Owais Mughal

I wanted to write on this topic for many months. Finally I’ve got around to write on it. Most of our readers know Pakistan inaugurated its third deep sea port in Gwadar in March 2005. It became operational in March 2008 when first the ship carrying 52000 tonnes of wheat from Canada berthed here. In my opinion a great news of development for Pakistan, especially as a project whose foundation stone was laid just three years ago on March 22, 2002 and its first phase got finished on time in March 2005. Phase I includes building of three multipurpose berths. Gwadar port operations are run by the Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) under a 40-year agreement.

So far so good. But what are the strategic and political implications of this project. A quick search on internet will reveal a plethora of conspiracy theories. Some even call it a useless port for Pakistan. Others call it a part of new Great Game being played across the Balochistan province of Pakistan. So what is it?

Adil Najam and Owais Mughal

The very first post on ATP came online on June 11, 2006. Today we complete two years of this blog. It has been quite a ride.

Let us start by welcoming a new member to our management team. Please help us welcome Asma Mirza who will join Adil Najam and Darwaish as a Contributing Editor. We are confident that Asma, who has been one of the leaders behind the Islamabad Metroblog, will and many new and wonderful dimensions and perspectives to ATP. Welcome, Asma!

Owais Mughal will continue as the Managing Editor. Bilal Zuberi, who has been so instrumental in setting the initial directions of the blog, will take a hiatus because of his increasing professional responsibilities, but we hope that he will continue with his occasional contributions.

But the real core and spirit of the blog is our readers, our authors and our commenters. For their perseverance, for their companionship and for their community, we thank them all – even those whose comments we sometimes have to moderate out because thy can never seem to fully grasp our comments policy. :-)

Asma Mirza

I came across this captivating photograph printed in Dawn a couple of days back. Left me in awe for few seconds.

Even the crows know that they can quench their thirst turn by turn; which is probably in their best interest. Unlike their human friends.