My first overseas reporting trip was to Iran nearly half a century ago. Coincidentally it was also my first overseas trip. I have the Iraqis to thank for it. I was a reporter with New Delhi magazine (which shut shop in 1981) in its namesake city. In 1979, soon after the Islamic revolution toppled Shah…
From Chaitanya Kalbag TEHRAN, JAN. 24—There was a strong rumour here last week that the Shah is not really dead. Many people swore that they had never seen a photograph of his dead body and pointed out that only his wife and son were shown in pictures of the funeral, along with “co-conspirators” like Anwar Sadat.…
From Chaitanya Kalbag TEHERAN, JAN. 21—It was clear that the on-off hostage crisis, which finally came to an end a scant half hour before Ronald Reagan’s swearing in as America’s 40th president on Tuesday, had begun to boomerang badly for the Iranians towards the end. Today, only two bored Pasdaran (Islamic Revolutionary Guards) stood guard outside the…
From Chaitanya Kalbag TEHERAN, JAN. 22—“The economy can’t get any worse”, say businessmen in Teheran. But the isolation the Iranians brought upon themselves, most people agree, could have been easily averted. The release of the US hostages may reopen the gates to the West and one country that can lose out as a result is India. Hardliners…
From Chaitanya Kalbag TEHRAN, Jan. 23 — Iranian military plans were always offensive vis-à-vis Iraq. It was not surprising, therefore, that the Iranian Air Force’s first raids on Iraq after the war broke out in late September focused on economically important targets. The Iraqis, too, have concentrated their attacks on Iranian economic centres — a situation…
Philippine investigators recover millions by seizing funds of ex-leader’s ‘cronies’ Chaitanya Kalbag MANILA, Reuters: Former President Ferdinand Marcos and his associates still control vast amounts of funds circulating in the country’s economy, the head of a government panel tracking the ousted leader’s “hidden wealth” said Sunday Ramon Diaz, chairman of the Presidential Commission on Good…
With a step forward from Monarchy to a Republic, Iran has taken two steps backwards: restricting freedom, curbing women’s rights and executions after summary trials. By Chaitanya Kalbag “Who would believe that I should work 10 hours a day for 37 years to help my country only to see it go back to the point…
But the people have their ways of making do Close to one-sixth of Iran’s population of 38 million lives in Teheran, the sprawling capital that slides southward from the cold slopes of an Elborz Mountains spur. And Teheran was trying, in the weeks I spent there, with a touch of grouchiness, to look like a…
Chaitanya Kalbag ISLAMABAD, April 14 (Reuters) – Pakistan, a key U.S. ally in the war on terror, said on Monday American policies were polarising the world between Muslims and non-Muslims, and creating a highly charged and potentially violent atmosphere. Criticising the use of force against Iraq, Interior Minister Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat said Washington should…
Chaitanya Kalbag MANILA, Sept 4, Reuter – Low pay and poor working conditions have fuelled unrest in the Philippine military and laid the ground for further coup attempts, analysts said on Friday. “Most soldiers barely manage to survive,” a Western military attache told Reuters. “Housing is almost non-existent, except for senior officers. Privates are forced…