COMMENT: The saints evil men fear —Zaair Hussain The Taliban have recognised, in their own perverse way, that the sufis are the rightful spiritual guides of the nation and so they try to accomplish by might what they could not possibly do by right The horrors inflicted upon Pakistan by the enemy within can be likened to the eastern masterwork swords known as the katanas; impossibly sharp, cutting to the bone, and created in layers, one folded atop another. That Data Darbar was forced to close for the first time in nearly a thousand years is a horror. That a … Continue reading The saints evil men fear

VIEW: Yes to NACTA —Gulmina Bilal Ahmad We need to focus on developing a counter-terrorism and counter-radicalisation strategy and the sooner we do it the better. Counter-radicalisation will serve as a preemptive strike on those who are working to challenge the writ of the state We seemingly have the illusion that we have the luxury of time — our social, political and economic activities all seem to suggest that. Or perhaps I should correct myself. The public is in a state of panic. The elite are not. Terrorism is not the only challenge that Pakistan is confronted with, but it … Continue reading NACTA

omment:Karachi bleeds —Ali K Chishti It might be true to say that Karachi’s biggest problems are not ethnic, political or sectarian differences but the incompetent police itself, which has become a largely criminal and political outfit The first instance of targeted killings of foreigners in Karachi was the assassination of two Americans, which came amid political, sectarian and factional violence that made the city one of the most ‘dangerous in the world’ in the 1990s. On March 8, 1995, Gary C Durrell, a CIA official, died on the spot while Jackie Van Landingham, a consulate secretary, lost her life on … Continue reading Karachi bleeds

COMMENT:Knight, not pawn: Habib Jalib Baloch —Dr Mohammad Taqi More striking than Habib Jalib’s flowing long hair was his political maturity that was certainly beyond his years. This transition from a student politician to a statesman is rather rare in our part of the world “Aiy haak ki may nagrin qawm e jis o gor int, Aiy haak a pa maa taah e jatag shaklein zinday” — Mir Gul Khan Nasir. “This soil has been our home, after death it has been our grave, So, for evermore, I am this soil’s slave.” In the parlance of nationalist movements in Pakistan, … Continue reading Habib Jalib Baloch

PENSIEVE:A letter to Mrs Sonia Gandhi —Farrukh Khan Pitafi Pakistan has so many issues of its own that a majority of the country cannot afford the luxury of hating its neighbours. In their heart of hearts, even our critics of India also know that, one day, peace has to be built between the two countries Respected Sonia ji, I hope this letter finds you well. I write to express my frustration at the failure of the peace process between our two great nations. Recently, when the Indian Minister for External Affairs, S M Krishna, visited Pakistan, like many others I … Continue reading letter to Mrs Sonia Gandhi

Now Afghanistan too shows the limits of American power British troops are paying the blood price in Helmand, as they did in Iraq, of a now officially subservient relationship Seumas Milne guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 21 July 2010 21.00 BST Article history The catastrophic illusions and acts of official betrayal at the heart of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are being progressively exposed, one after another. In London, the former head of MI5 Eliza Manningham-Buller confirmed to the Iraq inquiry this week that the security service had indeed warned Tony Blair’s government that aggression against Iraq, “on top of our involvement … Continue reading British troops in subservient relationship?

Now Afghanistan too shows the limits of American power British troops are paying the blood price in Helmand, as they did in Iraq, of a now officially subservient relationship Seumas Milne guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 21 July 2010 21.00 BST Article history The catastrophic illusions and acts of official betrayal at the heart of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are being progressively exposed, one after another. In London, the former head of MI5 Eliza Manningham-Buller confirmed to the Iraq inquiry this week that the security service had indeed warned Tony Blair’s government that aggression against Iraq, “on top of our involvement … Continue reading British troops are paying the blood price for subservience to the US

Bloggers who left ScienceBlogs had no desire to silence Pepsi – we were letting Seed know it had violated its readers’ trust David Dobbs guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 21 July 2010 17.00 BST Article history I’ll give this to David Appell: the man’s efficient. Few have ever packed as much error and folly into seven paragraphs as he does in his PepsiCo and the shame of the bloggerati. Appell takes a stark but complex event – the exodus of bloggers from Seed’s ScienceBlogs network when Seed sold a blog spot to Pepsi – and misrepresents it despite contradictory evidence that his very … Continue reading How we tried (not) to silence Pepsi

Facebook reaches 500 million members Facebook has reached 500 million members – the equivalent of connecting with eight per cent of the world’s population. By Emma Barnett, Digital Media Editor Published: 5:00PM BST 21 Jul 2010 telegraph.co.uk Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer and founder of Facebook, gestures while speaking at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival in June 2010. Photo: ntoine Antoniol/Bloomberg Facebook was founded in 2004. Photo: AP The milestone figure comes only five months after the social network signed up its 400th million user. The pace of its growth has accelerated rapidly – Facebook had only 150 million … Continue reading Facebook – 500 million members