Blogs Cross posted Archive
Bahrain Cracks Down in Bid to Stop its Tamarod Movement (a la Egypt) – by Juan Cole: The Bahrain struggle is still going on two and a half years later. A coalition of Shiite groups and some Sunnis (the Waad or Promise Party) continues to agitate against the authoritarian practices of the
We must face our demons – by Kamran Shafi: The writer is a columnist, a former major of the Pakistan Army and served as press secretary to Benazir Bhutto kamran.shafi@tribune.com.pk It is quite incredible that though we are in our late-ish sixties, both our country and its people
Consumer price index: Inflation rebounds to alarming levels – by Shahbaz Rana: The 8.3% inflation level surpassed the expectations of the Ministry of Finance and Planning Division, which was expecting inflation to level around 7.5% in July. CREATIVE COMMONS ISLAMABAD: After slipping to levels never seen in nine years, inflation rebounded in
Pakistan’s Sectarian Meltdown – by Michael Kugelman: Last month, militants murdered nine foreign mountain climbers at a base camp on Pakistan’s Nanga Parbat peak. Many observers noted that it was the first attack of its kind. But in fact, one aspect of the attack—which received little
ہائے اس زود پشیمان کا پشیمان ہونا: ڈیرہ جیل پر حملہ اور ہماری بے بسی – از اجمل جامی: ارادہ تو یہ تھا کہ ممنون و مشکورنو منتخب صدر کے حوالے سے کچھ معلومات قارئین تک پہنچائی جاتیں۔ اور پھرپنجاب کے متوقع گورنر جناب چوہدری سرور بارے بھی کچھ ‘شگوفے’ بکھیرے جاتے لیکن ڈیرہ اسماعیل خان میں جیل
Carnage in Kurram – by Dr Mohammad Taqi: The Pakistani security establishment needs to take a long and hard look to see how many Adnan Rashids are still hiding among its ranks Two synchronised bomb attacks wreaked havoc in the heart of Parachinar in the Kurram Agency
Pakistan chooses next President after jailbreak underscores threats – by Declan Walsh: LONDON — The troubling gap between politics and governance in Pakistan came into stark relief on Tuesday, when lawmakers elected the country’s 12th president just hours after Deobandi Taliban militants (along with Sipah Sahaba aka Lashkar-e-Jhangvi) shot their way
Attacks on Pakistan’s Minorities: Jan 2012 – Jun 2013 – by Omar Waraich: Last Friday, hundreds of shoppers were gathered in Parachinar’s main bazaar. In this main town of Pakistan’s Kurram tribal agency, located along the Afghan border, the local residents were buying food items for the looming evening Ramadan meal,
Muslims and the West – by A Z: The West and Islam have had an uneasy relationship for a very long time, which dates from even before the Muslims appeared on the world stage as the conquerors and led to the horrifying Crusades. Both developed a rhetoric
Asian Human Rights Commission’s report on minorities in Pakistan: World’s concern about minorities in Pakistan Nasir Saeed The issue of minority rights in Pakistan is discussed often around the world these days, in parliaments, human rights groups like Amnesty International, religious freedom departments, foreign affairs committees and international
Centenary Milestone for one of Britain’s Oldest Muslim Communities: The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community – whose ethos is Love for All Hatred for None – marks a historic milestone tomorrow 25thJuly 2013, its centenary in Britain. At more than 100 of its centres set up throughout Britain, thousands will gather at
Sunnis not our brethren, but our souls: Ayatollah Sistani: Editor’s note: We are cross posting this blog so that the Sunni Ulema of Pakistan such as Deoband might issue similar Fatwas about the Shia Muslims facing Genocide at the hands of Deobandi terrorists. Ayatollah Sistani could simply have
برطانیہ الطاف حسین کا حامی کیوں؟: برطانوی اخبار گارڈین کی ایک رپورٹ میں دعویٰ کیاگیا ہے کہ برطانیہ کے ایم کیو ایم کے سربراہ کو ملک میں مستقل رہائش اختیار کرنے اور لندن میں ان کی سرگرمیوں کو نظر انداز کی وجہ ایم کیو ایم
A Pakistani Christian gunned down to grab his land: Okara, Punjab: July 29, 2013. (PCP) On 27th Day of July 2013, a source called Mr. Khurram Akhtar (Research Officer, The Voice) telephonically and informed him about the incidence that occurred in Chak 8-4/L Okara, District, Okara. The Voice
Jamshed Dasti: You have no idea who I am! – by Umer Nangiana: “You have no idea about the powers of MNAs. You will regret this,” Dasti threatened two patrolling officers. PHOTO: Express/Shahid Saeed ISLAMABAD: Just as people in glass houses should not hurl stones, people in parliament houses should not hurl threats.
Report: Saudi Arabia discriminates against not only Shiites but also Sunnis: Editor’s Note: Muslims need to be clear that the Saudi Royal family are the first Taliban, they overthrew the last Caliphate of the Muslims with the help of British Imperialist Intelligence. Since then they have been buying up
Ahmadi Soldier killed in line of duty buried with full military honours in Rabwah: An Ahmadi SOLDIER who died fighting the Taliban in the Tirah Valley was buried in Rabwah with full military honors. Qaiser Naveed Bhatti, 24 of Chak 23 District Nankana died in a firefight with the the Taliban in Tirah
In denial on Abbottabad – Farahnaz Ispahani: The leaked report of the panel set up to look into the 2011 Osama bin Laden incident in Pakistan skips many hard questions including how the nation came to acquire a jihadi mindset Hours after U.S. Navy SEALs found
Muslim society and women – by AZ: FOREWORD: As we address this subject, a thinking mind has to acknowledge that there is no archetypical Muslim woman. There are hundreds of millions of them scattered across the globe. They include a huge variety within their fold –like
Bangladesh Islamist leader sentenced to death: Tribunal finds Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, secretary-general of Jamaat-e-Islam, guilty of war crimes. A Bangladesh court has sentenced a senior leader of the country’s largest Islamic party to death for war crimes committed during the 1971 independence war against
As I Live and Learn – by A Z: “Experience has taught me to put a premium on those people who can appreciate you for what you are.” While, currently back home in Canada for vacations, talking to a friend today I realized that I am about
Al-Qaeda-linked extremists hold 200 Kurdish civilians hostage as ‘live shield’ in Syria: Al-Qaeda-linked extremists have taken and continue to hold hostage about 200 Kurdish civilians, including women and children, using them as live shields in north-eastern Syria, Russia’s Foreign Ministry has stated. Civilians remain hostage after Syrian Kurds clashed with
How Taliban brought new terror to Pakistan’s Killer Mountain – by Jason Burke: Pakistani air force officers carry a coffin of one of the climbers killed by a Taliban faction on Nanga Parbat in June. Photograph: MD Nadeem/EPA The sun had long gone down. Sher Khan, a Pakistani climber on his
40 government employees in Rawalpindi have links to banned terrorist groups – Dawn’s report: Despite being put on the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) watch list, 40 individuals having links to outlawed organisations (of Takfiri Deobandis and Wahhabis) are working in different government departments in the Rawalpindi division. This was disclosed in an intelligence report
Rocket attack by Wahhabi terrorists kills custodian of shrine of Prophet’s granddaughter Sayyeda Zainab: The Syrian government accuses rebels of targeting Sayyeda Zainab shrine, which is now protected by hundreds of Shia militants from Iraq and the powerful Lebanese Hezbollah group. PHOTO: AFP BEIRUT: A rocket strike near a Shia Muslim shrine in Damascus
America’s naked ambition – by Seema Mustafa: The writer is a consulting editor with The Statesman and writes for several newspapers in India The Americans are finding that it is not easy to conquer the world. Military power and diplomatic machinations can work only to a
Pakistan’s first sect-free mosque calls for end to discrimination – by Mubashir Zaidi: ISLAMABAD: Darul Iman Jamia Masjid Qurtuba’s story is as dramatic as the sectarian history of Pakistan. The newly-built mosque in Islamabad’s Margalla foothills is calling upon its followers to stop discriminating along sectarian lines and to start praying together
Pakistan and Egypt: Where Armies Rule – by Ayesha Siddiqa: ISLAMABAD — The July 3 coup that ousted Egypt’s first popularly elected president, Mohamed Morsi, reminds us that military putsches can happen anywhere. Egypt and Pakistan have political similarities. Both have powerful and predatory armies, are heavily militarized and
More Shia genocide on the way? Punjab govt agrees to release most dangerous LEJ terrorists – by Abdul Manan: The gang of some 50 to 60 bandits had taken the police hostages a week ago when they stormed pickets on islands in the riverine region in Rajanpur. PHOTO: FILE LAHORE: The government has agreed to release three members of
Pakistani Deobandi Taliban set up base in Syria, BBC reports: Taliban fighters. — File Photo he Pakistan Taliban militants set up a cell in Syria six months ago to monitor “the jihad” in the region, the BBC Urdu website reported on Friday. The militants had visited Syria to set
Judicial report on Jang Group’s Aman Ki Asha: “the footprints lead to Indian sponsors including Indian state TV”: Islamabad, July 13, 2013: Findings of Supreme Court’s Media Commission reveal that content and discourse in Pakistani media, particularly in Jang Group / Geo TV is largely influenced by non-transparent foreign sources of funding and dubious advertising. In particular,
Failing, Failing, Failed? – by Saroop Ijaz: The writer is a lawyer and partner at Ijaz and Ijaz Co in Lahore “We are a failing state even if we are not a failed state yet” thus spoke Lieutenant General (retd) Ahmad Shuja Pasha while talking to
PM’s July 12 meeting on national security hits snags – by Tayyab Hussain: The prime minister’s July 12 call for holding a consultative meeting for carving out a national security policy suffered a major blow on Monday following the departure of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan to London, as well as
Pasha’s Abbottabad briefing: the ISI chief found faults with everyone: Former Inter-Services Intelligence director general, Lt Gen (r) Ahmed Shuja Pasha, launched a salvo of allegations against anyone he could when he appeared before the commission probing into the US’ Abbottabad raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May
Riba in The Contemporary Context – by A.Z.: PREAMBLE The concept of “usury” termed as ‘Riba” by the Quran has a long historical life, throughout most of which it has been understood to refer to the practice of charging financial interest above the legal or socially
PIA sexual harassment issue: former medical officer reported incident after a month – by Meher Ali: A female medical officer at Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has lodged a complaint against five men, including PIA’s chief medical officer for Karachi, a deputy medical officer, lab assistant and an ambulance driver, accusing them of attempting to rape
This is not a Test – by Saroop Ijaz: The writer is a lawyer and partner at Ijaz and Ijaz Co in Lahore saroop.ijaz@tribune.com.pk The prime minister said that the most recent carnage in Hazara Town is a “test case”. This is better than nothing. However, it makes
Findings of Abbottabad Commission: How US reached Osama – by Malik Asad: ISLAMABAD: The Abbottabad Commission Report, which is yet to be made public, contains a treasure trove of information on the hunt for the world’s most wanted man – Osama Bin Laden. Its findings reveal that the arrest of Khalid
Saudi Arabia Pleased With Morsi’s Fall – by Madawi Al Rasheed: Hours after the Muslim Brotherhood president of Egypt, Mohammed Morsi, was deposed, the Saudi regime hurried to congratulate newly appointed interim president Adly Mansour. The Saudis must have felt comfortable with the quick downfall of a political Islamist
The terror syndicate – by Babbar Sattar: Legal eye PML-N stalwarts declared immediately after the election that the ruling party’s top three priorities would be the economy, the economy and the economy. One hopes that two things are clear to thinking minds within the party