Kahar Zalmay  

Mufti Noor Wali’s verdicts would make some happy but others upset. I noticed that those who were on good terms with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and provided funds to it get favourable decisions from him. Several Mehsud tribesmen were targeted in Karachi; the terror of the TTP is so great that when Mufti Noor Wali […]

It was an unforgettable journey. On January 15, we started off from Ittehad Town, Karachi. We were four friends and the purpose of our visit was to meet the Taliban commander of the Mehsud tribe, Mr Khan Said, alias Sajna, to resolve a land plot dispute in Ittehad Town. After 16 long hours we reached […]

I was born in a country that later disowned me when I embraced freethinking. It did not revoke my citizenship but it refused to accept my new identity, making sure that I face discrimination at every level, social and professional, a typical sign of a fascist state where only one ‘narrative’ is accepted; dissent means […]

The ‘war on terror’ has affected several areas and people but nothing can match the miseries of the Mehsud tribe in South Waziristan, one of the seven tribal Agencies bordering Afghanistan and ruled by a British-era law, the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR). The entire Mehsud tribe of half a million people was displaced when the […]

We hardly see reports in newspapers or on TV channels about the psychological impact of militancy on children even though we see regular reports of attacks on schools in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Since there are no reports on the emotional trauma children are going through, we do not feel the […]

The recent interview on television of Islamic scholar Javed Ghamidi in which he attributed the Taliban’s beheading and stoning to death to tribal Pashtun culture has triggered a debate on social media. Ghamidi further said that even a child in the tribal belt could behead with ease. These indeed were very callous remarks from a […]

Seeing young Bilawal Bhutto Zardari spearheading the two-weeks long Sindh Festival is refreshing but is this effort enough to revive a Sindhi culture that historically has promoted peace, harmony and diversity among the residents of Sindh, irrespective of differences in faith? In his promotional video speech, Bilawal Bhutto said that the culture was in danger […]

Learning is important but equally important is unlearning, especially in the case of Pakistan where students are taught things that are untrue, which acts as a barrier to learning the truth. Experts believe that, in the modern world, our success depends not on how quickly we learn but on how quickly we unlearn. Going through […]

The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa launched the Sehat ka Insaaf’ (justice for health) immunisation campaign in Peshawar last week amid tight security and the minister for health announced that during the initial phase of the drive, 480,000 children would be administered polio drops. The campaign was launched when last month the World Health Organisation (WHO) […]

Excitement coupled with fear dominated the ambience of a small cave in Miranshah. Apparently, Maulana Fazlur Rehman was continuously repeating some mantras on his worry beads, Maulana Samiul Haq was exploring his beard, Munawar Hasan and Imran Khan were conversing with each other in murmurs but inside their hearts the only wish, prayer and craving […]