Vladimir Putin “Anyone who does not regret the passing of the Soviet Union has no heart...”
Barack Obama “Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a poverty of ambition...”
The military to military relations between the US and Pakistan seems to be gradually improving. There is a greater level of mutual confidence and less talk of “do more”. This has been achieved by enhanced cooperation at operational and intelligence level and is benefiting both sides. It seems sharing is taking place even at the [...]
Two things: first, there can’t be democracy without transparency. Second, democracy can’t allow the murder of her own mother. No government, therefore, is a democracy unless it ‘implements a set of policies and procedures that allow citizens to have accessibility and understandability’ of each and every entity within the government. A ‘democracy’ is not a [...]
At a juncture when the debt and poverty-ridden Pakistan direly needs to probe the corruption of its ruling elite since its inception in 1947 and at a time when the nation unanimously wants to see conspiracies like the East Pakistan tragedy getting unearthed and the guilty identified, time perhaps has come to learn lessons from [...]
The American oligarchy spares no pains in promoting the belief that it does not exist, but the success of its disappearing act depends on equally strenuous efforts on the part of an American public anxious to believe in egalitarian fictions and unwilling to see what is hidden in plain sight. – Michael Lind, To Have [...]
The self-styled and inappropriately named “Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms” has been trying to keep itself in the news lately. It was formed in June last year and given the job of making recommendations to implement the Charter of Democracy. It has been in existence for eight months but is still far from completing its [...]
Step back and just think. It had to happen. Sooner than later. How could the Americans, British and Saudis with the blessings of Benazir Bhutto, ISI chief General Kayani and Musharraf’s man Tariq Aziz ever condone corruption? And yet they did. In the summer of 2007 Washington was the watering hole where the group would [...]
There have been three major occasions when the Pakistani middle-class has broken away from its traditionally conservative disposition to come out and announce its ‘revolutionary’ political aspirations. The first incident of demonstrating political assertiveness was in the late 1960s when the bulk of the youth began to air their grievances against Pakistan’s military-industrialist nexus headed [...]
In the late ‘70s, Indian superstar Amitabh Bachan was known as the ‘angry young man’ of Bollywood. His motto: If it moves, kick it; if it sneers, kill it; if it smiles, kiss it. In the ‘90s, Mian Nawaz Sharif took over as the angry-lost-young man of Pakistani politics. His motto: if it’s red-black-green, bash [...]
Politics and political life are being transformed across the world by the dynamics of the digital era. The broadcast media’s reach and direct action by citizens and civil society using the media and communication technology are changing the nature of political engagement. This is encroaching upon the traditional sphere of political parties, which are no [...]
Pakistan is facing various kinds of armed conflicts presently. With the Taliban and Al-Qaeda using suicide bombers to achieve their goals in this region, our armed forces along with NATO forces are busy in clearing out militants and terrorists. However, today we won’t talk about terrorism acts carried out by militant organisation. Rather, we will [...]
According to a strategic assessment of security operations in Afghanistan prepared by U.S. Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey (Ret.) on Dec 9, 2009, the Taliban believe they are winning. Additionally, the Afghan people do not know whether the current government or the Taliban will prevail. The population, particularly the majority Pashtuns, are hedging their bets. Most [...]
A Couple of months ago while walking through the F-9 park in Islamabad I met a young undergraduate studying information technology. He was critical of corrupt politics and the feudal mindset of the ruling elite. He was bitter about our leaders who he said do nothing but grab and exercise excessive power. The conversation went [...]
Shiv or Sub Gunga in Malkana is one of the small archelogical sites of Salt-Range, situated close to Maghal and Malot villages in district Chakwal. The temple was founded by Budhists and used by Hindu Shahia in later centuries as a sacred place .It is not a blue eyed boy of local historians whose mind [...]
Rightist demagogues, as they are wont to do, prattle-on how they, and they alone, can “keep America safe”–by shredding the Constitution. Waging a decades-long psychological war against the American people, corporatist thugs embedded within the National Security State assure us that secrecy, deceit and imperial adventures that steal other peoples’ resources are the one true [...]
On February 3, a Department of Justice press release headlined “Aafia Siddiqui Found Guilty in Manhattan Federal Court of Attempting to Murder US Nationals in Afghanistan and Six Additional Charges.” At her scheduled May 6 sentencing, she “faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on each of the attempted murder and armed assault [...]
Many of us are still in a state of shock over the guilty verdict returned on Dr Aafia Siddiqui. The response from the people of Pakistan was predictable and overwhelming and I salute their spontaneous actions. From Peshawar to Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore and beyond they marched in their thousands demanding the return of Aafia. Even [...]
It is a pity that neither Delhi nor Islamabad has ever acquired the faculty of imagining the suffering and joy of the other, to say nothing of their respective concerns and limitations, and the two governments are all too ready to lapse into recriminations at the drop of a hat. They attribute evil and devious [...]
Most people — to paraphrase the radical British poet Adrian Mitchell — ignore most history because most history ignores most people. It is traditionally the domain of ‘great’ people: conquerors and kings, statesmen and generals, prophets and pioneers. Other people — the overwhelming majority — don’t get much of a look in. At best they [...]
There has been a veritable raft of statements from the chief of army staff in the very recent past on ‘strategic depth’ for Pakistan in Afghanistan. Variously: “we want a strategic depth in Afghanistan but do not want to control it”; “if Afghanistan is peaceful, stable and friendly, we have our strategic depth because our [...]
Rumor has it that Timothy Geithner is on his way out as Treasury Secretary, due to his involvement in the AIG scandal that is now unraveling in hearings before the House Oversight and Reform Committee. Bob Chapman writes in The International Forecaster: Each day brings more revelations of efforts of the NY Fed and Goldman [...]
Misbah-ul-Haq appointed Pak Test team captain
Swiss ‘Return of Illicit Assets Act’: Pakistan can get billions back!
Cricketer Muhammad Asif finally brings his bride Sana Hilal home, Veena Malik Shocked
Veena Malik seeks court’s help for registration of an FIR against Muhammad Asif
In mom’s wedding sari, Sania Mirza says “Nikah Kabul Hai”; it’s Sania Shoaib from now
What’s going on between Pak cricket legend Wasim Akram & Bollywood actress Sushmita Sen?
Potential to generate 50,000mw electricity from Thar coal field for 800 years
