The vicious cycle of artificially fed dictatorships

Last week Ban Ki-moon slammed the UN Security Council for inaction. 18 months of slaughter were silently witnessed as the East refused to meet the West. Today we have footages of weeping mothers holding their children’s dead bodies and aerial bombardment of innocent civilians struggling for a free, democratic and liberal Syria. The civilian death toll stands at a tall 20,000 according to the United Nations. Losing credibility, the United Nations Security Council needs to act up. And so, Ban Ki-moon is building a stronger case for intervention. And after 5 days of frustration the knights in shining armor shove aside all pretence of ‘cooperating’. Hilary Clinton stated yesterday that the US can act upon Syria unilaterally.

Read more...

Teetering on feeble roots

The age old rhetoric of our glorious past and abysmal present is taught in rote to everyone:from the child in grade five who learns that Muslims ruled over the ‘subcontinent’ for four hundred years,to a high school student who laments over how South Korea and Malaysia had adopted our five year economic plans and we couldn’t even successfully see one phase through.  Our glorious past consists of rarefied warriors,poets,philosophers,artists and statesmen who have collectively built our people a coffin of glass,where we lie on a bed of roses,in our pretty gown waiting for our Prince to come kiss us awake from our deep slumber.

Except it’s been sixty five years and the Prince is gallivanting elsewhere. Left to our own devices,lamenting and complaining isn’t helping anyone. It’s time to wake up from our slumber and instead of accepting the glass walls of our coffin as a beautiful memorial,we need to break free and critically evaluate our past,and take responsibility for our present.

Read more...

BALUCHISTAN: BACK FROM THE BRINK?

Recently launched report of the fact-finding mission to Baluchistan by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) stirs up as much anxiety as it radiates a ray of hope. It is too early to say that Baluchistanis on its way to recovery; however it will not be an overstatement if we say that it is back from the brink. This is not to undermine the seriousness of the heinous events which are frequently happening there. Most worrisome finding of the Commission is that the patterns and trends have not been reversed. Nevertheless, emergence of indigenous urge to recover out of the mess is something encouraging.  Special focus on Baluchistan by the Chief Justice of Pakistan and the Government appointed commission on missing persons headed by Justice Javed Iqbal alongside HRCP provide us multiple windows on Baluchistan; these three entities have come out with similar observations about all major vows of Baluchistan.

Read more...

Pakistani born Kulsoom Abdullah, a star weight lifter

Sonya Rehman interviews Kulsoom Abdullah, a star weightlifter of Pakistani origin who broke new ground in American sports when she refused to take off her hijab.

Read more...

Pakistan in talks to hand port to China

Pakistan is planning to transfer operational control of its strategically important Gwadar deep water port from Singapore’s PSA International to a Chinese company, according to a Pakistani minister.

“We have reached an agreement with PSA where they have decided to leave the port at Gwadar. They are in discussions with a possible Chinese investor,” Babar Ghauri, Pakistan’s minister of ports and shipping, told the Financial Times in an interview.

Read more...

Why we must vote in elections

Read more...

Q&A with Imran Khan on Google Hangout on September 6

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) believes that to bring about genuine political change in Pakistan, Pakistanis must must better understand their leaders and their political postions.

With that, we bring to you an opportunity for anyone with an Internet connection to speak directly to Imran Khan using Google Hangouts On Air, this live session will be streamed to the world!

Do YOU have a Question that you would like to Ask Imran Khan?

Read more...

Blair and Bush termed war criminals by Tutu

LONDON: Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Desmond Tutu called Sunday for Tony Blair and George Bush to face prosecution at the International Criminal Court for their role in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Tutu, the retired Anglican Church's archbishop of South Africa, wrote in an op-ed piece for The Observer newspaper that the ex-leaders of Britain and the United States should be made to "answer for their actions."

The Iraq war "has destabilized and polarized the world to a greater extent than any other conflict in history," wrote Tutu, who was awarded the Nobel prize in 1984.

Read more...

Pakistan need for change

Pakistan is a divided house. No matter how forcefully it is denied,the fact remains that Pakistan is now a deeply divided society with each side dug in deep. Reason and Logic are the first casualties of this divide in our society. No longer can one imagine having an honest discussion on any issue under the sun. No longer can you assume that the strength of your argument is how logical and rational it is. Instead we have lists. These lists are of things you can talk about and discuss while there are other lists of topics that you can no longer even mention as part of a discussion. It is as if all the key issues that matter are now off the table and any attempt at discussing them results in arguments that boil everything down to either the person being with the cause or against the cause. Essentially what has happened is that the middle path or rawadari,as it is called in Urdu,is now dead. Ours is a society that has killed Rawadari.

Read more...

NORTH WAZIRISTAN BLUES

North Waziristan is under international spotlight due to holing-up of a large number of hardened militants, combatants, criminals and terrorists. It also houses a portion of “Haqqani Net Work”. Haqqanis have never identified themselves as an autonomous entity; they present themselves as part of Afghan resistance under their ‘Ameer’: Mullah Omar.

Alongside usual brinkmanship, America has been making concerted effort for a face saving rapprochement with Haqqanis. The US is willing not only to engage the group in talks but is also ready to accommodate the group by giving it an important role in the future political set up of Afghanistan. United States is ready to hand over the control of three Afghan provinces to the Haqqanis if they agree to withdraw their support for the Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan. “Neither the Americans nor Pakistanis can completely defeat the Haqqani network…We are ready for talks – but the problem is that the Haqqanis are really not forthcoming… Therefore, we have no option but to use force against them,” opined a senior American military official. This is not the first time that America wants to entice the Haqqanis. Following the ouster of the Taliban regime in 2001, Haqqani were offered the top positions, however they opted to go along with Mullah Omar. Haqqanis are considered crucial for the success of the Taliban insurgency.

Read more...