Farhat Taj

In November, 24 Pakistani army soldiers were killed by the Afghanistan-based US and NATO forces in a border attack at Salala checkpost in FATA. The Pakistani media, banned militant organisations, religious political parties and urban middle class as well as liberal Pakistanis continue to condemn the attack on a daily basis. More than a month […]

The International Human Rights Day is observed every year on December 10. The day commemorates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. The declaration endows all human beings with rights as inalienable and universal entitlements. Many states, including Pakistan, have signed the declaration, but nevertheless the declaration is being violated around the world by […]

Najam Sethi, a well-known political analyst in Pakistan, recommended, in a television programme called Aapas Ki Baat (between you and me), on November 30, 2011, the following way forward for Pakistan in the context of the growing mistrust with the US in the war on terror: Pakistan must tell the US that, in Afghanistan, the […]

Imran Khan claims that there were no suicide attacks in Pakistan before the US drone attacks and Pakistan Army operations in FATA. This is factually wrong. Suicide attacks have been happening before the US drone attacks and/or military operations in FATA. One of the deadliest suicide attacks was on the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad in […]

Imran Khan narrates that the suicide attacks in Pakistan are a ‘backlash’ from the people of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), in response to the Pakistan Army operations and the US drone attacks in the region. On several occasions he has also claimed that the attacks were tribal revenge in line with the code […]

Imran Khan, chief of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), speaks a lot about the war on terror and the role of Pakhtun tribes on both sides of the Durand Line in this war. On the internet, for example, there are numerous YouTube clips in which he elaborates his point of view. I have randomly selected one […]

Under the auspices of the government of Pakistan, several agreements have been negotiated since 2007 between Shia and Sunni tribal leaders of Kurram. The most famous among them is the Murree agreement signed in October 2008. The agreement asks for armed tribal groups to vacate their positions, the repatriation of Shia and Sunni IDPs and […]

An effective means all over the world to deal with terrorism is that courts of law punish terrorists by following the due course of law. The Pakistani courts of law have largely been unable to punish terrorists for their violent acts of terrorism against innocent people as well as the security forces. The courts have […]

Recently, the president of Pakistan signed two orders whereby the Political Parties Order 2002 was extended to FATA and some changes were introduced in the British-legislated Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) that have been governing FATA since 1901. The people of FATA can now participate in political activities inside FATA and all political parties of Pakistan […]

There seems to be a broad based consensus in all the major political parties of Pakistan on the issue of massive legal reforms in FATA. The consensus is that the Political Parties Act should be implemented in FATA, all established human rights be accorded to the people of FATA and the FCR be abolished or […]