Our sense of risk is amplified by the dread terrorism generates. But the risks of provoking resentment are real too David Spiegelhalter guardian.co.uk The threat of a terrorist attack is now officially “severe”, and as a professor of risk people expect me to know what the chances are that they will get killed in a terrorist attack. Low, I reply. Let’s say that, to be fairly pessimistic, the events of 7 July 2005 were repeated every year: that’s 50 deaths a year, on average a 1-in-a-million chance for each person, about the same as the chance of flipping a coin … Continue reading What’s the real risk from terror?

Let’s fight the church on equality Terry Sanderson guardian.co.uk, Last night’s parliamentary debate on the equality bill was one of the poorest and most ill-informed I have ever heard in the House of Lords. Despite Lord Lester’s eloquent explanation of the bill, and its duty to conform to the European framework directive from which it sprang, there seemed to be a determination among the Christian peers and bishops (of which there was a surfeit) to ignore our obligations to the EU as a member state. Indeed, Lord Tebbit put it most baldly when he said: “We have a choice tonight … Continue reading Christian conservatives have won a victory for discrimination in the Lords. Secularists should make their voices heard

Karl Eikenberry’s leaked cables raise fundamental questions – and do nothing to bolster confidence in US leadership Simon Tisdall guardian.co.uk, It’s just possible that Karl Eikenberry, the US ambassador in Kabul who opposed Barack Obama’s Afghan troop surge, suddenly realised the error of his ways. Perhaps he woke up on 1 December, just as the president was about to unveil his plan for 30,000 US reinforcements, and thought: “Silly me! I’ve been barking up the wrong tree all along! Stan McChrystal is totally right. I take back everything I said.” It’s also possible, and more plausible, that Eikenberry was told … Continue reading The west’s uncertain Afghan steps as solutions to peace stare in face

The ill-founded push to ban the face covering is rooted in a wider crisis of French identity and influence Raphaël Liogier guardian.co.uk, After more than six months straining to convince itself of the immense, nationwide danger of a phenomenon that involves fewer than 0.1% of France’s Muslim population, a parliamentary committee yesterday ­recommended the banning of the full veil in many of France’s public places. There is nothing eccentric about asking why they are getting so bothered. As usual, when France confronts such debates, a panoply of intellectuals, politicians and artists gasp their indignation over an alleged assault on “our … Continue reading France’s attack on the veil and tinted windows is a huge blunder

Dr Maleeha Lodhi The writer is a former envoy to the US and the UK, and a former editor of The News. The meeting earlier this month of the National Command Authority (NCA) was significant for more than one reason. Among the issues it addressed was the strategic asymmetry in South Asia. This has a crucial bearing on Pakistan’s stance in negotiations that have resumed in the United Nations’ 65-member Conference on Disarmament (CD) in Geneva on a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT). The proposed treaty aims at banning the future production of nuclear-bomb-making fissile material. The NCA meeting was … Continue reading FMCT and strategic stability

Rahimullah Yusufzai All who matter in Afghanistan are talking about reconciliation with the Taliban, but on the Afghan government’s terms. Strangely enough, though, the offers of peace talks are being made at a time when 37,000 fresh US and Nato troops are on their way to the country in a desperate attempt to bring the conflict to a military end. This is a turnaround from statements from Western capitals in the past that the Taliban are terrorists and not worthy of being engaged in political talks or reconciliation. President Barack Obama took the lead by emphasising the need for a … Continue reading Could the Taliban reconcile with Kabul?

Elf Habib Religion is no longer the decisive or dominant factor in growing secular and pluralistic global trends. The world through repeated bitter, bloody and marathon religious conflicts has learnt the futility of religious wars Even if it is assumed that the revival of the Caliphate as some supranational institution parallel to the president of the European Union (EU) is possible, its entire edifice would have to be built on an elected representative basis. But most of the present preachers and proponents of the Caliphate cannot even succeed in local council elections. Still, despite the impossibility of reversing the current … Continue reading Shattering the myths of mullah lovers

Syed Mohammad Ali Teachers hardly encourage reading habits in students and lay no foundation at the primary and secondary level for inculcating the habit of reading books. University libraries are largely subjected to neglect A sound education is a basic human right and a crucial asset for overcoming poverty, improving health, and reducing human rights abuses. It is also a prerequisite for full citizenship and participation in democracy and society. Conversely, an illiterate person is less effective in securing survival in the current world, or to provide for one’s family effectively. It has been estimated that every two-percentage point increase … Continue reading Value of reading

Ishtiaq Ahmed Abdul Ghaffar Khan was a man of peace. He approached Islam in the hope of finding a complementary message to Gandhi’s interpretation of Hinduism as Ram Raj and ahimsa (non-violence) and he found it A question that keeps popping up in discussions on violence, terrorism and the Taliban is the following: is the use of force and violence intrinsic to Pakhtun culture? Superficially it seems that it must be so because the Pakhtuns, known as Pathans in the rest of the South Asian subcontinent, have been bearing firearms since a long time. They were producing firearms much before … Continue reading Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Islam and non-violence