Blogs Cross posted Archive
Baloch columnist and lawyer Ali Sher Kurd martyred: It has become a trend in Balochistan that weekends arrive with the news of a death of a big figure in Baloch movement by the intelligence agencies and Pakistan army. Although in weekdays Balochs of any status are disappeared
The Verdict of Dr Afia and Our Reaction -by Raza Habib Raja: Right now the media is voicing its vociferous opposition to the sentence handed to Dr. Afia Siddiqui. The entire case, even before the verdict was announced, had become an overly emotional episode for the Pakistanis. The media has been
‘Good Taliban, bad Taliban’: the ISI’s perspective: By Hakim Hazik There are two kinds of Taliban. The good ones live in Quetta. They are cuddly and roly-poly. They have generous and reassuring paunches, symbolic of the glory of Islam. They sit on hand woven carpets with
British contribution towards helping the flood affected Pakistanis: Source: Foreign and Commonwealth Office UK Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt alongside Minister without Portfolio Baroness Warsi, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles and Home Secretary Theresa May, hosted the annual Eid–ul Fitr reception on
Objectives of Pakistani Conspiracy Theorists – by Anas Abbas: Objective 1. To denigrate Baluchistan’s resistance movements and to present a picture where the blame of all Baluch sufferings go to foreign elements even though the real culprits are the Punjabi elite and the Pakistan army for their military
Pakhtunwali and the Taliban – by Imran Khan: Naveed Hussain’s article ‘Militancy or a tribal backlash?‘ (Aug 15-016) defines the Taliban insurgency as a tribal backlash that is spurred by the demands of Pakhtunwali. Believing this conclusion would lead to some paradoxical realities because an overwhelming majority
The shocking neglect of Baloch flood victims – by Jumma Marri: The unprecedented monsoon clouds which seemed to have become static over Balochistan created unparalleled havoc with lives, properties and livestock. Oddly the droughts here are equally severe but they certainly are not because of the US program HAARP with
What really happened at Nasdaq? By Shibil Siddiqi: A news story doing round on Geo TV is of a “Missed Opportunity” by Pakistan’s Consul General in New York to present the case of Pakistan at the Nasdaq. Sami Ibrahim of Geo TV can be heard saying, while
In The Name Of National Sovereignty – by Raza Habib Raja: One of the most hyped up slogans on the media and the rightwing nationalist circles is of “National Sovereignty”. This slogan is so powerful that Pakistani leadership particularly that of PPP is always on the defensive. According to this
Viewpoint: Media access and freedom of expression in Pakistan – by Dr. Qiaser Abbas: Weekly viewpointonline in his 18th issue has focused on Media in Pakistan. In a series of very isnightful articles they have highlighted various aspects of Pakistani media, their corporate goals, representing state narratives, the self complimentary, self appreciative style,
The Price of EU Trade Concessions: So many people complained when Zardari continued his trip to EU despite the flooding. There are valid arguments that he could have brought some relief by being with the people in their time of suffering, but even that would
Let’s Suspend the Politics of Hate, by Farahnaz Ispahani: Compounding the unspeakable personal tragedy that has befallen Pakistan, with one fifth of our country under water in the greatest floods in our history that have put almost five million people out of their homes, there are those within
Viewpoint Interview: “Left supporting Taliban is short-sighted”, Nawal El Saadawi: Award-winning Egyptian writer and feminist Nawal El Saadawi hardly deserves an introduction. Author of over forty books—-translated to over 30 languages—-she has inspired women all over the world but particularly in Muslim world with her writings as well as
The Wrong Bandwagon by Soufia A Siddiqi: Cross post : Institute of Democracy and Development by Soufia A Siddiqi Lately, Ufone’s been making all of us laugh really hard. That’s ended brutally with its latest advertisement in the Saaf Awaaz campaign. A lot of people I know are
For the flood Victims: A Punjabi poem by Faiz Ahmad Faiz: میری ڈولی شوہ دریا ( یہ نظم انیس سو چوہتر کے سیلاب زدوں کے امدادی فنڈ کیلئے لکھی گئی) میری ڈولی شوہ دریا کل تائیں سانوں بابلا تو رکھیا ہِک نال لا سَت خیراں ساڈیاں منگیاں جد جُھلی تتی
خدا کیلئے! ٹانگیں مت کھینچے- کاشف نصیر: ٹھیک ہے اگر مارشل لاء یا اس طرز کے کسی غیر معمولی اور غیر آئینی اقدامات ناگزیر ہیں تو کم از کم آپ منافقت اور دوعملی ختم کرکے جاگیرداروں، سرداروں اور زرداروں کے ساتھ اس طویل اور پرتعیش شراکت
Imran Khan, Urban Middleclass Morality and its Contradictions – by Raza Habib Raja: With thanks : Pak Tea House This article is critical of Imran Khan’s political orientation and tries to introspect middleclass liking for him. It admits Imran’s virtues as a cricketer and philanthropist but argues that his politics is the
Pakistan not a safe heaven for Anti Taliban – by Farhat taj: The doctrine of strategic depth means Pakistan is not a safe haven for Pakhtuns opposing Taliban or Talibanization either with arms or musical instruments. The ordeal of the late Kamal Mahsud, a well-known singer from Waziristan, and his family is
Viewpoint Interview with Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa: Military’s predation is an institutional feature’, Ayesha Siddiqa. A dissident’s job is always fraught with dangers. In case of Pakistan, the risks involved in criticizing all-powerful Khakis and their proxy Taliban hardly need an elucidation. Still, dissident voices keep
Political Islam, Politics of Identity, Ethnic Nationalism and the Centralized State – By Raza Habib Raja: The selective way of presenting history in Pakistan conveniently ignores the fact that at its creation, there were two large sometimes contrasting and sometimes overlapping movements. The first was primarily centred around Muslim Identity and tried to actually bargain
The denial of the lambs – by Anas Abbas: Cross Post : Accounterterror blog By Anas Abbas This Essay is in response to an article “The liberal lynch mob” written by Mahreen Aziz Khan published recently in The Express Tribune. It will not only focus on this article itself
Judicial Spot Fixing?: This business of the Supreme Court taking it upon themselves to overrule the people’s elected representatives in parliament is really getting ridiculous. Now, having failed to fix the match, the Supreme Court appears to be trying a little spot-fixing
Altaf Bhai’s Convenient Conscience: Ayaz Amir hits the nail on the head last week in his column for The News, “Fresh takes on patriotism”. Amir is annoyed with MQM chief Altaf’s recent outbursts about martial law, of course, and flays them with the sharp wit
Canada Terror plot and the doctrine of armed Jihad – by Tarek Fatah and Salma Siddiqui: “Jihad is as much a primary duty as are daily prayers or fasting. One who avoids it is a sinner. His every claim to being a Muslim is doubtful. He is plainly a hypocrite who fails in the test
The international Day of Disappeared and the missing Balochs – by Imtiaz Baloch: The International Day of the Disappeared on August 30 is an annual commemoration day created to draw attention to the fate of individuals imprisoned at places and under poor conditions unknown to their relatives or legal representatives. In Balochistan,
Ameer-ul-Mominin Ali: The first fighter against Islamism – by Shaheryar Ali: “The Qur’an is a book, covered, between two flaps, and it does not speak. It should therefore necessarily have an interpreter. Men alone can be such interpreters…..” (Imam Ali in Nehj ul Balaga) On the grounds of
Probe in Sialkot killings points finger at PML-N govt -by Irshad Salim: The ongoing investigation of the Sialkot brothers’ lynching in front of Rescue 1122 office has revealed that some police officials being named in the incident are not only pro- Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), but that their role was a contributing factor in
Pakistan flood victims ‘have no concept of terrorism’ – by Mohammad Hanif: Three weeks after the start of the floods in Pakistan, a fifth of the country is under water. More international aid is now reaching the country – but the world’s media finds it hard to stop talking about terrorism.
Altaf Gets It Backwards: Whatever possessed Altaf Hussain to make statements supporting a martial law, his comments are short-sighted and ill-conceived. In fact, Altaf gets the whole thing backwards. If we’re going to make progress in eliminative corruption, the only way to do
Denialistan: DAWN’s romance with jihadis exposed – by Nasima Zehra Awan: Nasima Zehra Awan laments the media romances with sectarian Islamists while the country drowns The August 21st editorial by DAWN is a good example of what is wrong with the media in Pakistan. “Hardliners and Flood Relief” is precisely
Floods, Fanatics, and Fault Lines: Raza Rumi’s column in today’s Express Tribune should never need to be written. A tragedy of the proportions we are facing is a time to put aside petty differences and work to heal our wounds and move our nation forward. But
Why the world is not reacting- by Muhammad Hanif: ہر ایک کے ہونٹوں پر ایک ہی سوال ہے۔ اس صدی کا سب سے بڑا قدرتی عذاب، دو کروڑ انسان شکار، ستر لاکھ بچے بھوک اور بیماری کا شکار تو دنیا کا دل کیوں نہیں پسیجا۔ عالمی برادری نے
Floods and the Existential Threat – by Adnan Sayed: The existential threat comes from disowning the democratic structure, giving up on it and looking yet again for another instant messiah in face of tremendous adversity and hopelessness. We were wrong in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1990s when
Chief Justice vs. Straw Man: According to its website, the Supreme Court is “the Court of ultimate appeal and therefore final arbiter of law and the Constitution. It exercises original, appellate and advisory jurisdiction. Its judgments/decisions are binding on all other courts in the country”.
Threat over Ground Zero mosque-By Brian Lilley: She spoke out against the Ground Zero mosque, now a Canadian Muslim woman says she is being threatened. Raheel Raza, a founding member of the Muslim Canadian Congress, calls the idea of a mosque within 300 metres of Ground
Saving a drowing country needs an ideological shift – by Nasima Zehra Awan: Cross-posted from the Pak Tea House “You are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques……..Religion is not the business of the State”. Thus spoke Jinnah, whilst addressing the Constituent Assembly on August
Is Zardari’s Gamble Paying Off Big?: Let’s be honest, President Zardari took a big gamble by going to meet with foreign leaders as the flood crisis unfolded. It was obviously bad public relations, and his advisors had to know that he would be skewered in
How Media Missed Jihadi Orchestration of London Protest: Source: Pakistan Media Watch Outside Zardari’s appearance at the PPP rally in Birmingham, England, a crowd of protesters gathered to express their opposition to the president and his message. Inside, crowds chanted their support for the president. But
Generation Axe – by Nadeem Farooq Paracha: Generation Axe by Nadeem F. Paracha Source: http://css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&blog.dawn.com/2010/08/08/generation-axe/ It does pain me to see a lot of ground-level PPP workers being pushed into a corner by their party leader’s nonchalant ways. They seem and sound helpless and exhausted in
Fatima Bhutto: please focus on fiction- by Nasima Zehra Awan: Pakistan may have lost a talented fiction writer when Fatima Bhutto went into journalism. Clearly, she is adept at spinning a tale, fudging facts and re-defining reality in a manner that is the exclusive domain of talented story tellers.