< VIEW: Fool me twice, shame on me ——Ali K Chishti So rotten is our system that until recently a top jihadi got acquitted under the pretext that al Qaeda was not considered a terrorist organisation legally in Pakistan Who are we fooling but ourselves? There is irrefutable evidence of Pakistan’s doublespeak and playing the double game; hardly anyone in the world will be fooled by it any more. Yet we persist. Let us take into account a rather glaring example. Pakistan has banned three jihadi organisations: Millat-e-Islamia (the former Sipah-e-Sahaba), Islami Tehrik-e-Pakistan (formerly Tehrik-e-Jaffria) and Khuddamul Islam (Jaish-e-Jaffria) and … Continue reading Fool me twice, shame on me

Angelina Jolie urges aid for flood-hit Pakistan dawn.com US actress Angelina Jolie arrives for the British Gala premiere of the film ‘Salt’, at a central London cinema. -AP Photo LONDON: Angelina Jolie says it’s vital that people help Pakistan’s flood victims and not surrender to compassion fatigue. The floods have displaced 20 million people, but donations are below those for catastrophes like the Haitian earthquake or the Asian tsunami. Jolie said she understood that ”it is getting hard for people, they see Haiti, they see these other events … and they get exhausted by the time another big one rolls … Continue reading Angelina Jolie ‘help Pakistanis now!’

dawn.com Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations office in Geneva, Ambassador Zamir Akram. — Photo by AFP GENEVA: Pakistan’s UN envoy in Geneva said on Tuesday that reconstruction in northern areas alone could cost 2.5 billion dollars, after floods stretching to the south ravaged an area “the size of England”. Zamir Akram, Pakistan’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, said the country had received more immediate multilateral relief aid through the UN and direct bilateral aid totalling about 301 million dollars. UN agencies have warned that funding for their 460 million dollar multilateral appeal for emergency relief … Continue reading Flood-hit Pakistan signals massive reconstruction needs

Mandaeans in struggle for existence By Stephen Starr DAMASCUS – Last May, a group of armed men shot and blasted their way through a jewelry market in the Bayaa district of southwest Baghdad. Their target was the gold, jewels and cash located in the dozen or so stores located along the street. By the time this new breed of Iraqi terrorism had ended, 15 civilians were dead. Among the dead were Sabaen Mandaeans, followers of a little-known sect now on the verge of extinction. One man who worked in one of the stores was a cousin of Nasir Shathur, a … Continue reading Mandaeans need our help

Bangladesh braces for divisive war-crimes trial By Sebastian Strangio DHAKA – A special tribunal in Bangladesh has indicted four members of the country’s main Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, on suspicion of committing mass atrocities during the country’s 1971 Liberation War. Those arrested, including party president Motiur Rahman Nizami and his deputy Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, have been remanded in custody indefinitely and are likely to face charges of genocide, murder, rape and arson. Travel bans have been imposed on a few dozen more suspects. The indictments, issued late last month, were the opening act of Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal, established in … Continue reading Bangladesh braces for war-crimes trial

Eat, Pray, Love fever sweeps Bali By Muhammad Cohen UBUD – Bali has survived earthquakes, volcanoes, invading armies, and terrorist bombings. But can Indonesia’s Island of the Gods withstand a major Hollywood motion picture starring Oscar winner Julia Roberts? The movie adaptation of Eat, Pray, Love, a best-selling travel and personal growth memoir following author Elizabeth Gilbert on a year-long journey from New York through Italy, India and Indonesia, opened last week. It’s fitting that each country begins with “I”: Eat, Pray, Love suggests that no matter how self-absorbed you are, there’s always more about your favorite subject you’ll find … Continue reading Eat, Pray, Love fever sweeps Bali

Petraeus marches out of step By RFE/RL General David Petraeus, the commander of United States and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces in Afghanistan, has cast doubt on US President Barack Obama’s July 2011 deadline to start withdrawing troops from the country, saying it depends on conditions on the ground. His comments threatened to create a rift with the Obama administration after Defense Secretary Robert Gates contradicted the general by insisting that the withdrawal date is definite. In an interview on US television’s Meet The Press on August 15, Petraeus said the battle against Taliban militants was an “up-and-down process” … Continue reading Petraeus – out of step?

Bizarre bedfellows rally to Afghanistan By Brian M Downing The war in Afghanistan, now almost nine years on, is reaching an important juncture. The conflict itself is plodding along as the insurgency spreads, but public support in Europe and the United States is waning. The Dutch have withdrawn. Canada will have most of its troops out at the end of 2011. The British, French and German publics are increasingly uneasy about the war and seem to be searching for a graceful exit that will not greatly alienate the US. The American public is also restive. The Barack Obama administration is … Continue reading Bizarre Afghanistan

Ahmadinejad feels the heat at home By Mahan Abedin In a sure sign that Iran’s factionalized politics is making a comeback, the right-wing and conservative forces that last year engineered the marginalization of the reformists, are slowly splintering. At the center of this latest bout of factional in-fighting is the divisive personality of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad. While few people expected the political scene to be dominated by a unified conservative front for long, the speed at which the right-wing factions are dividing between pro- and anti-Ahmadinejad camps has caught many analysts by surprise. The polarization of the right wing will … Continue reading Ahmadinejad feels the heat