Mir Jamilur Rahman Pakistan is facing various kinds of armed conflicts presently. With the Taliban and Al Qaeda using suicide bombers to achieve their goals in this region, our armed forces along with NATO forces are busy in clearing out militants and terrorists. However, today we won’t talk about terrorism acts carried out by militant organisation. Rather, we will discuss the individual acts of killing which are on the increase. Only a psychoanalyst can explain this phenomenon that why murders are on the rise, but one thing is certain: Pakistanis, perhaps due to remaining under pressure for such a long … Continue reading Violent Pakistan

Dr Maleeha Lodhi The writer is a former envoy to the US and the UK, and a former editor of The News. Politics and political life are being transformed across the world by the dynamics of the digital era. The broadcast media’s reach and direct action by citizens and civil society using the media and communication technology are changing the nature of political engagement. This is encroaching upon the traditional sphere of political parties, which are no longer the only determinant of the political game. Pakistan is no exception to this global trend. The rapid advance of the broadcast media … Continue reading Who sets the political agenda in Pakistan?

Rakesh Mani It’s one of the most remarkable campaigns the subcontinent has seen: a joint peace initiative run by the Times of India, India’s most powerful media empire, and the Jang group, Pakistan’s most influential media group. Their joint ‘Aman ki Asha’ (Hope for Peace) initiative looks to develop a stronger Track II channel in the diplomatic and cultural relations between India and Pakistan. The Urdu language Jang newspaper’s involvement is relevant, and crucial, although the Jang Group’s English language The News is also involved. However, it is probably the vernacular Jang reader who needs to be made more open … Continue reading The stars are aligned

Mosharraf Zaidi Since 2003 there have been 2,947 Pakistani soldiers that have embraced shahadat fighting the menace of terrorism. I do not know and cannot recall, offhand, the name of a single one of those 2,947 Pakistani heroes. One name that I do know, and will be able to recall for a long time to come is David James Hartman. David James Hartman was twenty-seven years old. His son Mikey is only a year old. His wife Cherise is pregnant with their second child. The Hartmans first met at Kadena High School at the US Air Force Base in Okinawa, … Continue reading DJ Hartman & 2,947 Pakistanis

Marvi Sirmed A section of the media is putting the credibility of the entire media at risk by siding blindly with the political interests of one political party. Chasing small-term superficial benefits and satisfying the fragile egos of a few anchorpersons is going to curtail the freedom of the media at the hands of the media itself There is a judicial crisis, the media says. This claim seems to be correct if one realises the level of urgency the Supreme Court showed in responding to a presidential notification. This notification was nothing bigger than the elevation of the senior-most judge … Continue reading Let reason prevail or else?

Carlos Fuentes In Yucatán, you never see the water. It flows underground, beneath a fragile sheath of earth and limestone. Occasionally, that delicate Yucatec skin blossoms in eyes of water, in liquid ponds — the cenotes — that attest to the existence of a mysterious subterranean current. For me, love is like those hidden rivers and unexpected streams of Yucatán. On occasion our lives come to resemble those infinite chasms that would be fathomless if we did not find, at the very bottom of the void, a flowing river, at times placid and navigable, wide or narrow, at times steep, … Continue reading Love and evil?

Syed Mohammad Ali Pakistan has failed to give disaster risk management national priority, with almost no separate budget line and allocations in the sector. Disaster risk management-related departments are said to be surviving on donations from the international community Despite being prone to a variety of natural and man-made threats, our decision makers have traditionally chosen to contend with these threats only after disasters have occurred. Subsequent to the October 2005 earthquake, which badly hit the northern areas of the country, it was, however, realised that disaster is not always best dealt with in a reactive manner, and that developing … Continue reading Contending with inevitable disasters

Ishtiaq Ahmed When Field Marshal Ayub Khan introduced the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance, he was assailed by all the reactionary ulema because it regulated polygamy, introduced a minimum age for marriage and gave a share in property to grandchildren from their grandfather’s property even when their own father had passed away My recent op-ed, ‘The French burqa ban’ (Daily Times, February 2, 2010), has elicited spirited responses in the Pakistani English-language newspapers. That is a sign of healthy exchange of views. As always the liberal-left defence of reactionary practices is the most hypocritical because it derives from not some deeply … Continue reading Burqa championwalas

The beautiful ‘assassin’: ‘Hit squad with British passports accused of executing senior Hamas leader By Mail Foreign Service Claims that British and Irish passport holders are among an alleged 11-man hit squad wanted in Dubai for the apparent assassination of a Hamas commander are tonight being investigated by London and Dublin. Dubai police say the main suspect is Peter Elvinger, 49, who holds a French passport. He was the gang’s logistical co-ordinator and the one who booked room 237 in Al Bustan Rotana, down the corridor from the victim’s room – 230. The other suspects were identified as Irish nationals … Continue reading Dubai hit squad with British passports – here are their pictures!

Alton Towers theme park has been forced to ban a daredevil squirrel from one of its rides as its antics pose a health and safety risk. Telegraph The squirrel is now banned from riding on the Sonic Spinball ride at Alton Towers theme park Photo: PA The rodent was said to be causing headaches for operators at Alton Towers by getting in the way of improvement work on an attraction at the resort. Workers noticed it riding the revamped Sonic Spinball roller coaster as it was tested in the mornings and joining visitors who were offered an early go on … Continue reading Extremist Squirrel banned from riding rollercoaster at Alton Towers