Feature / Analysis

Who are the Pakistani Taliban?

While its recent attack on a 14-year-old girl in Pakistan brought international outrage, the Pakistani Taliban take credit for a long list of assaults on civilians and the military in the country's mostly ungoverned tribal area along the Afghan border. The banned Islamist group, which has intimate...

Afghanistan's Fiscal Cliff

Kabul-watchers are rightly worried about what the withdrawal of Western aid money will mean for one of the most impoverished countries on the planet. But everyone's asking the wrong questions. KABUL: Afghanistan is awash in foreign aid. In 11 years of war, the United States and its allies have funn...

Pakistanis debate real enemy: girl-shooting Taliban or drone-firing US

The news that the Taliban shot 14-year-old Malala Yousufzai for speaking out against them has sparked debate that highlights a major division in Pakistan. The news that the Taliban shot a 14-year-old girl for speaking out against them has highlighted a major division in Pakistan over the question o...

LEAP OF FAITH

Ram Kori, a young Hindu girl, fell in love and eloped with Amir Noor Ali, a Muslim boy. Her mother approached the courts, pleading that her under-age daughter had been abducted and forcibly converted. The government subsequently arrested Ali and imprisoned him for two years and Kori, now Islam Bibi,...

The negligent Pakistani

On October 9, 2012, Malala Yousafzai, at 14-years-old, was shot in the head and neck. This changed a lot of grey in Pakistan to an unwavering black and white. A wave of introspection began to take its course. People began to realize that there was a choice: the future Malala wanted, or something els...

Book Published on the 13th Death Anniversary of Dr. Akhtar Hameed Khan

“Dr. Akhtar Hameed Khan’s written works and models will continue to benefit millions around the globe. He was a man of action and created two highly regarded institutions for poverty alleviation. Dr. Khan disliked wasting time in frivolous conversation. Even on holidays such as Eid, he would spend h...

Afghan malnourished hit by poverty and education

Rahman Mina Camp, Afghanistan: A 30-minute drive from the heart of the Afghan capital along dusty pot-holed roads lie the slums of the city. In the distance are plains with some patches of greenery before they hit a mountain range that juts out of the earth. We're in Rahman Mina Camp, also known...

Afghanistan's safest province falling prey to Taliban

BAMIYAN, Afghanistan :Violence is returning to what has long been the most tranquil region of Afghanistan, where fears of a resurgent Taliban are as stark as the ragged holes left by the bombing of two ancient Buddha statues in cliffs facing the Bamiyan valley. Bamiyan had been seen as the country...

Where have all the Pakistan fast bowlers gone?

In his column for Pakpassion.net, former Pakistan fast bowler, Mohammad Zahid examines the one question that is on the minds of numerous Pakistani fans: where have the fast men gone?Pakistan is a proud cricketing nation and over the years our pride has been the number of high quality fast bowlers we...

Time to reclaim our mosques

The Taliban claim that the attack on Malala Yousafzai is sanctioned by Shariah because Malala was promoting western values. The modestly dressed Malala, with a headscarf always secured in place, instead only campaigned to be educated, which is not a western, but a universal value. I, however, wonder...

Either way …

The chief of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan, has been rather busy lately, conducting press conferences and appearing on various TV channels, answering the scathing criticism he has come under for his delayed condemnation of the shameless shooting of young Malala Yusufzai by the Thehr...

The hungry ones

There are those who sit on the throne of power enjoying the bounties of ruling and then there are those who are still far from achieving a spot in the governance and have been eying the throne, getting thinner as they wait for their turn on the throne.The one waiting for his turn on the throne often...

The roots of insanity

“Were such things here as we do speak about?Or have we eaten on the insane root That takes the reason prisoner?”— Shakespeare, MacbethWHILE the dastardly attempt to kill Malala has pricked the conscience of humankind it has also revealed the nature and extent of the cankerous growth within Pakistan’...

Malala and Goliath

For the first time in my life I have started to like Pakistan. I see what I always wanted to see. The image of Malala on every chowk, newspaper, profile picture, status update and TV channel. The prayers of people all across the country have touched me beyond imagination. This is a Pakistan that giv...

STATE OF INTELLIGENCE

Graffiti in urban centers of Balochistan’s Makran Division has completely changed in two years. “Long live independent Balochistan” and “Down with pro-parliament parties” have replaced pronouncements about separatist leaders being traitors.Until recently, the locals were told through what they call ...

Did a drone attack Malala?

In his book ‘Inside Al Qaeda and the Taliban’, slain journalist Syed Saleem Shehzad who spent considerable part of his research with al Qaeda militants, described comprehensively the formation of the new al Qaeda players and their strategic objectives in the lawless FATA region of Pakistan after the...

Afghanistan: Paying for Justice in Khost

Residents of southeastern province pay traditional assemblies to sort out disputes, leaving state mechanisms out of the picture. Afghanistan: In much of Khost, a Pashtun province in southeast Afghanistan, crimes and civil cases never go before state courts or prosecutors. Instead, people take their...

Major Hurdles Facing German Troop Withdrawal

The plan sounds good: Complete withdrawal of German combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014. But it is hardly realistic. For one, it is a daunting logistical challenge. For another, troops will have to remain in the country to protect the military trainers who will stay after the main forc...

The Brave Daughter of Swat

My power of articulation has gone numb and I feel dumbfounded as if I am incapable of adequately venting the deep anguish and unrelenting agony that is nagging me from within. I am irrepressibly grieved about that remarkable, iconic girl from the enchanting valley of Swat over-lorded some few tears ...

Our Faulty Selection Criteria

We often hear from cricket experts that Pakistan is blessed with immense Cricket Talent; however the performances of the team sometime do not reflect so. The reason lies behind the poor selection of players. When there is a lot of talent, it is difficult to identify the suitable ones for internation...

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