Words matter on August 28, 2016They can appeal to a nation’s better instincts or give rise to its worst unfounded fears. We should not tolerate the rhetoric of violence in society. If unchecked, the growing mob mentality seen in Karachi can lead to our self-destruction. Just as fear stifles thinking of an individual, so a country comes to be self-immolating […]
Turning murder of Maria Sadaqat into suicide on July 24, 2016The title is provocative, and is meant to be. When the slant put on the judgement of a case declares a suicide verdict, it is important to focus on the players who manipulated to seed this interpretation. Controversy hangs over the death of the 19-year-old school teacher, Maria Sadaqat, from Murree, who died from burn […]
Terrorist recruitment on July 10, 2016One of the more dreadful features of the Islamic State’s regime is that it has managed to recruit suicide bombers to die for a country that doesn’t even exist, and which, if did would not even be their own. Until recently, suicide bombing was a tactic practised by civilians in revolt against an occupying army. […]
Disclose all deaths in custody on May 8, 2016When people die in legal custody the public has a vital interest in knowing who they were and how they died. It is a matter of basic transparency and accountability to prevent abuses from going on behind the closed gates of prisons and other detention centres. But the Rangers until instructed by Chief of Army […]
The economic perspective of terrorism on April 10, 2016In view of the current unpredictable and hostile environment courtesy terrorism, expenditures on defence and security are essential for any nation, but, of course, they also come with an opportunity cost. Such expenditures deplete funds, and resources are not available for spending on health and education to reductions in taxes. A higher risk of terrorism, […]
Terrorism exhumed on March 28, 2016Terrorist behaviour is probably always determined by a combination of innate biological, early developmental, cognitive and temperament factors along with environmental influences, and group dynamics. The degree to which each of these factors contributes to attacks at the Brussels international airport and a city metro station probably varies between individual terrorists, between individual groups, and […]
Married face of suicide terrorism on December 13, 2015Most terrorist suicides are solitary but none so far has been the result of a pact between married couples to die together. Tashfeen Malik and Syed Farook, a young couple, died in a gunfight with police accomplishing what looks like a suicide pact after carrying out an act of terrorism in San Bernardino that killed […]
The untouchables on November 8, 2015Chief Justice (CJ) of Pakistan Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali took suo motu notice of Mustafa Kanju and his four guards who were acquitted for lack of evidence by a Lahore Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in the murder case of a 16-year old boy named Zain. The prosecutor reported that the complainant and the witnesses were persuaded […]
Policing terrorism on November 1, 2015It is often said that generals always prepare to fight the last war, not the one that they will actually face. A collective shrugging of shoulders was seen among the trusted advisors about the appointment of the recently retired army general, Nasser Khan Janjua, as the country’s new national security adviser. The public mood is […]
Without fear, without favour on October 4, 2015When the incumbent General Raheel Sharif steps down in 18 months time, a new Chief of Army Staff (COAS) will be needed. Who will be chosen? Should it be, for the second time, the return of the general? A generation of Pakistanis has become accustomed to a strong and victorious army chief. But for a […]