Violence once more Dawn Editorial Enraged by expulsions on disciplinary grounds, students beat up a senior faculty member, leaving him bloodied and unconscious. –File Photo Matriculation exams postponed in Karachi The Punjab University became a virtual battleground on Thursday when dozens of activists allegedly belonging to the Islami Jamiat Tulaba, which is also suspected of having a hand in student violence in Peshawar recently, went berserk on campus. Enraged by expulsions on disciplinary grounds, they beat up a senior faculty member, leaving him bloodied and unconscious. They also ransacked the vice-chancellor’s office and residence. Such aggression against a teacher has … Continue reading Will Pakistani students resort to violence to get rid of Mullahism?

Now stand and deliver By Irfan Husain Nawaz Sharif has been given a very easy ride by the media, but after his attempt to derail the constitutional package, he came under scrutiny for the first time. –File Photo I wonder if Nawaz Sharif has ever considered a career as a captain of a submarine: the cold, ruthless manner in which he torpedoed the constitutional reforms package last week showed that he has a great future behind a periscope. However, his shifty manner and his party’s guilt-stricken expressions after the event appeared to show the realisation that rather than an enemy … Continue reading Why is Nawaz Sharif being given an easy ride by the media?

Couldn’t she just find a nice Indian boy? Posted by Amber Rahim Shamsi Now the Shiv Sena has a problem with Indian tennilebrity Sania Mirza marrying Pakistan’s cricket captain Shoaib Malik. To quote the right-wing Hindu party’s octogenarian chief Bal Thackeray: “Had [Sania’s] heart been Indian, it wouldn’t have beaten for a Pakistani. If she wished to play for India, she should have chosen an Indian life partner.” No surprises there. It kind of reminds me of a comedy sketch in BBC’s Brit-Asian show Goodness Gracious Me. An Indian boy decides to come out of the sandooqcha with his British … Continue reading Love is not limited to borders…

iPads on their way By Martin J Young HUA HIN, Thailand – Apple and its iPad tablet are at the center of a storm of hype this week in the run up to the April 3 launch of the company’s latest gadget. Watching on with pleasure, even if they have no plans to buy the iPad, are Apple’s shareholders who saw the stock reach a new high of US$233.87 on Monday, up 15% since the product was introduced in January. Analysts have been scrambling to predict a sales figure, as they did with the launch of the now iconic iPhone … Continue reading FREE iPads ?

Ilyas Kashmiri strategy behind Dagestan blasts By Syed Saleem Shahzad ISLAMABAD – Twin blasts in Russia’s volatile North Caucasus region of Dagestan on Wednesday, following the double explosions in the Moscow Metro on Monday, mark a refinement of guerrilla warfare first seen in Afghanistan after 2006. At that time, al-Qaeda gathered the best guerrilla fighters of local and foreign origin under the umbrella of Lashkar al-Zil (Shadow Army) and carried out a string of operations that included the Serena Hotel attack in Kabul in 2008 and the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai, India. The Dagestan blasts, like the Moscow suicide … Continue reading Ilyas Kashmiri behind Dagestan blasts?

China joins imperialists in Guinea  pressure play By John Helmer MOSCOW – China has joined an English peer, a George W Bush administration retiree, and a special Kremlin envoy in attempts to persuade or pressure the Guinean government into halting court proceedings, and checks for fraud and tax evasion, involving international mining companies and restoring concession rights to Guinea’s resource treasures. At stake for China is access for Chinalco, the state-owned metals and mining company, to the Simandou concession, one of the world’s largest unmined reserves of iron-ore. The move by China’s embassy in Conakry, the Guinean capital, on Chinalco’s … Continue reading Why is China in Guinea?

North Korea nuclear talks ‘a lot of hoopla’ By Donald Kirk WASHINGTON – The highest-level North Korean to defect from the regime in Pyongyang responds with impatience bordering on anger when asked what he thinks Dear Leader Kim Jong-il will tell the Chinese or what the Chinese will tell him during Kim’s next journey to Beijing. “We do not need to care anything about his trip,” said Hwang Jang-Yop, once a secretary of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, of which Kim Jong-il is general secretary. “I do not care a bit about what they will say.” Hwang’s remark, in an … Continue reading Kim Jong-il is a Hoopla!

Bombs away in Thailand By Shawn W Crispin BANGKOK – A campaign of terror is underway in Thailand, with both sides to the political conflict pinning blame on the other for a series of grenade attacks that have targeted government offices, military installations and private businesses. Unknown assailants have launched more than a score of explosives attacks this month amid a heavy security force presence in the national capital. While early attacks were seemingly designed to avoid human casualties, more recent blasts have targeted populated areas and seriously injured soldiers and civilians. Some fear the surge in violence signals a … Continue reading Bombs in Thailand – who is responsible?

Night raids belie McChrystal’s new image By Gareth Porter WASHINGTON – has recently acquired the image of a master strategist of the population-sensitive counterinsurgency, reducing civilian casualties from air strikes and insisting that troops avoid firing when civilians might be hit during the recent offensive in Helmand Province. One recent press story even referred to a “McChrystal Doctrine” that focuses on “winning over civilians rather than killing insurgents”. But there is a glaring contradiction between McChrystal’s new counterinsurgency credentials and his actual policy toward the politically explosive issue of night raids on private homes by Special Operations Forces (SOF) units … Continue reading The McChrystal Doctrine?

The alienation of Hamid Karzai By M K Bhadrakumar It must have been the first time in the history of the United States that an incumbent president had to undertake a 26-hour plane journey abroad with repeated mid-air refueling to meet a foreign leader – all for a 30-minute pow-wow. The staggering message that came out of US President Barack Obama’s hurried mission to the presidential palace in Kabul to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai last Sunday afternoon is that his own AfPak diplomats have let him down badly. The US president is left with not a single functionary in … Continue reading Why is Hamid Karzai alienated?