The upsurge of the youth and ordinary Pashtuns mainly from the FTA in recent weeks has been defying all odds till now. It has stirred Pakistan’s society in a relative inertia and has sent a fresh breeze of hope, encouragement ...
Read More »”Visiting Miriamshah was like visiting a graveyard”
I recently visited Miramshah and my village, Darpa Khel — after many years, owing to militancy followed by Operation Zarb-i-Azb. Much has been written on the miseries of the tribesmen during militancy and displacement. Here, I examine what their lives ...
Read More »Time for Afghanistan to change its counter-terrorism strategy
Jan. 27, 2018, was another bloody day in the Afghan capital Kabul, with more than 100 killed and about 200 injured in a suicide attack in one of the busiest areas of the city, just meters away from the old ...
Read More »Here’s why activists in FATA oppose Obaid-Chinoy’s latest project
Obaid-Chinoy has a legitimacy problem that needs to be addressed to restore her credibility as an unbiased and professional film-maker. Pakistan army’s strategic depth policy has had devastating consequences for people of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). The area ...
Read More »Pakistan caught between mosque and military, again
Army chief General Qamar Bajwa seems to be against the military’s direct intervention in politics but Khadim Rizvi and his cohorts have been making insinuations that the general might not belong to the right sect. If the history of Pakistan ...
Read More »Electronic identity cards, Islam, ethnicity and Afghan govt
In pre-Taliban era when the last president of Afghanistan, Dr. Najibullah was ruthlessly hanged to death, Kabul was frozen with terror of the deadliest civil war. The atrocities which followed by are unspeakable. Afghanistan, a land, where you can take ...
Read More »The myth of accountability
Although the Supreme Court is expected to take up the inquiry report of the JIT against the Sharif family on Monday, but it seems to be a mere formality as the cheerleaders of the creeping coup are determined to force ...
Read More »Pakistan: The undeclared Jihad factory
The recent ghastly terror attacks in Kabul and London makes me wonder whether such acts of violence are fast becoming the new normal in our lives. Over the last few years, we, as citizens of this world, have grieved for ...
Read More »From Socrates to Mashal Khan
The savagely violent murder of Mashal Khan on April 13 is a grim reminder of our consistency in aversion for critical minds and free thinking from olden times down to present day. This lynching is not a unique episode in ...
Read More »A Paradigm Shift in Afghan Economic Policy – From East to West
After taking charge of Presidency, Ashraf Ghani was very enthusiastic to have more cordial and wide ranging strategic relations with Pakistan, his three frequent visits including the highly criticized visit one toArmy GHQ is indicative of the fact. However, President ...
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