By Irfan Husain The dawn Both Pakistan and India have thus invested inordinate amounts of blood, treasure and political capital into Kashmir without a proper cost-benefit analysis. –Photo by AFP All states have core interests, and these generally revolve around security and prosperity. There are often trade-offs between these imperatives as a certain country might assign greater importance to one over another, depending on its threat assessment, as well as the importance its citizens and governing consensus place on their wellbeing. Examples abound, but let’s take two extreme ones: North Korea is militarised to the extent of keeping its people … Continue reading National interest and ideology – time to cut the strings from Mullahs and America?

Malik confirms death of top commanders The Dawn.com Interior Minister Rehman Malik. – (File Photo) ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik confirmed on Saturday that Tehreek-e-Taliban leaders Maulvi Faqir Muhammad, Qari Ziaur Rehman and Fateh Muhammad were killed along with 30 other militants in the Mohmand Agency. The Taliban leaders were killed as helicopter gunship helicopters targeted their hideouts. Speaking to DawnNews, Malik said that other militants that are on the run will be captured and not spared. He added that there were clear indications of Indian involvement in militant activities in NWFP and the tribal areas. The accusation of Indian … Continue reading Top Takfiri Mullahs Dead!

By Anwar Iqbal The Dawn.com Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan’s former ambassador to US, said that America’s ‘explicit recognition’ could be useful “only if stops such propaganda otherwise Pakistan is already a nuclear weapons state, with or without America’s recognition”. — File Photo WASHINGTON: The Obama administration has implicitly accepted Pakistan’s status as a declared nuclear weapons state, countering conspiracy theories that the United States is secretly plotting to seize the country’s nuclear assets, says a US media report. Another media report says that President Barack Obama plans to host talks between Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan … Continue reading US accepts Pakistan as a declared nuclear state

Worldwide research, interviewing key witnesses and discussing the subject with astronauts, military and intelligence specialists, pilots, politicians and scientists, has established Timothy Good as a leading authority on UFOs and the alien presence – the most highly classified subject on Earth. Timothy Good interview He became interested in the subject in 1955, when his passion for aviation and space led him to read a book by Major Donald Keyhoe describing UFO sightings by qualified observers such as military and civilian pilots. In 1961, after reading a book by Captain Edward Ruppelt, a U.S. Air Force intelligence officer, he began to … Continue reading Timothy Good – UFO Authority … … … —

Interpreting tribal leaders of FATA —Farhat Taj Anger against the Pakistan Army and the Taliban is intense and getting more intense with every passing day and so is disappointment with the government of Pakistan I am compiling a list of the tribal leaders of FATA who have been victims of target killings from 2003 onwards. This is still a work in progress and my estimate is that the names in the final list would be well over 1,000. There is a widespread perception in FATA that the intelligence agencies of Pakistan have killed the tribal leaders through their proxies, the … Continue reading Interpreting tribal leaders of FATA

The ravages of youth —by Afrah Jamal What If By K Yousaf BookSurge Publishing; Pp 332 It is the end of the world. Or so it appears to the disaffected, disenchanted and disenfranchised youth caught up in an endless cycle of confusion, tormented by a myriad of real and imaginary problems and terrified by the prospect of rejection. Unfortunately for them, life has plenty of curve balls in store and each generation gets its fair share. Here, we have a fairly typical high school/college/university experience presented in high definition (HD) format — that attempts to explore the dual identities carried … Continue reading The ravages of youth

Flags flying over Bajaur —Salman Tarik Kureshi Since independence, however, Britain’s successor state Pakistan has done nothing to integrate these regions with the rest of the country and extend the benefits (or otherwise) of Pakistani administration, legislation or sovereignty over them Major General Tariq Khan, inspired by the sight of the Pakistan flag being raised over Damadola (Bajaur), claimed that this was probably the first time since Pakistan’s independence in August 1947 that the national flag had flown here. That is right. That is what he said! Okay, so we understood that the murderous traitors of the TTP were not … Continue reading Beginning of Independence from Takfiri Mullahs?