Ulema and terrorism By Muhammad Ali Siddiqi dawn.com Some ulema suggest the government’s ‘pro-America’ foreign policy justifies the militants’ war against it. — Photo by AFP National US, Pakistan need each other, says Haqqani US, Pakistan need each other, says Haqqani The proceedings at the Deobandi ulema’s recent conference in Lahore must be studied less for its expected refusal to condemn suicide bombings and more for the insight it gives into the psyche of a large section of our powerful ulema community. Of equal significance are the fissures that came to the fore between hardliners and harder-liners. Evidently, the latter … Continue reading Ulema and terrorism – one and the same?

dawn.com Arrested Pakistani civil engineer Faiz Mohammad stands behind bars at a police station in Karachi early May 10, 2010. – AFP KARACHI: A Pakistani man arrested at Karachi airport with batteries and electrical circuits in his shoes was likely wearing “therapy shoes” and his detention could be a false alarm, officials said on Monday. The man, identified as Faiz Mohammad, 30, was about to board a Thai Airways flight to Muscat late on Sunday when the devices were found during a routine security check. He was not carrying any explosives nor were any other suspicious items found on him … Continue reading Man held at Karachi airport with “therapy shoes”

COMMENT: Tinkering with the military system —Shahzad Chaudhry The chiefs of the three services in Pakistan end up being both, the commander-in-chief and the chief of staff, defeating the underlying intent and the principle of division of control and power I have held back this column for a long time now simply because when you have two friends heading the two four-star positions in the army, a chairman joint chiefs of staff committee (CJCSC) and the chief of army staff (COAS), any inference when discussing the military system is bound to impinge on their incumbent positions and their persons. But … Continue reading Tinkering with the military system

COMMENT: The attempted Times Square bombing —Dr Syed Mansoor Hussain The problem with many Pakistani-Americans is that they still have not been able to decide whether they are Pakistanis living in the US or are they Americans who came from Pakistan. Clearly they are both, but the question is: which part of their identity is more important to them? The Pakistani-American Muslim community is in a state of extreme bother about Faisal Shahzad, the alleged Times Square bomber wannabe. The community that I speak of is the one that consists of reasonably successful professionals. Almost all members of this community … Continue reading The Pakistani-Americans and Faisal Shahzad

VIEW: Faisal Shahzad’s radicalisation —Yasser Latif Hamdani The Islamic organisations on American campuses are even more hardcore than what we have heard of the cancer of IJT, which is plaguing Pakistani campuses Faisal Shahzad’s arrest has brought renewed focus on our already much maligned country. Commentators with only a rudimentary knowledge of Pakistan and its history have been speculating that perhaps Pakistan’s status as a nation founded on Islam is the root cause, conveniently forgetting that Pakistan was never founded on any Pan-Islamic ideals or theocratic millennialism (as in the case of Israel) but was a result of a breakdown … Continue reading Faisal Shahzad’s radicalisation was in the US

Muslim soldiers’ graves desecrated in France (AFP) PARIS — Vandals have desecrated the graves of seven Muslim soldiers who died fighting for France in World War II, the defence minister announced, expressing “deep indignation.” “I wish to express my deep indignation at this ignoble and cowardly act,” Herve Morin said in a statement Thursday after the tombstones were toppled at a military cemetery in the southern city of Tarascon. “I bow before the memory of these soldiers with more emotion now that the ultimate outrage appears to have targeted them for their religious beliefs,” he said. Morin said the soldiers … Continue reading Muslim soldiers’ graves desecrated in France

The language divide at the heart of a split that is tearing Belgium apart Belgium doesn’t exist, only Flanders and Wallonia as Dutch and French communites live apart. By Ian Traynor in Brussels Ian Traynor, Brussels The Observer A member of the Belgian Flemish far right party Vlaams Belang displays a badge reading “Division of Belgium” in the Belgian Parliament in Brussels April 22, 2010. Photograph: Yves Herman/REUTERS Twenty minutes north of Brussels, in Belgium‘s medieval royal seat of Mechelen, there’s a science playground, just the place for the kids on a boring, wet Sunday afternoon. Technopolis is stuffed with … Continue reading Belgium an artificial country should be split into two