By M Ilyas Khan, BBC News, Islamabad A Pakistani doctor who helped the US find al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden is appealing against his jail sentence. It’s the first time Shakil Afridi’s case has been heard in open court. The judge adjourned the case until 22 October at the request of prosecutors. Dr Afridi’s role was a huge embarrassment for […]
Mohammad Taqi US President Donald Trump has cancelled what had appeared to be an imminent deal with the Afghan Taliban. In a series of tweets over the weekend, Trump blasted the Taliban for not agreeing to a ceasefire and continuing to kill in order to buttress their negotiating position. He cited the death of a US soldier last week as the reason for his decision. But […]
Kamran Siddiqui The recent revocation of Articles 370 and 35(a) of the Indian constitution by the Modi government has created an uproar across South Asia. There is a divided option on this action, where those in favor, primarily BJP supporter are hailing it as a historic and overdue move. On the other hand, the opponents are arguing this action as […]
Pakistan has repeatedly altered the status of the parts of Kashmir it controls, weakening its current protestations. Hussain Haqqani For decades, Pakistan has sought to internationalise the problem of Kashmir, hoping that it could change the territorial status quo over the erstwhile princely state. India’s decision to repeal Article 370 of its Constitution, ending the special status of Kashmir territory […]
Mobarik Haider PM Imran Ahmad Khan said he will now be the global ambassador for Kashmir. Since ambassadors of India and Pakistan are gone and borders between the two countries securely sealed, Mr. Khan seems to think that the world arena of diplomatic conquest is free for him. So he will be on a world tour to talk about an […]
HUSAIN HAQQANI The Donald Trump administration flattered Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan and army chief General Qamar Bajwa, hoping that Pakistan will use its influence over the Taliban to advance the Afghan peace process. The recent spate of terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, including the one targeting vice-presidential candidate Amrullah Saleh over the weekend, makes it obvious that the Taliban see […]
By Steven Butler July 16 was just another night for Najam Sethi on his show at Pakistan’s 24 News BD, where the sometimes jocular veteran journalist sits and analyzes the day’s news, answering questions interspersed with video clips. Yet as he got to the last item on the show — nationwide demonstrations by journalists against censorship and layoffs — management suddenly pulled the […]
AYESHA SIDDIQA Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, who once accused the US of ‘destroying Pakistan’ and blamed his country’s politicians for fighting American wars for money, will soon be in Washington DC. His objective will be to rekindle the warmth in the bilateral relationship that seems to have died since Donald Trump took oath as President of the US in 2016. While opening channels of American money […]
AYESHA SIDDIQA Pakistan’s army chief, General Qamar Bajwa was recently in London to meet his counterpart and many other bigwigs of the security establishment of the UK ostensibly to discuss issues of strategic cooperation. However, the visit – his second in nine months – was more than the usual tête-à-tête. If anything, there were four objectives of the tour: find a via-media to improve relations with the US that […]
Pakistan’s new budget will not fix the country’s economic woes. Here is why. by Taha Siddiqui The Pakistani government unveiled its first annual budget for the fiscal year 2019-2020 on June 11 and was only able to pass it on June 28. The considerable delay was due to strong resistance from the opposition in parliament which threatened with protests over […]
Pakistan Army replaced its ISI head within 8 months with an ‘average’ officer close to chief Bajwa, whose hold in country’s politics grows by day. AYESHA SIDDIQA The Pakistan Army’s strategic intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, got a new chief this week, Lt General Faiz Hameed, making the world wonder what has he done to deserve the position. Or what will now be […]
Husain Haqqani Espionage case shatters Pakistan army’s myths – and the belief its nuke secrets are secure The court-martial of three individuals, including a recently retired three-star general, on charges of espionage and revealing classified information to foreign intelligence agencies seriously, dents the charisma that helps keep Pakistan’s army in charge of the country. The fact that senior military officers […]
Farhatullah Babar By official account three – but by unofficial account, many more – were killed and injured in firing after Pakhtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) marchers were stopped at a military check post in North Waziristan on Sunday. MNA Ali Wazir, arrested on charges of terrorism, has since been remanded in the custody of the Counter-Terrorism Department by an anti-terrorism […]
Khaled Ahmed Prime Minister Narendra Modi has won his election and now India will have to adjust to his worldview in the coming five years more completely, judiciary a little more and the minorities quite a lot. Prime Minister Imran Khan his neighbor wanted him to win so that he could readjust to India, change policy from the ground up, […]
Dear Mr. Khan, On May 5, 2019, you laid the foundation stone of Al-Qadir University in Sohawa near Jhelum in the Punjab province. You emphatically, albeit with some difficulty, announced that “we will convert Spirituality into a Super Science”. The government of Pakistan’s Twitter account wrote “Al-Qadir University would provide both Islamic and scientific education to the students and help […]
by Khaled Ahmed American commentator Michael Kugelman recently wrote: “The US government appears to be acknowledging that Pakistan, given its influence over the Taliban, is an important and potentially helpful player in the peace process in Afghanistan.” A Pakistani will ask: What influence? Pakistan’s main unacknowledged threat comes from the Taliban and their patron, al-Qaeda. Mehr Tarar, in her wonderfully […]
By Khaled Ahmed America is thinking of quitting Afghanistan because its soldiers are too expensive to send abroad. It stands to save $43 billion annually if it leaves. Pakistan is scared of what will happen if America really quits and Afghanistan returns to its heroin-sustained warlordism. The Afghan Taliban are winning on a daily basis and control half of […]
Pakistan’s army is to blame for the poverty of the country’s 208 m citizens Economist Report IT HAS FOR so long been a country of such unmet potential that the scale of Pakistan’s dereliction towards its people is easily forgotten. Yet on every measure of progress, Pakistanis fare atrociously. More than 20m children are deprived of school. Less than 30% of […]
by Husain Haqqani Pakistan ends 2018 with a sharply devalued rupee, greater dependence on foreign largesse, lower credit rating, and even less democracy than before. The year witnessed the imprisonment of a former prime minister and the selection of a new one – Imran Khan – hailed as the country’s saviour by some and seen as an inexperienced and dimwitted demagogue by […]
Former Ambassador of Pakistan to the U.S. Husain Haqqani left that position six years ago amidst controversy over a memo he was accused of orchestrating, urging U.S. help in preventing a military coup in Pakistan following the Abbottabad operation that killed Osama bin Laden. An advocate of civilian government in the country, he’s become a sharp critic of the Pakistani […]
