Shastri’s legacy is unfairly overshadowed by peace he made at Tashkent and a visit that also took his life. Among his contributions were Green Revolution and talent-hunting Dr Swaminathan.
In Uzbekistan to cover the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, I saw the land of Timur whom Indian history books will always remember as the 'plunderer' of Delhi.
The Tashkent pact set the stage for Indian and Pakistani militaries to start withdrawing troops. Those days, tough negotiations could still end with a game of golf.
The Nirouyeh Vijeh Pasdaran Velayat, or NOPO, was the only force Ali Khamenei trusted.It was founded in 1991 and is more feared than the Revolutionary Guards.
Rating democracies is a tricky business. I am only using the simple metric of who in the Indian subcontinent has had the most peaceful, stable, normal political transitions and continuity.
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