Earth sink imperils Zoroaster’s Kaba Tehran Times Culture Desk TEHRAN — Zoroaster’s Kaba is in extreme danger of collapse due to escalating earth sinkage at the ancient site of Naqsh-e Rustam in Fars Province. The measured earth sinkage previously reported by experts was five centimeters, but a new survey shows that this amount has increased over the past few days, the Persian service of the Mehr News Agency reported on Monday. Experts believe that the occurrence may lead to the destruction of Zoroaster’s Kaba, which is located at a distance of five meters from the sinking earth. The mishap could … Continue reading Zoroaster’s Kaba in Naqsh-e Rustam in Fars Province

Fowzia Siddiqui, sister of suspect Aafia Siddiqui, shows photos of Aafia and their parents. (Rizwan Tabassum / AFP/Getty Images / January 19, 2010) RELATED Suspect in plane bomb plot is reportedly cooperating again with authorities Illinois prison could begin housing terror suspects by mid-2011 Concerns grow over Al Qaeda’s group in Yemen By Alex RodriguezFebruary 3, 2010 Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan – Depending on which side of the globe you call home, she’s either Lady Al Qaeda or the incarnation of America’s persecution of Muslims. Aafia Siddiqui, 37, a neuroscientist and mother of three, was once branded by the U.S. as the most wanted … Continue reading Is she a victim of the U.S. or is she ‘Terror Mom’?

Continue reading Another Pussycat for you!

Our licence fees pay for climate denial The BBC spouts rightwing bias while ignoring environmental science. So why not give other conspiracies a platform too? Sunny Hundal guardian.co.uk, After watching last night’s Newsnight, I can only come to one conclusion: the BBC has become this country’s most pernicious climate-change-denying media outlet in the UK. There is simple reasoning behind this grand statement. While the assorted commentators who regularly spout ill-informed propaganda across the media are usually taken with a pinch of salt, the BBC is broadly trusted as an impartial and trustworthy reporter of news. It sets the agenda. Which … Continue reading BBC the High Priest of climate denial!

Mosharraf Zaidi The writer advises governments, donors and NGOs on public policy. “To the victor belong the spoils,” said William Marcy, the US Senator from New York back during President Andrew Jackson’s administration. Pakistanis often tell Americans that their country is but a couple of decades behind Uncle Sam. But President Jackson, who passionately and brilliantly promoted a vulgar kind of patronage system that came to be known as the spoils system, won the 1828 election to become US president. The closest thing that Pakistan has had to a passionate and brilliant advocate of a vulgar kind of patronage was … Continue reading Jacksonian politics in Pakistan

Shamshad Ahmad Sixty-two years down the road after our independence, where do we stand as a nation and as a member of the comity of nations? Are we living in “a democratic and progressive” Pakistan as envisioned by its founder? Can we genuinely claim to be “upholders” of fundamental values of freedom, democracy and human dignity? Have we been able to make Pakistan a bastion of inner strength, political stability, economic self-reliance, social cohesion and national unity that our leaders, over the years, have been show-casing to their people as their destiny? These are painful questions, and answers to these … Continue reading Before it’s too late – Embrace Democracy and progress or Mullahism and the stoneage

RAWALPINDI: Mohammed Zafar Iqbal used to cash in on his beautiful face and graceful moves, dancing bedecked in midnight blue veils and dresses for clients who sought his perceived closeness to God. But like most of Pakistan’s eunuch and transsexual community – mocked, pitied and shunned by society – his life has mostly been marred by hardship and suffering, peaking seven years ago when he was brutally attacked. A jealous admirer, furious at being spurned by a hijra, as eunuchs are know in Pakistan, threw acid in his face. That man, Shabir, was once his best friend. “I loved him … Continue reading Pakistan’s eunuchs face life of begging, prostitution

By Mahir Ali Tony Blair mentioned no regrets. Not the slightest twinge over the several hundred thousand Iraqi deaths in the past seven years. Not a skerrick of remorse over the young British lives at the altar of his nation’s ‘special relationship’ with the US. –Photo by Reuters No, he wasn’t facing the final curtain, but Tony Blair did, after a fashion, state his case, of which he claimed to be certain. Yes, he did it his way (or, to be more precise, George W. Bush’s way); and yes, often enough he bit off more than he could chew, and … Continue reading The words of one who kneels?

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan’s (L) message of peace, which won him a Nobel prize nomination in 1985, is still vital both in the conflicted areas where he spent most of his life, and in the West where it can help explode stereotypes about the Muslim world. –Courtesy Internet KABUL: Badshah Khan was so close to Mahatma Gandhi they shared reading glasses, inspiring jokes about their shared vision, but unlike his friend, the Pashtun champion of non-violent struggle has been almost forgotten by his people. Now Canadian filmmaker Teri McLuhan hopes to drag the man dubbed “Frontier Gandhi”, and his role … Continue reading ‘Frontier Gandhi’ brings Pashtun peace icon to life