Sahil Saeed kidnap: police reveal details of release British boy kidnapped in Pakistan nearly two weeks ago is found safe and well after release Saeed Shah in Islamabad and Adam Gabbatt guardian.co.uk Akila Naqqash holds a photo of her son, Sahil Saeed, at home in Oldham after learning of his release by kidnappers in Pakistan. Photograph: Dave Thompson/PA The five-year-old British boy kidnapped while on holiday in Pakistan nearly two weeks ago was today found wandering in a field after being released alone at 9am, police said. Sahil Saeed, of Oldham, Greater Manchester, was snatched from a house in the … Continue reading British boy kidnapped in Pakistan is found safe and well – kidnappers may now be shot on sight?

The women and the myths Posted by Shagufta Naaz  We all know the stereotypes, don’t we? Thanks to centuries of literature, cinema, and now Star Plus, a woman’s identity depends on the size of the pigeon-hole she can be slotted into. Thus, she can be beautiful or she can be brainy; rarely both. She can either be the dutiful wife or the gold-digging tramp; the girl-next-door or the sexy siren. If she hails from our part of the world, a woman can be a wife, sister, daughter, or mother. A single woman with no siblings and deceased parents simply doesn’t … Continue reading Time to limit womens rights?

The crazy Right and rump Pakistan By Kamran Shafi Pakistan is at great risk and no one seems to have learnt any lessons at all, writes Kamran Shafi. — Photo by AFP I was to regale you with other stories to do with our security establishment’s tortured and seemingly futile hunt for the very elusive holy grail of strategic depth in Afghanistan (I ask you) this week, but the ever-increasing assault on our poor country and its innocent people by unlettered and brainwashed and murderous yahoos leads me elsewhere. Who saw clips of the unintentional video shot by a shocked bystander … Continue reading Are Pakistani politicians going to grow up about Mullahs?

Cross-border militants strike back By Syed Saleem Shahzad ISLAMABAD – As a lone suicide bomber approached a convoy of security personnel after walking through a crowded market he detonated the bomb strapped to his body. Eleven people were killed and more than 35 injured in the massive blast on Monday in the Nishat Chowk district of Mingora, the capital of Swat in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). Gruesome scenes of bodies being recovered amid billowing black smoke, burning vehicles and shattered buildings are not new to Pakistan; similar – and much bigger – attacks occur regularly. What was significant about … Continue reading In Swat Takfiri Mullahs start to infest again

By Victor Kotsev Relations between the United States and Israeli administrations have been tense for the past year. When US Vice President Joe Biden landed in Israel on Monday, seeking to avert a probable Israeli strike on Iran and to formally restart the peace talks with the Palestinians, he was likely prepared for some difficult moments. His reception, however, caught him off-guard, as it did the entire international community. “A slap in the face” and “humiliation” for him are some of the phrases observers used to describe the plan for the construction of 1,600 new Jewish homes in East Jerusalem … Continue reading Israel puts US on notice – obey or we release the Christian Baptist Fanatics!

By Jing-dong Yuan MONTEREY, California – Beijing’s highly charged, unequivocally strong responses to United States foreign policy actions in recent months have gone beyond past practices of mere rhetoric, setting the scene for more trouble when disputes over trade, currency and the pending Iran sanctions issue are added to the mix. The first sign of a fracture after a smooth and upbeat first year in Sino-United States relations under the Barack Obama administration came at the climate summit in Copenhagen last December, followed by the Google controversy, the spat over cyber-space, the administration’s decision on arms sales to Taiwan, which … Continue reading US, China struggle with mid-life crisis

By Amineh Soghdi KERMAN, Iran – The arrest of Iranian Sunni Islamic militant Abdulmalik Rigi means the end of his Jundallah (Army of God) group, some analysts believe, and has been widely welcomed in the southeastern Sistan and Balochistan province where it operates. Rigi was captured after a Kyrgyz passenger plane in which he was traveling was forced to land in Iran on February 23 by Iranian fighters. Iranian Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi was quoted as saying that Rigi had ties to a number of intelligence services including the United States Central Intelligence Agency. He said Rigi carried a US-issued … Continue reading Abdulmalik Rigi the ‘good-for-nothing bandit’

By Donald Kirk SEOUL – North Korea’s rhetoric is such a familiar noise during United States-South Korean war games that most people don’t pay attention. Nor does anyone outside the US and Korean military establishments seem to care much about the exercises themselves – Key Resolve and Foal Eagle. The real exchange of fire seems to be going on quite separately. That’s a debate among Americans and Koreans over one of the most contentious issues between the US and South Korea, namely the plan to give “operational control” over all military operations to a South Korean commander in the event … Continue reading South Korea reluctant to take command

Aun Mohammad Zaidi We as citizens have forgotten what it means to be people. In a democracy, contrary to popular belief, it is not parliament that is supreme but rather the people who elect them On Friday, Lahore or rather Pakistan got a reminder like none before. The Taliban in all their force showed this country that they can and will strike at will wherever they want and there is nothing the citizens of this country can do about it. The twin suicide blasts in RA Bazaar followed by six smaller explosions in different parts of Lahore, brought the city … Continue reading We all fall down!