Pakistan Warms up to Elections Amidst Killings and Death Threats – by A Z: The elections scheduled for May have brought a degree of excitement and hope to a country that has witnessed a descent into violence and terrorism accompanied by economic woes over the past few years. Campaign posters, with the candidates’

PPP Trading Shia Blood for Votes? – by Sidq Maqaal: The clandestine nexus between PPP and SSP is a reality ever since PPP offered SSP (ASWJ’s ancestor) a new lease of life in 1993 when SSP was on the run after being hounded by Wyne and PML. During its

Pakistan in the throes of Barbarism Beyond Execution – by A Z: Only in the last few hours, ten innocent passengers were blown up in Peshawar and a father and a son were gunned down in Karachi for the mere crime of being Shias. And this is our routine life as

Freedom of speech and our mainstream media – by A Z:  “The fundamental basis for freedom of speech is a respect for the rational mind, which requires the freedom to weigh the evidence, to dispute and debate, without fear of coercive interference. By their reliance on violence and brute force

Welcome to New Pakistan! -by Sidq Maqaal: (This piece is written as a sequel to “Articles 62/63 or Fundamentalism On The March?” by A Z https://lubpak.com/archives/257673) Waqas Akram, Abida Hussain, Faysal Saleh Hayat, Jamshed Dasti, and Ayaz Amir have been among those disqualified. MQM is being

Articles 62/63 in action or fundamentalism on the march?: If the ECP’s lowly functionaries are left free to enforce their biases then Pakistan’s parliamentary elections scheduled for May 11, 2013, will be grossly unfair because of arbitrary disqualifications of candidates. This too at a time when the stakes

Should the Army or ISI be above criticism – by A Z: While commenting on my article 2013: A Highly Critical Year for Pakistan one dear friend has sounded as if we cannot criticize the ISI. I have always had a great respect for this friend as he is someone superior to

A sequel to ‘White legend of Pakistan’s creation’ – by AZ: As evidenced by the comments coming forth, my article “The White Legend of Pakistan’s Creation” seems to have received warm attention. I always value the viewpoints that diverge from mine as difference in views opens the doors unto learning.

An open letter to Imran Khan on PTI’s seat adjustment with Jamaat-e-Islami – by AZ: Dear Imran Khan, That you are seeking a seat adjustment with Jamat e Islami, despite its questionable past, does not bother me, though Jamat still seems more interested in PMLN than your Tsunami. Our first problem is basic good

The white legend of Pakistan’s creation : teaching fake history to children – by A Z: PREFACE: So much has been written by much better people about the fallacy and inaccuracy of the history taught in Pakistan’s curricula that I can hardly add any dimension or wisdom to it. But let’s try and address the

One can accuse Imran Khan of stupidity but not of dishonesty – by A Z: I have nothing in common with Imran’s politics. He is a right wing politician with religious leanings, who does not believe in the separation of religion and statecraft, and was a Taliban apologist not very long ago. Also he

PPP leads the march of folly – by A Z: I am sorry to have borrowed Barbara Tuchman’s axiom in a much lesser context. There has been much talk recently about PMLN’s overt or covert electoral accommodation of ASWJ. However, deplorable as it may be, it does not really

A sequel to ‘Why Do We Cosy Up to These Wahhabi Tyrants?’ – by A Z: OMG, what was she thinking? Camilla, wife of our future king, wore a flimsy, unsecured headscarf on her trip to Saudi Arabia. It rebelliously slipped off and almost uncovered all her hair! According to the strict, conservative Saudi Wahhabi

Sipah-e-Sahaba Taliban wrecking mothers’ lives – by AZ: As the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP aka ASWJ-LeJ) and Taliban (TTP) continue to bring annihilation to it and slaughter courses through its districts, Pakistan wails in desolation on the breath of hate. Cradle of an old and proud civilization, it

Terrorism Undettered: Pakistan’s Sipah Sahaba Failure – by A Z: PREFACE The shadowy terrorist group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP, currently operating as Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi ASWJ-LeJ), even though banned by Musharraf in 2002, remains at the heart of Pakistan’s national security crisis. Over the years, SSP has integrated

Weak state abets radicalization in Pakistan – by AZ: As I read the news about the concerned PML(N) MNA being absolved of land grabbing charges after hundreds of innocent poor Christians’ homes were torched and their belongings looted on his watch, I am painfully reminded of how the

Iran-Pakistan pipeline: A significant step forward – by AZ: This Monday, Iranian and Pakistani presidents inaugurated the construction of a much-delayed section of a $7.5bn gas pipeline linking the two neighbours. The two leaders unveiled a plaque before shaking hands and offering prayers for the successful conclusion of

Lahore’s Christians target of latest episode of hate – by AZ: The show goes on as the zealots put up a great performance in Lahore today. Hope you enjoy watching, even if you can’t be a part of the cast. An entire neighbourhood of Christians in the mega polis of

Sow hate, reap terrorism: an appreciation of Shezad Roy’s courage – by A Z: I found it encouraging to see Pakistan’s famous singer, Shehzad Roy, talking publicly against the hate content in the country’s text books. The uproar against Mr Roy from the Islamist and the right wing lobbies, including political parties, is

Exposing the lies and fabrication: Al Jazeera’s program on #ShiaGenocide in Pakistan – by A Z: For as long as any of us can remember, in Pakistan we have lived in a world of injustice, ruled by an incestuous elite on an agenda to perpetuate their rule and line their own pockets, while 80 per

شیعہ نسل کشی۔ ایک سچ۔ اور اس کے کیے کیا کیا جا سکتا ہے؟: بحیثیت اشخاص, پیشہ ور اور ایک منظم گروہ کے ہم سب کی ذمہ داری ھے ۔کہ ہم ایک خاموش تماشایی کی بجاے نسل کشی کی دھمکیوں کے خلاف دنیا کے سامنے آواز بلند کریں۔ میں اس نظریہ کو پر

Pakistan is sliding from terrorism to sheer barbarism! – by A Z: On Sunday twin bomb blasts rocked the Shia neighbourhood of Abbas Town in Karachi. Over forty people died and another hundred were injured, many of them severely. Dozens of the flats and households in this low income area were

A comment on Matthew Green’s (Reuters) report on “Sunni-Shia sectarian violence” in Karachi – by AZ: On this there is absolute unanimity and also utter confusion: everyone agrees journalists must tell the truth. This desire that information we receive be truthful is elemental. Here the journalists’ role becomes very important in filtering out incorrect information

No – To Shia hate mongers too – by A Z: Recently a friend sent me a couple of links showing some Shia Muslims using hate speech against the first three caliphs of Islam. One of the video showed about fifteen to twenty people gathered at some place in the

Rinkle Kumari: Pakistan’s forgotten daughter – by A Z: Exactly one year ago this day, Rinkle was abducted from her house. When first presented in a court of law in Mirpur Mathelo, she requested to be returned to her parents. The court overruled her request as her kidnappers

To post or not to post: Disturbing pictures of ASWJ-TTP atrocities – by A Z: Ode to Pakistan’s reality Dedicated to those who object to my posting the pictures and videos of the work of art wrought, all over Pakistan, by the ASWJ-LeJ, TTP etc. https://lubpak.com/archives/231236 The friends who object also unwittingly betray the

The extreme tolerance of intolerance in Pakistan – by A Z: Pakistan is probably the only country I have seen where hate and intolerance can be and are openly professed in public. By condoning hate language in media, school texts and places of worship; we have created an environment where