‘I am a Pakistani first and then an actor’-Shaan By Saadia Qamar Shaan is working on three film projects at the moment. PHOTO: NOOR JAVERI/EXPRESS Shaan Shahid is undoubtedly one of the country’s biggest stars. Despite the sorry state of affairs in the film industry, the actor has managed to keep up a constant stream of work through the years. A series of ad campaigns – particularly for Mobilink – helped Shaan’s profile tremendously. The actor/filmmaker is passionate about issues, and complained strongly about the state of national institutions. He was in Karachi last week to work with Pampers, for … Continue reading Pakistani first and then an actor? Shaan

LHC asked to order Facebook owners’ arrest Petitioner’s many requests include unsealing of FIR and firewalls like China. An application has been filed before the Lahore High Court (LHC) requesting the unsealing of the FIR registered against owners of Facebook and their subsequent arrests with the help of Interpol. The applicant, Advocate Muhammad Azhar Siddique, prayed to the court to issue directions to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to stop access to the “blasphemous material available on the Internet in the country”. In his civil miscellaneous application filed in a main petition seeking ban on Facebook – for hosting a competition … Continue reading Haramazada E Azam – Advocate Muhammad Azhar Siddique

Bilawal Bhutto will be next prime minister: Awan tribune.com.pk Law Minister Babar Awan predicts that the post of PM will stay with the PPP in the future. ISLAMABAD: Federal Law Minister Babar Awan claims Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will be nominated as prime minister in the next general elections. He said this while addressing the Gujranwala Bar Association on Monday. The law minister said that talks of mid term elections are against the constitution. He added that those who gave tickets to fake degree holders are now the ones talking of the mid-term elections. Awan stated that his party is abstaining from politics of the … Continue reading Pakistan Prime Minister – Bilawal Bhutto?

The US needs a new soft era By focusing on science and education, America can rebuild its relations with the Arab world Ahmed Zewail guardian.co.uk, Sunday 11 July 2010 23.00 BST Article history Earlier this year I was in Alexandria, speaking about educational reform in front of a packed auditorium of students, teachers, and professionals. I was there as the US president’s science envoy to the Middle East. I was surrounded by talented young people, ambitious for themselves and for their country. They represent the hope of Egyptian society and are the ones whom Barack Obama’s Cairo initiative, “to seek … Continue reading America must rebuild its relations with Arabs

Resisting calls for a new death penalty Those of us who oppose capital punishment will have to clarify arguments against the inevitable clamour for its restoration Geoffrey Alderman guardian.co.uk, Monday 12 July 2010 11.00 BST Article history Derek Bentley, who was sentenced to death and hanged after his accomplice Christopher Craig shot a policeman during a warehouse burglary. Photograph: PAIf I were a betting man I would wager that within the lifetime of the current parliament a serious attempt will be made to restore the death penalty for murder. Those of us who oppose capital punishment need to take this … Continue reading UK and the death penalty

Somalia needs good government to turn back the terrorist tide Al-Shabab is seeking to bolster support in Somalia by drawing a heavy-handed response from the country’s neighbours Nuradin Dirie guardian.co.uk, Monday 12 July 2010 19.00 BST Article history People gather outside Mulago hospital, following Sunday’s blasts in Kampala, Uganda. Somali Islamist group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Photograph: Str/ReutersHas the world woken up to the risk coming from Somalia? The simultaneous bombing on Sunday in the Ugandan capital Kampala may be the start of a wave of violent terrorism in the Horn of Africa and beyond, waged from … Continue reading Somalia and Al-Shabab

Raoul Moat never really had a future Had he lived, the media would have made Raoul Moat a ‘celebrity con’, and made life after his release all but unlivable Erwin James guardian.co.uk, Monday 12 July 2010 15.35 BST Article history A well-wisher lays flowers at the spot where Raoul Moat took his own life after a six-hour stand off with armed police on Friday evening. Photograph: Chris Radburn/PA”You have a future,” said Detective Chief Superintendent Neil Adamson of the Northumbria police in direct pleas to gunman Raoul Moat during several press conferences last week. The idea must have been to … Continue reading Raoul Moat?

Cameron must make the case for talks with the Taliban Obama’s mantra is that there is a political fix for Afghanistan. The PM’s job in the US next week is to help him realise it Jonathan Steele guardian.co.uk, Monday 12 July 2010 19.59 BST Article history Smiles will be few when David Cameron meets Barack Obama in the Oval Office next week for their first formal discussion of Afghanistan. After more than 1,000 US and 300 British troop deaths, both know their electorates’ scepticism over the war is mounting. Claims of progress on Afghanistan’s battlefields sound hollow; platitudes about “not staying … Continue reading UK Talks with the Taliban?

COMMENT: Ask the right questions! —Fahd Ali The Sharifs’ continuous tango with extremists, both militant and non-militant, has made many question the Sharifs’ willingness to take any sort of anti-criminal action against such elements Recently, a leading private TV channel interviewed Mian Nawaz Sharif. The interview has left many important questions unanswered. I was expecting the interviewers to pitch some hard hitting questions to Mian sahib. However, it turned out to be merely a feel good exercise. There might be some other suitable moment in history where the public might like to know about Mian sahib’s childhood, his relationship with … Continue reading The tango with extremists

VIEW: Will the Pakistani state prevail? —S P Seth The most insidious result for Pakistan has been the growth of its own Taliban movement that seeks to subvert the Pakistani state and replace it with a Pakistani version of the Taliban government in Afghanistan Things are happening thick and fast in Pakistan, though not for the good of its people. The recent bombing in Lahore at a religious shrine was heart-rending. The sufi stream is the most heartening feature of Islam with a consensual subcontinental culture. To see this being attacked with such ferocity leaves one with a sense of … Continue reading Will Pakistan or Mullahs prevail?