Monthly Archive:: April 2010
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
well done, Ahsan Iqbal and PML-N: PML-N has decided to stand by the parliament rather than supporting the undemocratic judiciary that has already formed a five-member bench to review the 18th amendment petitions. The only way that democracy can survive in Pakistan is for the
Salam Ay Zardari – by Ahsan Abbas Shah: Ahsan Abbas Shah’s poem in appreciation of the President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari:
The 18th amendment: “A mother can give birth to a child but could not kill the child.” – by Khalid Wasti: Last week, senior lawyer Abdul Hafeez Pirzada (notorious for his affiliation with General Musharraf), while expressing his views in Geo TV Programme, ‘Mery Mutabiq’ of Dr Shahid Masood (notorious for his affiliation with the Taliban), said certain articles of
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
Mufti sahib and the fatwa for suicide attack: Contributed by: Zalaan مفتی صاحب اور خود کش دھماکے کا فتویٰ سلام علیکم مفتی صاحب وعلیکم سلام و رحمت الله و بر کا تہ مفی صاحب آج میرا دل بڑا دکھا ہوا ہے اور میں بہت اداس ہوں مفتی
President Zardari’s Constitutional Reforms – by Anas Muhammad: Monday April 19, 2010 – President Zardari made history by signing the landmark constitutional reforms amendment bill into law. Zardari – after taking office 18 months ago – pledged to reform the constitution. He promised that all the anomalies that were
Pakistan “controlled” by the ISI: UN Report: The recent UN report on the assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has put forth in black and white what has been hitherto suspected and perceived – the murky role of Pakistan intelligence agencies’, especially the ISI,
Theory of Conspiracy: In the criminal law, criminal negligence is one of the three general classes of mens rea (Latin for “guilty mind”) element required to constitute a conventional as opposed to strict liability, offense. It is defined as: careless, inattentive, neglectful,
Independence of judiciary and supremacy of parliament – by Khalid Wasti: تابوت میں آخری کیل ============ عدلیہ کی آزادی —- پارلیمینٹ کی بالا دستی ========================== کیا آپ کسی معقول انسان کا حوالہ دے سکتے ہیں کہ اس نے پارلیمینٹ کی آزادی اور عدلیہ کی بالا دستی کی بات کی ہو؟
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
How Pakistan’s judicial system promotes the Shia holocuast: Picture Source: Attack on a Shia funeral in D.I. Khan Yesterday, the LUBP posted an article about Malik Ishaq, a most dangerous terrorist of Sipah-e-Sahaba, who is about to be released by Shahbaz Sharif’s government. Previously we have pointed
The Islamofascist mafia in action—again! – by Omar Khattab: Picture: Benazir Bhutto gazes towards a crowd of thousands of supporters at a campaign rally minutes before she was assassinated in a bomb attack December 27, 2007 in Rawalpindi The debate on the 18th Amendment is ISI’s smokescreen to
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
Rehman Malik’s U Turn: According to this report in Dawn Rehman Malik has removed Hamid Gul from the Exit Control List saying that he “personally thinks that Hamid Gul was not involved in Benazir Bhutto’s murder”. Rehman Malik is already under suspicion himself
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
In defence of Punjabis: Stop target killing of Punjabi settlers in Balochistan – by Abdul Nishapuri: Update: Target killing of Professor Nazima Talib Mehdi: Shame on BLA terrorists. Where are your Baloch traditions? The Punjabi scapegoat It is common practice in the (so called) leftist and progressive circles of Pakistan to blame Punjab for all
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
Crucial Damage Control – by I.A. Rehman: THE attempts being made to control the damage caused by the killing of more than 60 civilians in two bombing attacks in the Tirah valley can only be welcomed. But one hopes this is the beginning of a more
Nasrullah Baloch – “The Supreme Court No Longer Talks of the Missing Persons”: Source The Baloch Hal An exclusive interview of Nasrullah Baloch, chairman Voice for Missing Baloch Persons (VMBP) with The Baloch Hal Interview by Malik Siraj Akbar If there is one issue one cannot skip while talking about Balochistan, it
Current account deficit narrows by 68pc in 9 months – by Shahid Iqbal: The current account deficit kept supporting the traditionally weak external imbalances of the country as the deficit fell by 68 per cent at the end of third quarter of the current fiscal. The State Bank reported on Monday that
Fear of Books: From Burning to Banning: Taking away a book is taking away freedom from others. Those that choose to challenge books choose to take away a freedom from others that they should have no control over. When we start talking about banning certain reading
President Zardari addresses the people of Bahawalpur in Saraiki: Source: Waseb Development Organization One may agree or disagree with the political ideology or personal character of President Asif Ali Zardari, who also happens to be a co-chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party. However, one may not disagree with