A former spymaster’s hope for end to the India-Pakistan ‘madness’ on June 16, 2018“This madness has to end,” is the bottom line of the recently-published book “Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace” co-authored by former chief of the Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) Amarjit Singh Dulat, ex-chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Asad Durrani and Indian journalist Aditya Sinha. “That is what our book […]
US-Pak approach: carrots or sticks? on February 21, 2018From public debate to diplomatic circles, highly regarded think-tanks, former diplomats and the legislature, there is one basic question about the scope of US-Pakistan relations in Washington: whether to coax or force Pakistan to help the United States and its international partners to defeat the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. In other words, to push Pakistan […]
The ‘unruly’ Pashtun from our very own ‘Wild West’ on February 13, 2018Braving the cold night weather and an even colder response from the 24/7 Urdu language television channels for almost two weeks, the youth from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) temporarily concluded their protest sit-in in Islamabad on February 10. Irrespective of the outcome, the peaceful sit-in protest has brushed aside numerous parables and gratuitous […]
The power of social media on February 3, 2018The public outcry at the injustice meted out to Zainab Amin of Kasur and Naqeebullah Mahsud from Waziristan recalls the “Revolution 2.0” by the Egyptian computer engineer Wael Ghonim, who changed the tide of history by creating a Facebook page called Kollo Na Khaled Said (We are all Khaled Said). Khaled Mohamed Said was beaten […]
Those who took a stand on January 4, 2018Today is the seventh death anniversary of Mohammad Bouzazi, a 26 year-old vendor from Sidi Bouzid who stood up against corruption and injustice by the municipality all by himself. Bouzazi’s story is proof that one man has the power to force monarchs and dictators from power. The slap which changed Bouzazi changed the course of […]
No excuse: lets take Haqqania for a test case on June 29, 2016The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province is under severe criticism for allocating huge amount of taxpayers’ hard-earned money for a religious seminary in the annual budget. Darul Uloom Haqqania of Akora Khattak, located in Nowshera district, the home town of provincial Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, is believed to be the alma mater of key Taliban […]
Several birds with one stone on December 29, 2011Perhaps the easiest thing in our politics is to call someone ghaddaar (traitor) or kafir (infidel). The two words are frequently used by the self-proclaimed custodians of the ideology of Pakistan, and the religion of Islam for those they think less patriotic or less Muslims than them. In the past, mostly those were labelled as […]
Proxy versus proxy policy takes more lives on March 17, 2011Another 36 people, mostly young men, fell prey to the ‘proxy versus proxy’ policy of the Pakistani government as a suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest amid a funeral procession in Adezai (Matani) outskirts of Peshawar on November 9. Located around 20 kilometres southeast of Peshawar, the area is used as a buffer between Peshawar […]