Beenish Javed

Maleeha Lodhi is a well known expert on Pakistan and U.S. relations. I spoke to her about the complicated relationship between two countries and if she sees any improvement in ties among two countries. Beenish: Is the recent engagement between Pakistan and U.S. officials, especially the visit of Marc Grossman to Pakistan, has helped in improving ties between two countries or not? Maleeha:  The U.S. has not responded to many demands of Pakistan.  U.S has not offered an apology on Salala check post attacks, payments of Coalition Support Fund to Pakistan have not been made, and no agreement on drones have been made. The parliamentary recommendations are very clear on stopping drone attacks, but the U.S. has not agreed to stop them. I think it’s not only about opening up of NATO supply routes, the U.S. has not responded positively on what Pakistan wants. We have to see if the deadlock between two countries can be resolved or not? And whether the new terms of engagem...

The third episode of Diplomatic Enclave went really well. This episode includes a quick roundup of last week's news. A great report on Iran's cultural aspects and a report explaining the importance of this week's Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran Strategic Agreements. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLmuB81AROw For translation in English like the page http://www.facebook.com/pages/DiplomaticEnclave/168947873189364

Islamabad is a city of diplomats. The team at ARY NEWS noticed that there was no show covering diplomatic activities in the city. ARY NEWS came up with the idea to start a new show called, Diplomatic Enclave. This show has different segments. All the segments are named differently. The segment called, Diplomacy, has an interview with a diplomat or with the foreign office spokesperson. The segment, Saqafti Sargarmian (Cultural Activites), include some cultural events arranged by different embassies, mostly on their national days. The segment called Aalmi Naza( World view), include all important news covered by international media world wide in the current week. Here are links of the two segments that have already gone on air. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVAgyaQ_3hg&list=UUS_oMLaaEiM13_HBJjZueHw&index=2&feature=plcp&noredirect=1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HK6ttRM87Fw&feature=related

                        Pakistan has a  history of  having difficult relations with the U.S. It has always been a relationship based on interests and that is the primary reason  for Pakistan not having a stable relationship with the U.S. But in past ten years, 2011 has been extremely tough for these two countries.                The biggest set back to this relationship in 2011, started with the Raymond Davis case. The CIA contractor had killed two Pakistani citizens in Lahore. It was this particular case which made the general population aware of CIA's presence in Pakistan. Although Raymond Davis case was resolved, but it highly ignited Anti-American sentiment in Pakistanis. The memory of this particular issue was still fresh among Pakistanis that an another devestating incident took pl...