‘Peasants for Democracy’ demand Aitzaz Ahsan to be a prosecutor in the Taseer murder case: Related articles: LUBP Archive on Peasants for Democracy (PFD) Public prosecutor in Taseer murder case and the stance of Urban Citizens for Democracy – by Barrister Waseem Ijaz Peasants for Democracy (PFD) is a non-partisan organisation of rural and

Asif Zardari, parallel establishment and chants of “revolution”: President Asif Ali Zardari’s talk in the CEC meeting held on 4th February, 2011 has been quoted through various sources in The News and Jang. For the first time, it seems, there has been no bias or angling to

On ‘civil society’ and its engagement with political society – by Ahmad Nadeem Gehla: There has been a lengthy debate on role and formation of civil society in electronic media of Pakistan. Raza Rumi, a very respected and insightful Pakistani scholar and writer, recently stressed on close cooperation and engagement between ‘Civil Society’ and moderate political

Javed Hashmi’s wise words in the National Assembly: Also read: LUBP Archive on Javed Hashmi پاکستان میں کئی تجزیہ کار اس بات پر متفق ہیں کہ ملک کا سیاسی کلچر تبدیل ہو رہا ہے اور دو بڑی جماعتیں پیپلز پارٹی اور مسلم لیگ (ن) اب کی بار

Another economic crisis? – by S. Akbar Zaidi: Dawn, February 4, 2011 THE problem with making arguments and stating opinions which go against the grain of what passes as current conventional wisdom is that this comes with a huge baggage of issues. Often, contrary views are misconstrued,

Faisal Abidi Exposing the Journalists-Judges Alliance: We thank our reader Nasir for identifying February 3, 2011’s program “Islamabad Tonight with Nadeem Malik” on Aaj TV. The program had Faisal Raza Abidi representing the PPP, Rasheed Godil representing MQM and Ibrahim Khan representing the Jamat-e-Islami. The

Taliban killed 1,165 worshippers in Pakistan in past 10 years – by Zia Ur Rehman: Lethal attacks by Taliban militants hit 54 Pakistani places of worship of various faiths in the past 10 years, killing 1,165 worshippers and injuring about 2,900, a recent report revealed. The defiled holy places included mosques, churches, Sufi shrines,

What other dictators does the US support? – by John Elliot: Aside from Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, here are the other most controversial leaders propped up by the U.S. As Egyptian pro-democracy protests rage on, media attention has suddenly focused on the U.S. alliance with the country’s authoritarian rulers. American

Internet hoax about Asif Zardari’s marriage: Currently a hoax is in circulation about President Asif Ali Zardari’s alleged marriage to a PPP worker in the USA. Apparently the Zardari phobes of Islamist and urban middle class backgrounds are making use of yet another ‘opportunity’ to

Revolution in Pakistan? It’s the economy, stupid! – by Imran Qadir Butt: Related articles: Let’s agitate for regime change in Pakistan: Tunisia and Egypt style Let’s have a revolution in Pakistan: Yeh, Yeh, Yeh! – by Razzak Memon I once heard someone quoting someone from the past to explain revolution as

Joke of the year by Hamid Mir: Related Article: Hamid Mir criticizes Najam Sethi and Khaled Ahmed In his column titled “Media kay khilaf media ka jhoot”, Pakistan’s leading journalist-cum-television anchor-cum-Taliban/Al Qaeda supporter, Hamid Mir has tried to clarify that Khaled Ahmed has wrongly translated his

Hamid Mir criticizes Najam Sethi and Khaled Ahmed: میڈیا کے خلاف میڈیا کا جھوٹ حامد میر پاکستان کا میڈیا چاروں سے حملے کی زد میں ہے۔ پاکستانی میڈیا کے وہ تمام ادارے اور شخصیات جو اپنے عوام میں مقبول ہیں انہیں امریکہ اور بھارت کی حکومتوں کی

Justice rushed for PCO judges, delayed for army generals: Related articles: Will Pakistan’s FREE judiciary try army generals for treason? Justice Jehanzeb Rahim of Peshawar High Court challenges contempt notice by the Supreme Court Adalat ho gi ma kay jaisi – by Honest People ‘Generals can be served

Behind the tunes of ‘Bijja Teer Bijja’ – by Rafay Mahmood: Source: Express Tribune KARACHI: Anthems constitute a major part of the music enfold in Pakistan and they alone sell more copies during election campaigns than a commercial album sells throughout the year. And now recent trends show that anthems come

Kinnaird’s FM 97.6 inaugurated, a very positive development: Democracy and free media are co-related; democracy is impossible without a free and responsible media while the concept of a free media is impossible without democracy. Democracy and free media reinforce each other. Huge credit goes to Pakistan Peoples

Lawmakers call for ensuring minority protection: The issue of minorities was raised through points of order, by PPP’s Nawab Moammad Yusuf Talpur and Ms Palwasha Khan, and PML-Q’s Akram Masih Gill particularly in the context of kidnappings for ransom in Sindh province and the resignation

Zinda hai Bhutto: For death can’t do us part – by Abdul Samad: Cross-posted from Pakistan Blogzine There are some leaders who remain immortal, for whom death does not pose the same barriers that it does for others. Departure from this mortal world only serves to augment their fame as they reside

Selective ray of hope emanates from Veena Malik to Declan Walsh – by Sana Jokhio: After partially waking up from the deep denial of the extremists, Pakistan’s educated elites (commonly known as FCS, i.e., Fake Civil Society) and their English-speaking media counterparts are once again falling back on narratives that are full of omissions,

Let’s have a revolution in Pakistan: Yeh, Yeh, Yeh! A conversation with Raid Shamat and Sasha Sham-me – by Razzak Memon: Related article: Let’s agitate for regime change in Pakistan: Tunisia and Egypt style – by Ahmed Iqbalabadi (Editor’s note: The following is a purely fictional piece and any resemblance to real life characters is purely coincidental. While we may

Javed Chaudhry, will you please think? – by Abbas Ather:

Rally to restore sanity and conscience: Cross-posted from A Song of the Wilderness On Sunday, January 30, 2011, a cross-section of the Pakistani youth gathered at Liberty Chowk, the place where a couple of years ago, a dastardly terrorist attack against the Sri Lankan cricket

Let’s fry Munni – by Waseem Altaf: Maulvi Abbas Ansari opened his mouth “We are the defenders of this great fort of Islam and would not allow anyone to spread obscenity. And tell me, would you do everything you did with those guys in front of

Interview with Dr. Billa of Daily Bhang – by Naveed Ali: I have been very curious to interview some of my country’s intellectual especially from the journalist class who write in newspapers, as they are for sure an impressive group; it seems they have solution to all our problems but

USA: Conspiracy Theorists favorite Pinata – by D. Asghar: At another of my hang out, I wrote about this developing though fairly critical situation in Egypt, a couple of days ago. Within a matter of a couple of days, the toll on human life has increased. Almost 100