IN this wretched, unfortunate land, anger and despair have been wasted emotions. After all, while we may never have known how to fix things, at least we could be relatively sure that they wouldn’t get much worse. But as things begin to fall apart, the assumptions of yore are crumbling before our eyes. And the […]
TOKYO – International donors, led by the United States and Japan, pledged more than $5 billion Friday to stabilize Pakistan’s troubled economy and fight the spread of terrorism in the Islamic nation and neighboring Afghanistan. The U.S. and Japan started off the one-day conference by pledging $1 billion each. Saudi Arabia added $700 million and […]
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — The Taliban have advanced deeper into Pakistan by engineering a class revolt that exploits profound fissures between a small group of wealthy landlords and their landless tenants, according to government officials and analysts here. The strategy cleared a path to power for the Taliban in the Swat Valley, where the government allowed […]
We remain in a state of denial. We are fully capable, we say, of handling the terrorist threat; we are going to fix our economy; all we want is trade opportunities, not aid; and we do not accept or give blank cheques. The truth is that we are in a parlous state The parliament approved […]
This article is by a progressive blogger in Lahore, (Pakistan) Raza Rumi. It was first published by Friday Times (picture of the march in Lahore – courtesy Friday Times.) Raza’s article gives voice to millions of Pakistanis who are unable to express their anger and frustration for varying reasons. Raza Rumi blogs at www.razarumi.com and edits Pak Tea House and […]
ISLAMABAD: An exhibition of paintings titled ‘No honour in killing: making visible buried truth’ by various artists opened at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts on Wednesday. Dedicated to the five victims of the brutal Nasirabad honour killings, the exhibition is an attempt to keep their memory alive via art and dialogue and seeks […]
CHRASADDA: Nine police personnel, including a DSP and an SHO, and seven passers-by were killed while 10 others were injured after a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into a police checkpost on Wednesday evening. The incident took place at a checkpost where police had erected barricades after the Charsadda DPO alerted the police to […]
NEW YORK: Saudi Arabia is showing only ‘muted interest in supporting’ Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari despite Washington’s effort to help strapped Pakistan raise some $ 4 billion to $ 5 billion in immediate infusion of money, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday quoting people involved in the deliberations. As the donor nations meet […]
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is seeking to help Pakistan raise $4 billion to $5 billion at an international aid conference in Tokyo Friday in a bid to stabilize the finances of the key counterterrorism ally. Washington’s effort, however, is coming into conflict with Saudi Arabia, which is showing only muted interest in supporting Pakistani […]
ISLAMABAD: The criminal complacency of our elected parliamentarians was amazing to witness. How else does one describe the mood of our House of shame where members could be seen huddled together like excited schoolchildren, joking and laughing, preening about as if celebrating some proud accomplishment. The day after the Swat deal was bull dozed in […]
Khoon key dhabbey dhulein gey kitni barsatoon key baad…’ -Faiz Ahmed Faiz Another dark mark on our Muslim legacy; another welt on a woman’s fragile innocence; another sin on our collective conscience. As the country reels with the shameful impact of the flogging incident in Swat, the international media shrieks yet again of barbaric […]
DERA GHAZI KHAN, Pakistan — Taliban insurgents are teaming up with local militant groups to make inroads in Punjab, the province that is home to more than half of Pakistanis, reinvigorating an alliance that Pakistani and American authorities say poses a serious risk to the stability of the country. The deadly assault in March in […]
ON Saturday, March 11, a convoy of 10 double-cabin four-wheel drive pick-up trucks loaded with Taliban armed with every description of portable weapons — Kalashnikovs, rocket launchers, heavy machine guns — drove from Daggar the headquarters of Buner district to the villages of Sohawa and Dagai in Buner. It entered Swabi district at Jhanda village, […]
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari approved a controversial Sharia regulation for the Malakand division of the North West Frontier Province on Monday after the National Assembly asked for what seemed to be a clear concession to Taliban militants of the Swat valley to implement a peace deal between them and the provincial government. The president […]
Terrorists are carrying out attacks inside Pakistan with incredible ease and stunning accuracy. Taliban are seizing more and more territory everyday. The sense of security and protection in the country is long gone. Everyone in Pakistan is nervous, and nobody knows how and when, if ever, life will become stable or normal. Not only are […]