes naturally to them. Vanita is among the rare people completely devoid of prejudice. Her disarming innocence and pleasant and friendly demeanour offered me a much-needed sense of inclusion to stay the course to live my dream. Vanita was not alone in being a source of strength ...

Sameer Arshad Khatlani Follow  on Facebook I n the run-up to the no-confidence vote he faces this month , Pr ime Minister Imran Khan has hit out at the West and publicly criticized the European Union. His supporters have linked his refusal to allow the US to use Pakistan's territory or bases to the vote. Khan is widely expected to rally support for himself by relying on his refusal to play footsie with America unlike his predecessors to corner his rivals in case he is ousted from power. Many of his lawmakers have withdrawn support for him, raising questions about whether he can continue in power as he faces criticism over his economic and foreign policies.  Also Read |  Fourth-Year Itch: Will Imran Khan Complete His Term Khan has 155 seats in parliament's lower house. He needs the backing of coalition partners and dissidents for the support of 172 members of the House to complete his term and become the first Pakistani Prime Minister to do so. The opposition parties that...

Sameer Arshad Khatlani Follow  on Facebook W hen a rightist coalition bagged 11 per cent of votes in the 2002 Pakistan national elections, it was the first time conservatives managed a double-digit vote share in the country's electoral history. The conservatives had never won more than five per cent votes earlier. The trend continued after 2002. Much of the support the conservatives got in 2002 stemmed from anti-US sentiments sweeping Pakistan after military ruler Pervez Musharraf signed up for the war on terror in Afghanistan post 9/11 attacks.  Also Read | Clubbed With Urdu-Speakers, Biharis Retain Identity In Pakistan Pakistan’s biggest conservative party Maulana Fazlur Rehman-led Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F)’s vote share dwindled to 3.2% in the 2013 polls. Yet Rehman remained part of Islamabad’s power structure even as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had a comfortable majority after repeated fractured mandates. Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, the rightist coalition, and newly-formed...