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Stories by Kapil Komireddi

Kapil Komireddi is an Indian writer. His work has appeared in such publications as The Guardian, Foreign Policy, The Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, The Salt Lake Tribune, and The Khaleej Times, among others. He writes about foreign affairs, particularly the emerging US-India relationship, for FrumForum.

The Land Without Smiles

Kapil Komireddi wrote on December 19th, 2011 at 8:35 am

A brisk look at KCNA, the North Korean regime’s news agency hosted from Japan, used to form an occasional part of my reading routine. It was a source of comic relief at first. As the rest of the world lurched between crises, the inhabitants of North Korea seemed splendidly insulated from anything approaching hardship or   more

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The World Loses a Light

Kapil Komireddi wrote on December 16th, 2011 at 2:54 am

Hitchens is gone. And the phrase that echoes in my mind is Nehru’s at the death of Gandhi: “The light has gone out of our lives.” For every young writer – and every victim and opponent of authoritarianism – there is now darkness.
To Hitchens, there was no difference between the two: he rejected the line   more

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Mansoor Ijaz’s Record Speaks for Itself

Kapil Komireddi wrote on December 9th, 2011 at 9:08 am

Earlier this week, in an essay that comprehensively debunked the so-called “memogate” controversy that has paralysed Pakistan and driven its already fragile civilian government to the brink of collapse, David Frum described the architect of the crisis, Mansoor Ijaz, as “a reckless fantasist motivated by childish vanity”.
Now Ijaz has responded with a rebuttal that vividly   more

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Belarus Dictator Popular? How Would We Know?

Kapil Komireddi wrote on November 17th, 2011 at 1:06 am

I recently drew attention in an article for FrumForum to the imminent threat to the life of Andrei Sannikov, the pro-democracy opposition leader of Belarus, Europe’s last dictatorship. Robin Tim Weis’s riposte to my piece coincides with news that Sannikov has disappeared. If nothing else, this should prompt us to question the policy of gradualism   more

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Stop Being Idle, Speak Up for Belarus

Kapil Komireddi wrote on November 4th, 2011 at 1:30 pm

As despotic regimes across the Middle East crumble under the weight of pro-democracy uprisings, an obscene silence prevails over the savage dictatorship in the centre of Europe. For 17 years, Alexander Lukashenko has ruled Belarus, a former Soviet state, in the fashion of his hero, Joseph Stalin: public assembly is banned, the press is censored,   more

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Fanatics’ Actions Don’t Define U.S. Muslims

Kapil Komireddi wrote on June 15th, 2011 at 10:48 am

Gingrich defended his Muslims-as-Nazis stance by citing a Pakistani American who tried to bomb Times Square. What about the heroic Pakistani American killed on 9/11?  more

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Get Tough With Pakistan

Kapil Komireddi wrote on May 11th, 2011 at 12:59 pm

For Pakistan, the indulgent era of bottomless bribes and easy exonerations must come to an end. Washington must start holding them to account.  more

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Palin Flops in India

Kapil Komireddi wrote on March 19th, 2011 at 6:26 pm

If Palin’s speech at a Delhi conference was intended to establish her foreign policy credentials, she failed.  more

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If Mubarak Falls,
What’s Next?

Kapil Komireddi wrote on January 28th, 2011 at 5:47 pm

Egypt’s revolutionaries are determined to bring down Mubarak’s regime, but have they given thought to what will replace it?  more

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In Pakistan, The Extremists Have Won

Kapil Komireddi wrote on January 7th, 2011 at 1:10 pm

Pakistan’s founders wanted a country where no Muslim would be killed for being Muslim. Today, it’s a land where Muslims are killed for not being Muslim enough.  more

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Britain’s Budding Constitutional Crisis

Kapil Komireddi wrote on May 6th, 2010 at 9:30 pm

A constitutional crisis is looming in Britain. Labour is currently leading the count with 31 declared victories, but exit polls indicate that the Tories are likely to emerge as the single biggest party, with at least 307 seats.  more

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British PM Candidate Helped Smuggle Teen Girl into Belgium

Kapil Komireddi wrote on April 25th, 2010 at 11:58 am

FF Exclusive: Liberal Democrat party leader Nick Clegg, a leading candidate to be the UK’s next prime minister, once helped smuggle a 17-year-old British teenager past immigration authorities during a 2003 cross-border trip to Brussels.  more

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Pakistan’s Trauma – and Revenge

Kapil Komireddi wrote on January 4th, 2010 at 5:29 pm

India’s swift military victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war devastated the country: Pakistan lost half of its territory and a majority of its citizens. The defeat would also lead to one of the 21st century’s most pressing security challenges.  more

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Poverty Breeds Terrorism?

Kapil Komireddi wrote on December 26th, 2009 at 3:35 pm

The man who came close to blowing up the Detroit-bound plane belonged to a well-heeled family in Nigeria: his father was a high-ranking banker and the bomber himself is an engineering student.  more

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Pakistan: Committing Genocide Against Fellow Muslims

Kapil Komireddi wrote on December 19th, 2009 at 8:19 am

In 1971, assisted by 13 battalions of mujahideen, Pakistan’s soldiers slaughtered three million people over 9 bloodcurdling months.  more

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Pakistan’s Descent into Genocide

Kapil Komireddi wrote on December 14th, 2009 at 2:40 pm

No individual bears greater responsibility for the genocide in Pakistan in 1971 than Zulfi Bhutto, who refused all political compromises and maneuvered the government and army into civil war.  more

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Pakistan’s Army: Waging Jihad Against Other Muslims

Kapil Komireddi wrote on December 13th, 2009 at 9:42 am

Pakistan’s 1971 civil war constitutes the single most terrible slaughter of Muslims since the founding of Islam – committed entirely by Muslims.  more

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Pakistan: American Weapons in the Service of Jihad

Kapil Komireddi wrote on December 11th, 2009 at 2:13 pm

Pakistan’s relationship with America has always followed the same pattern: The army accepts American military aid while allying itself with the very enemies it had been paid and equipped by the U.S. to oppose.  more

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Pakistan’s Army: Building a Nation for Jihad

Kapil Komireddi wrote on December 7th, 2009 at 12:14 am

The Pakistani army, the nation’s most powerful institution, has never been the modernizing force the West believed it would be. Instead, after seizing power in a coup, the army implemented a national program of Islamic indoctrination.  more

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Pakistan: A Mecca for Radical Islam

Kapil Komireddi wrote on December 6th, 2009 at 11:44 am

For decades, Washington has mistakenly believed that by funding Pakistan, it was propping up “Western-minded” leaders who would thoroughly oppose fanatical religious forces. Instead, since its creation, Pakistan has been a center for global Islamists.  more

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