Dr Shaikh’s therapy Dawn Editorial Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani having a meeting with Advisor on Finance Abdul Hafeez Sheikh at PM House, May 12, 2010. – Online Photo. At a rare media briefing, Dr Hafeez Shaikh, advisor on finance, hinted at Pakistan going back to the IMF for more funds if revenue-generation measures at home fall short of meeting budgetary targets. “You may have to consider… IMF can be a source,” he said. His statement amounts to an admission that the current $11.3bn loan from the IMF has failed to produce the intended results and that Pakistan needs to … Continue reading Pakistans Deepak Chopra?

Taliban find safe haven in Karachi dawn.com The arrest of dozens of low-key members of the TTP from the metropolis is evidence of their presence: officials – AP (File Photo) Provinces Taliban cut off hands of three tribesmen Taliban cut off hands of three tribesmen KARACHI: Hundreds of Taliban fleeing from Pakistan’s restive northwest have taken refuge in the teeming commercial hub of Karachi, where a growing nexus with banned militant organisations is a headache for law enforcement. A huge Pashtun population, mostly in the suburbs of the city of 18 million people, provides shelter to these militants, according to … Continue reading Where are the Taliban?

Meet the opportunists by Nadeem F. Paracha I have never been able to understand the cultural dynamics of what is called the Pakistan fashion industry, particularly the notion of holding ‘fashion weeks’ which, at least to me, seem to last for months. There is nothing new in saying that the so-called Pakistan fashion scene constitutes the minutest percentage of the population when we start counting the number of designers, models, ‘fashion journalists,’ and audience members for fashion shows in this country. Their activities carry not an iota of social relevance whatsoever. To me they’re quite a useless bunch and I … Continue reading The Sex-obsessed, alcoholic, drugged up fashionistas and their excuses for terrorist Mullahs!

Making the impossible possible By Kalsoom Lakhani dawn.com “There is no doubt that societies that fail to invest in their women – essentially 50 per cent of their work force – can never prosper or develop.” – AFP (File Photo) Business 15pc duty imposed on yarn export 15pc duty imposed on yarn export In 1996, the Kashf Foundation became Pakistan’s first microfinance institution, empowering both women and families in an attempt to replicate the Grameen Bank model. Today, 14 years later, Kashf has 152 branches nationwide, boasts 305,938 supported families, and operates its branches using a franchise model, allowing for … Continue reading Empowering poor women to start businesses

Gatecrashing the party by Farooq Nomani Many critics and fans alike may term Pakistan’s backdoor route into the semifinals of the Twenty20 World Cup as a travesty of justice, a lucky break, a gross coincidence of errors, maybe even a cardinal sin. I wouldn’t begrudge anyone who is of that opinion. In fact, I’d nod my head in solemn agreement if an incensed non-Pakistani cricket follower got in my face and spluttered his discontent about how we hadn’t even earned our place in the second round, let alone the semis. Pakistan’s ascension to the semifinal has been a story of … Continue reading Back door Pakistanis?

dawn.com With thousands of casualties in the conflict between the Taliban and the army, the psychological toll has largely gone unnoticed. — File photo Pakistan Zardari promises fair LB elections Zardari promises fair LB elections PESHAWAR: Rifaat Ramzan lay in a hospital bed with a blank stare, still traumatised weeks after losing his best friend, Noman, to a suicide bomber. “He had just told me how it is good to dream and we will achieve our dreams,” said Ramzan, who began sleeping with a gun under his pillow, fearful he too will be killed in Pakistan’s relentless violence. “This man … Continue reading Pakistani psychologists issue conflict health warning

Sparkbrook store bosses offers PM a change of direction A BIRMINGHAM shopkeeper who was once David Cameron’s ‘boss’ said the new Prime Minister would always have a job with him. Mr Cameron worked at the Raja Brothers grocery store, in Ladypool Road, Sparkbrook, three years ago to “spend some proper time out of Westminster”. The PM-to-be worked for just three hours, but boss Kamran Ishtiaq recalled how the ex-Old Etonian, whose family is directly descended from King Georges I, II and III and William IV, appeared to be a “normal bloke” who turned up in a mini van. “He was … Continue reading PM Cameron at Kamrans Cornershop in Birminghamistanabad!

Afghan native Najibullah Zazi confessed to plotting to use weapons of mass destruction in a suicide bomb attack on the New York subway. They are middle-class, some (by their home country’s standards) even well-off. They are often college educated. They are settled in the United States or elsewhere in the West, far from the chaos or sectarian strife of their homelands; they are supposedly “assimilated.” But somehow they cast off a life of comfort and drift toward extreme views before embracing political violence inspired by a sense of grievance or alienation. It is a pattern seen time and again as … Continue reading Security Brief: Analysis: Exploring middle class jihadists

Attempts to revive MMA started The MMA urged the Pakistan Army to strike down US drones operating inside Pakistan.—File photo PESHAWAR: Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal has formally met on Wednesday after a split had occurred within the alliance back in November 2007. The MMA has decided to hold more such meetings in the future for the party’s revival. The meeting was held at the residence of JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman and was attended by the prominent leaders including Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Liaqat Baloch from Jamaat-e-Islami. At the end of the meeting, Maulana Fazlur Rehman along with other members of MMA held … Continue reading Mullahs want to UNITE (to destroy Pakistan?)

You couldn’t make it up True tales from the outer fringes of planet terror. Queer threat Tiumen, Siberia, 2008: the head of Rainbow House, an organization campaigning for LGBT rights, is put through the wringer under the Law to Combat Extremism. The organization had been repeatedly denied registration (which means they couldn’t even open a bank account). Why? Because the authorities felt that reducing the population of the Russian Federation was one of its aims and this was a threat to national security. Photo by languagesoup.blogspot.com False notes When 9 children (aged between 12 and 17) of the Diyarbakir Yenişehir … Continue reading True tales from the outer fringes of planet terror.