Newspaper Articles Archive
Sanam Bhutto’s rebuttal to Fatima Bhutto’s book: Sanam disputes Fatima’s views Friday, 30 Apr, 2010 AS the last surviving child of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, I feel a sense of obligation to respond to some of the allegations made by my niece Fatima Bhutto in her
Who Killed Benazir – Business recorder editorial: Source: Business Recorder: EDITORIAL (April 29 2010): Better late than never; two years and four months on, President Zardari has finally broken his silence and disclosed who killed Benazir Bhutto. He ‘knew the killer’, as he said at the
PPP to nominate Pervez Musharraf as prime culprit of Benazir’s murder: Jehangir Badr: Source Online: KARACHI: The secretary general PPP Jehangir Badr has announced that the government would nominate the former President Pervez Musharraf as the prime culprit of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination. Answering a question while addressing a press conference, regarding clearing
Achievements of the democratic government: A moment for optimism — by Farahnaz Ispahani: The strategy evolved by the government, in consultation with the army and other stakeholders, and the determination shown by it in the face of heavy odds led to a complete ouster of the extremists from Swat The passage of
Democracy versus ‘the establishment’ in Pakistan: The shadow of the Establishment At independence, Pakistan inherited an over-developed colonial state structure, a relatively weak political class, and a fragmented society from the British. Rather than sparing efforts for nation-building, the colonial state structure, designed to maintain
Questions, more questions about the ISI’s involvement in Benazir Bhutto’s murder – by Kamran Shafi: Is Benazir Bhutto’s dupatta missing because it has a bullet hole in it? –File Photo So then, the UN report is out, setting many cats on many dovecotes (or is it mongooses on snake pits?), even hitherto forbidden dovecotes.
Children as domestic workers — by Syed Mohammad Ali: Our parliamentarians need to show the will to act and bring domestic child labour within the ambit of the law. However, the fact that many of them also continue to employ children in their rural and urban homes is
The kidnapped: Why did Punjabi Taliban capture Colonel Imam and Khalid Khwaja? – by Rahimullah Yusufzai: The kidnapped Rahimullah Yusufzai There is no doubt that North Waziristan is dangerous territory. It is a major sanctuary of local and foreign militants espousing diverse causes. No other place in the world has been subjected to so many
Who if not Baitullah? By Amir Mir: The United Nations Inquiry Commission report into Bhutto’s murder has put Musharraf regime in the dock The three-member United Nations Inquiry Commission has almost absolved the slain Ameer of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Commander Baitullah Mehsud of the Bhutto murder
A hard-hitting report – by Asma Jahangir: Source: Dawn THE UN inquiry report on Benazir Bhutto’s assassination may not be an eye-opener but it does put the record straight and fixes responsibility for the tragedy. Responses to the report have been mixed. Some have been dismissive
In defence of the UN Commission Report on Benazir Bhutto’s murder – by Hamid Mir: وہ سچ جو ہمیں پسند نہ آیا …قلم کمان …حامد میر سچ یہ ہے کہ ہمیں صرف اپنی پسند کا سچ سننے اور کہنے کی عادت پڑ چکی ہے ۔ جو سچ ہمیں پسند نہ آئے اسے جھوٹ قرار
The outcome of fighting the footsoldiers and mentoring the masterminds: Can there be an end to this war? — by Daud Khattak Friday’s attack on a convoy of army soldiers in North Waziristan and the fresh wave of violence in parts of the newly-renamed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa signifies that armed
Media wars in Pakistan — by Shahzad Chaudhry: Along with projecting oneself as a peacenik, bashing the military is the easiest route to establishing the credentials of intellectual elitism in the overly expressive socio-political environment of Pakistan An electronic media explosion in this country has thrust open
Slow and painful death of the Left movement in Pakistan: Left fortunes Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif raised a very important question while addressing the International Literary and Cultural Conference in Lahore the other day. He pointed out that inequitable and unjust distribution of resources has brought Pakistan to
Hypocrisy, self-centred delusion, or a simple case of Islamism now losing its bearings? – by Nadeem Paracha: Lost bearings? A few weeks ago a young lady wrote a moving blog for dawn.com called ‘Confessions of a hijabi,’ she predictably rambled on about how painful it has been for her to hold on to her hijab in
A Reponse to Cold War Thinking in Today’s Afghanistan: Pretext A former USAID director from 1950s Afghanistan insists that the Taliban were and are a good option for Afghanistan, and Afghans can’t govern themselves. My Response: Really? So it was a good thing to imprison women, conduct ethnic
UN report….It’s just that our gods behave badly: Does anyone really think that anyone with a military title in front of their name is going to get persecuted? Though I am sure they will pass on the blame on to the people who drove the tankers that
From the Battle of Algiers to the Baloch Resistance – by Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur: Winning the Battle of Algiers If brutal crackdowns and search operations of suspected areas had any success in deterring people from struggling for their national, political, social and economic rights, Algeria would still have been a French colony Jeehamd
The UN commission report on Benazir Bhutto’s murder and the ISI’s spin-doctors – by Haider Nizamani: After the UN commission report Ordinary Pakistanis, especially those who cannot read English, should be given the opportunity to access the report in its entirety, instead of leaving them at the mercy of spin-doctors and prejudiced television anchors trashing
Faisal Raza Abidi vs Masood Sharif Khattak: I don’t want to comment on the ‘public’ confrontation between Senator Faisal Raza Abidi and Masood Sharif Khattak. Provided below is their respective article / position which is self-explanatory. Masood making false claims: Abidi Thursday, April 22, 2010 ISLAMABAD:
Ahsan Iqbal says PML-N will not accept SC judgment: Claims invisible force trying to pit parliament against judiciary; an eye-opening interview with PML-N spokesman By Ahmad Noorani ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has officially stated that the judiciary can lose its respect and its role will become
From jihad to ijtihad – by Asghar Ali Engineer: ‘JIHAD’, with its imbued wrong meaning, became a notorious word in the West after 9/11. Terror now has an overwhelming presence in parts of the Muslim world, including Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq. Violence there seems at times to be
Contra Sufism – by Aziz Ali Dad: “People know what they do; frequently they know why they do what they do; but what they don’t know is what what they do does.” -Michel Foucault Amar Jaleel wrote a wonderful article ‘Antithesis of Sufism’ in this newspaper on
Kidnapping for ransom: a family’s ordeal — by Farhat Taj: The Pakistan Army is conducting an operation in Bara, Khyber Agency. Thousands of people of Bara have become IDPs due to the operation. Despite the operation, the Mangal Bagh group is active and kidnapping people for ransom as usual
“Mr Ten Percent” has in fact given “One-Hundred-and-Ten Percent” back to the country – by Tarek Fatah: Giving up power in Pakistan The man lampooned unfairly by the country’s powerful establishment as “Mr Ten Percent” has in fact given “One-Hundred-and-Ten Percent” back to the country Few leaders have emulated Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, who in 1985
What basic structure doctrine – by Feisal Naqvi: Source Monsoon Frog (and also Dawn) The 18th Amendment is less than a few days old and already it is under attack. Several petitions have been filed challenging the new provisions regarding the appointment of judges and more are
Autopsy of an assassination – Irfan Hussain: Source Dawn IN the mid-1990s, when there was an upsurge in the bloody infighting between the MQM and its breakaway Haqiqi faction, the head of the Intelligence Bureau in Karachi told me that if the ISI were to just
What is the difference between ZAB, Benazir Bhutto and other politicians? – by Munno Bhai: Munno Bhai’s article on this topic: ماں کے ہاتھ کی پکی روٹی اور اپنی پسند کی موت…گریبان…منوبھائی یہ تو معلوم نہیں کہ ”اقوال زریں“ کیسے وجود میں آتے ہیں مگر یہ عالمی سچائی ضرب المثل بن چکی ہے کہ
Are the institutions ready to clash? – by Shafqat Mahmood: Reality check Friday, April 23, 2010 The lines are being drawn on the 18th Amendment for the mother of all legal and political battles. Arrayed on one side is the entire political class, reflecting a rare and historic consensus
No matter what Pakistan army claims, the Taliban and al-Qaida fighters have merely relocated – Dawn report: On the run, militants find new haven ISLAMABAD: They were never routed, no matter what Pakistan claimed. Instead, the Taliban and al-Qaida fighters have merely relocated. They’re still near the Afghan border. Months after Pakistani troops chased them from
Innocent Shias and Sunnis of Kurram agency thrown to the Taliban wolves – by Tayyab Ali Shah: Thrown to the wolves The Taliban accepted the Turi surrender with the condition that tribal elders would be loyal to the Taliban, would dismantle the current lashkar, would never raise another anti-Taliban lashkar in the area again and would
The art and skill to manage the PPP in the province – Ismail Khan: Source Dawn It is a miracle that the Pakistan Peoples’ Party has survived despite the seemingly never-ending wrangling, internal strife, leg-pulling, intrigues and manipulations. Ask any of its leaders, who have had the opportunity to lead the party in
Indictment by the United Nations – Zafar Hilaly: Karachi: The UN report on Benazir Bhutto’s assassination does nothing for some but a lot for others. It’s old hat, a waste of money, say the former. But to the latter it is perhaps the single most devastating indictment
Naming the Establishment – Nirupama Subramanian: Source The Hindu: The U.N. report on Benazir Bhutto’s killing wades directly into the controversial subject of civilian-military relations in Pakistan. Anyone who has been in Pakistan even briefly knows about the “establishment”. It comes up so often in
ZAB’s nephew challenges Fatima Bhutto’s version: Source: DAWN By: Tariq Islam I refer to Fatima Bhuttos’s book Songs of Blood and Sword. I feel it is incumbent upon me to set the record straight on at least one story. Fatima tells us how Z.A. Bhutto
Swat : Curfews, Checkposts and Target Killings: Two shot dead in Swat Tuesday, April 20, 2010 MINGORA: Two more members of a pro-government village defense committee were shot dead and three others including a woman were wounded by unknown gunmen in a series of target-killing incidents
Fishy business and barracudas: Wednesday, April 21, 2010 Anjum Niaz The story I relate stinks to high heavens because it’s so fishy. But the stink never reaches the public, thanks to the small fries who act as red herrings to divert the nation’s
JI still in a state of denial: Monday’s suicide bombing in Peshawar’s Qissa Khwani bazaar was an outrageous suicide attack that left some two dozen people dead and many more injured. The victims were mostly Jamaat-i-Islami supporters attending a rally. It is still not certain whether
Malik Ishaq, a most dangerous terrorist of Sipah-e-Sahaba, about to be released by Shahbaz Sharif’s government: First the sorrow, now the fear By Asad Kharal Thirteen years ago, Fida Hussain Ghalvi and three other witnesses boldly testified against Lashkar-e-Jhangvi’s top hitman Malik Ishaq for the killing of 12 members of their family. They didn’t know
The UN Commission’s report on Benazir Bhutto’s murder is an indictment of Pakistan’s army and intelligence agencies – by Syed Talat Hussain: The commission, from the very word go, builds up its argument of ‘rogue establishment’. This dimension of the report makes it arguably the most important document to have been produced in recent times. A document that is likely to