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Thanks! Will the JC monitor the investigation (this is the impression I got from your previous post) and will this not be enough to counter allegations of political influence? Or is the case that the JIT will not be monitored by the JC, it will just submit a report to the JC once investigations...

Intelligence agencies investigating elections isn't par for the course. ISI shouldn't be clubbed with other 'investigative' agencies. In India's case for instance, the JIT (usually called S (Special) IT in India) would rely on the CBI and maybe on the IB (which handles internal intelligence)...

If no legal cover is needed for the intelligence agencies, such investigation must already be part of their mandate. Is this the case with reference to the ISI?

This is an argument that only the 'functional' role of legal system is valuable. The assumption here is that law and due process has no intrinsic value- it can modified as ad hoc needs arise. Unfortunately, this argument is a slippery slope, if applied extensively it leads to the collapse of a...

IB inputs into a SC monitored investigation make sense. What law enables ISI participation? Was there a previous SC judgement? Has ISI participation been challenged in court before? I know R&AW is not permitted to participate in this sort of investigation. So I'm wondering if it's part of the...

Is it even legally permissible to have intelligence agencies investigate electoral disputes? Is this part of the ISI's statutory mandate?

India and China's economies are now so different that it is a bit pointless to compare. China now has to focus on managing certain challenges rather than making fundamental transformations (unless the democracy question crops up, how that is handled will be crucial). They need to manage the...

Thanks, a very interesting post- I've responded there rather than derail this thread.

An American analogy to what you describe as Modi's second main theme, is the narrative of American exceptionalism, particularly moral superiority, that the American right is so dependent on. In Modi's/BJP's case, however, I don't think there is a deep rooted belief in Hindu exceptionalism, nor...

On this bit, I disagree completely. While certain extremely chauvinistic Indians may feel emboldened by the election results and therefore go overboard on the internet, by and large the mood in India seems to have changed in the opposite direction after the election. Rather than unrestrained...

As an outside observer, it does seem that Pakistan is on the brink. Yet, I believe Pakistan's past will help it pull through. Pakistan was, 25 years ago, a relatively liberal nation which had been, by most counts, an economic success. Those attitudes live on in a society's memory and are...

Many (most?) middle class and above Hindus eat beef these days. Even my grandparents do. Many will eat it only when they're abroad because beef in India isn't hygenic (because the industry is pushed underground). In Delhi all higher end hotels and restaurants serving European food serve beef...

Very poor analysis. First, Japan needs more inflation not less- they have been trying to get out of a deflationary trap- all this QE has barely achieved 3% inflation. Second, a currency depreciation in Japan is a good thing, I would argue that a 10% depreciation is not enough, it will take a...

I have never been to Pakistan, but almost everywhere I have been in the Middle East, there is a chronic problem of people blaming others for their countries problems. Yes, the West did many awful things to the middle east but what's the point of complaining about Israel, Sykes-Picot etc in this...

Why not? The BJP won partly because the Catholic vote swung to the BJP. This will be a win-win, Panikkar as Defense Minister and a Catholic CM- the Hindu vote in Goa goes to the BJP in any case.

While I'm not condoning these deaths, they are tragic and the army deserves to be condemned, there is some problem with the Standard Operating Procedure at these checkpoints- these are not cases of deliberate, malicious killing. A few days (weeks?) ago the army killed 2 of its own jawans at the...

Instead of complaining about the US, why don't you guys focus on exposing the likes of Hamid Gul to the Pakistani public. After all they are the cause of the current mayhem and suffering of civilians in Pakistan. As members here, you probably know a lot more about the history of these events...

Whether there was a temple there or not is completely irrelevant. As a BJP supporter, I'm appalled by the BJP's (and the Sangh's) attempt to rewrite history. If Babur had a temple demolished to build a mosque there, so be it. To try and reverse that in the 21st century is misguided and...

If Modi will indeed die if the RSS asks him to die, I'm afraid I voted for the wrong person.

Were all the reports of the RSS being unhappy at being marginalised in Gujarat, while he was CM, made up by the 'secular' media?