Editorial

Not content with its crusade against corruption and attempts to regulate private school fees, Pakistan’s judiciary is now trying to protect the citizenry’s piety. On May 8, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) directed that every Pakistani news channel will be bound to telecast Azan — the Islamic call to prayer — five times a day. Justice Shaukat Siddiqui, presiding over this hearing declared that “For … [Read more...] about TV Channels and Azan

Everyone is losing the war in Afghanistan. That much is clear. Apart from the Taliban, seemingly. The latter have refused to play ball regarding President Ghani’s call for a Ramzan ceasefire. This comes not so hot on the heels of Kabul’s unconditional peace package that has all but been rejected by the militants. Primarily on the grounds that it provided no timetable for a foreign troop … [Read more...] about Ghani on the back-foot

The aftershocks of the Sante Fe High School shooting are being felt in Texas as well as here in Pakistan. A shooting spree by a 17-year-old pupil left 10 dead and another 10 wounded. This latest tragedy now takes the number of school shootings in the US to 22; just for this year alone. Gunman Dimitrios Pagourtzis is believed to have worked alone. And though he reportedly set up explosive … [Read more...] about RIP Sabika Sheikh

Army Chief, Gen Bajwa is a man of his word. He assured the Hazara of Quetta earlier this month that the security apparatus would take severe action against all militant groups targeting this ethnic and religious minority. Fast-forward to this week and this is exactly what happened. Pakistan’s armed forces took out Salman Badeni, the head of the Balochistan chapter of the rabid anti-Shia … [Read more...] about Fighting militancy

Old footage of fast-food intellectual Thomas Friedman circa 2003, shows the masquerading liberal confirm that the war on Iraq was absolutely worth it to burst the Middle East’s terrorism bubble. Though of course Baghdad had no links the 9/11 attacks. Bu that is of no import to the likes of the syndicated columnist; who in rare moment of honesty confirmed that the Americans launched a war of … [Read more...] about Al-Sadr’s victory

Pakistan appears to be getting its act together when it comes to women’s protection and the delivery of justice. This week Karachi unveiled its first women and children protection desk where women police officers will exclusively deal will deal with cases of violence pertaining to these two vulnerable groups. This is a welcome move, if not long overdue. In fact, this was recognised by the … [Read more...] about Women protection desk

The FATA merger will go ahead. Just not on this government’s watch. This was largely to be expected. After all, the timetable to have the tribal areas fully incorporated into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) was, from the beginning, rather ambitious. Indeed, if this were to go ahead as originally scheduled — the deal would have to be signed, sealed and delivered before the month’s end. For that is when the … [Read more...] about FATA merger not off the table

It has been a year since Emmanuel Macron swept into the Elysée Palace on a pro-EU mandate. Yet 12 months on, he and his LREM (La République En Marche) party are in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. The French had high expectations of their new president. Not least because he appeared mindful of the changing global landscape that has seen high profile women speaking out about the gross … [Read more...] about France and child rape