Archive for July, 2014

By Mirza Khurram Shahzad –  When Afshan’s elder sister refused a marriage proposal from Arshad, she wasn’t fully aware of the eventual consequences, even when Arshad started threatening the entire family with physical violence. But on 3rd April 2010, when somebody threw a bucket full of acid from over the boundary wall of their house, […]

By Haseeb Asif – A ‘Revolution’ decades in the making In 1978, a young and ambitious lawyer from an unremarkable family in Jhang, moved to Lahore to work as a lecturer at Punjab University. In 1981, he established the Minhaj-ul-Quran organization. In 1986, he received a PhD in Islamic Law from the university where he […]

By Faisal Raza Khan –  Pakistan has traditionally advocated its foreign policy objectives with the following mission statement, ‘develop friendly relations with all countries of the world, especially major powers and immediate neighbours’. But while the major powers have been duly pandered to, over the years, there has not been much development on the friendly […]

By Rabia Ahmed –  The diversity of ritual It may come as a rude shock to a few people that the followers of other faiths believed in fasting long before Islam made fasting compulsory for Muslims, and they still do.  Ramzan is therefore a good time to widen our horizons; to dispel the image of […]

By Salman Javed –  The plight of the Indus River Dolphins is well known by now due to the efforts of the World Wildlife Fund in Pakistan, less known is the plight of the Asian Black Bear, the Goitered Gazelle, the Markhor, the Sand Cat and the imperiously beautiful Snow Leopard. These are just some […]

1.)    A general view of the Group A football match between Brazil and Croatia  2.)    Argentina’s forward and captain Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring his team’s second goal during the Group F football match between Argentina and Bosnia Hercegovina 3.)    Fans kiss a graffiti depicting Brazil’s footballer Neymar kissing goodbye the ghost […]

By Steve Clemons –  ISIS, Iraq, and the Lessons of Blowback U.S lawmakers encouraged officials in Riyadh to arm Syrian rebels. Now that strategy may have created a monster in the Middle East Thank God for the Saudis and Prince Bandar,” John McCain told CNN’s Candy Crowley in January 2014. “Thank God for the Saudis […]

Negotiations were a fool’s errand It is always with a certain somberness that one should point out being right about forecasting the inevitability of war or conflict, but when delays in action become grievous mistakes that cause further bloodshed and loss of life, it is worthwhile to ponder why, when the writing was on the […]

By Ehsan Mehmood Khan –  A decade in the making Conflict is embedded in the structure of human society. The politically weak and opportunistic structure of the Global South is more prone to conflicts, both interstate and intrastate, whereas the Global North was able to evolve a politico-economic system backed by a vibrant civil society […]

By Lt.-Gen (R) Talat Masood –  Fighting for Pakistan’s future Pakistan’s military has finally launched the long awaited North Waziristan operation. Several factors were responsible for the delay. The civilian government was keen to take all parties on board and develop a consensus. The rightwing conservative parties and Imran Khan’s Tehrik–i-Insaf wanted the government to engage […]