Author Archive

Editor's Note:  In cross posting the Asian Human Rights Commission Report on the continued Shia massacres in Pakistan one should acknowledge the efforts of princpled and uncompromising human rights activists like Mureed Bizenjo, Salma Jafar, Laiba Marri (all 3 from Pakistan Blogzine) as well as Naeem Shameem (Al Ufaq) for bringing this issue to [...]

Source: Pakistan Blogzine Related post: This is how a fake champion of human rights backstabs the Baloch cause Let's think about creating a Balochistan in southern part of Pakistan, said Congress republican Louie Gohmert, who completely backed the idea of independant Balochistan. Many people in Pakistan at present are not aware of the fact [...]

"But if the future of parliamentary democracy in Pakistan seems more certain now than at any time in recent history it is because the centre of political gravity has moved down to the provinces and regions, and at the local level it is the Pakistan People’s Party that has a strong base" Thus writes Haris Gazdar for the Economic and Political [...]

Multiple attacks have been reported on 5 February 2012 on the Eid Milad-un-Nabi (12 Rabi-ul-Awal) processions in various cities in Pakistan including Mansehra, Gujranwala, Gojar Khan, Mirpur, Khairpur and Karachi. Eid Milad-un-Nabi (birthday of the Prophet Muhammad pbub) is celebrated all over the world not only by Sunnis, Shias and Ahmadis but [...]

Dear Muslim brothers and sisters  (This message is not intended for liberal fascist Rafzi-Sabai-Qadiani-Baloch RAW-ians) I want to share with you my continued education. I have now come to accept that in order for Pakistanto be Islamic Welfare State as envisioned by Hazrat Imran Khan, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Sunni Tehrik and other Patriotic [...]

DAWN’s continual slide is best encapsulated in some of the editorial and opinion pieces today.  For instance, Huma Yusuf’s “Sectarian Scourge” is a typical example of the intellectual dishonesty, lazy research and deliberate obfuscation that is prevalent amongst much of Pakisan’s media.  Much of what she has written has been [...]

Source: Pakistan Blogzine Related: Articles on killing of Shia doctors in Pakistan کالعدم ملک دشمن جماعت سپاہ صحابہ کے فرقہ پرست دہشتگردوں کی فائرنگ کے نتیجے میں ڈاکٹر جعفر محسن شہید ہوگئے۔ ساٹھ سالہ ڈاکٹر محسن کوکراچی میں [...]

Editor's note: LUBP urgently requests its readers to highlight the precarious situation of Ahmadi Muslims in the garrison city of Rawalpindi (Punjab). The bigotry that is consuming our society and placing Ahmadis, Christains and Shias in the firing line of Jihadis is a DIRECT result of the military establishment's support for radical militant [...]

Source: Express Tribune, January 22, 2012 KARACHI: It had been a long wait: 22 days. On the last day, Batool* waited all night for her husband to come home. She had cooked and kept aside change to pay the taxi driver when he arrived. In the living room of Dr Masood Naqvi’s* house in Quetta, women were reciting verses of the Quran and [...]

The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC) has directed Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to appear before it on Thursday to explain why contempt of court proceedings should not be initiated against him. The contempt charges emanate from Gilani not carrying out the court’s 2009 orders in the National Reconciliation Ordinance 2007 (NRO) case. The NRO, [...]

By Shahzeb Jillani BBC News Journalists are increasingly facing death threats in reporting the conflict in Pakistan's war-torn tribal areas. For years, Mukarram Khan performed that frontline role, covering the lawless north-west for radio and TV. Colleagues said he had received threats from the militants, who accused him of projecting [...]

The Pakistan army as an institution is a curious creature. A self-absorbed bulky white elephant, it can suddenly transform into becoming a raging bull in a china shop every time it feels the vast political and economic space it needs to move around in is being shrunken with the help of fences and boundary walls. Though it has lost almost all [...]

Shia Muslims continue to pay the price for Pakistan army's policy of Strategic Depth While Pakistan's pro-military establishment media initially tried to misrepresent (by attributing it to an electric transformer blast) the latest terrorist attack on the Shia Muslims in Khanpur (Punjab) commemorating the Chehlum of Imam Hussain (the Holy [...]

In the following interview, Pakistani-Canadian journalist, Tahir Aslam Gora conducts a candid interview with another Pakistani-Canadian, Tarek Fatah.  The latter needs no introduction and has provided LUBP with a candid interview as well.  Author of "Chasing A Mirage: The Tragic Illusion of an Islamic State" and the "Jew is not my Enemy". In [...]

Related post: Shamsul Anwar’s fraudulent story has a few lessons for us Waiting to receive pieces of daughter’s dead body by Shakeel Anjum Source: The News, 10 January 2011 She was bitterly crying on phone begging for her life in the captivity, as she had seen her 16-year-old brother on a CD being slaughtered by kidnappers and [...]

Source: Pakistan Blogzine A Shia Muslim scholar Allama Jawad Naqvi exposes the Saudi-ISI plan to revive a repackaged version of General Zia-ul-Haq Group (Religio-political fascists) in Pakistan In this post, we present a thought provoking analysis by a Shia scholar on the re-emergence of Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) with the [...]

Dear all, Please unite urgently against this petition http://www.change.org/petitions/petition-resume-drone-attacks-on-taliban-al-qaeda-and-sipah-e-sahaba. This is a blasphemy to the sacred memory of Al Qaeda and TTP Shaheeds like Hazrat Baitullah and Hazrat Abu al-Yazid. After the brave efforts of Hazrat Imran Khan against the liberal [...]

There are many points of merit in Mr. Najam Sethi's editorial for The Friday Times (TFT, 6-12 Jan 2012). While there are some crucial omissions, one must give Mr. Sethi credit for stating a few bold things. The problem is Mr. Sethi himself fails on many of these counts. In the last year, he has: 1. Stated the following in his September [...]

The following tweet by a Pakistan's leading lawyer and rights champion provides the basis for understanding the dynamics of Pakistan and how the PPP has been and is at the wrong end of this trifecta.  @Asma_Jahangir: Pakistan kaa masala kia --- jeem jeem aur jeem (3rd January, 2012) The murder of PPP Governor Salman Taseer came as a surprise [...]

The armed struggle in Balochistan is between the haves and have-nots of Pakistan. On one hand are the Baloch tribesmen who belong to the most impoverished parts of Pakistan and on the other hand are the Pakistan’s armed forces that come from the most developed parts of Pakistan. The contrast between the Baloch tribesmen and the armed forces [...]

Memogate: Asma Jahangir ki nazar mein (Interview by Matiullah Jan, Dawn News) Leading Pakistani lawyer Asma Jahangir today quit as counsel for former envoy to the US, Husain Haqqani, in legal proceedings related to the memo scandal, saying she had "no confidence" in the commission formed by the Supreme Court to probe the matter. Jahangir, [...]

Sectarian cleansing By Ali Dayan Hasan December 31, 2011 On Oct 4, gunmen stopped a bus carrying mostly Hazara Shia who were headed to work on the outskirts of Quetta. The attackers forced the passengers off the bus, made them stand in a row and opened fire, killing 13 and wounding six. On Sept 19, gunmen forced about 40 Hazara pilgrims [...]

Partial Law is a part of Arshad Bhatti's forthcoming album that blends folk and faith under the banner of 'Alternate Beats: voices of passion & protest'. The present song asks the judiciary to refrain from lopsided and partial (in)justice against the elected parliament and let democracy breathe. http://youtu.be/icEH6BXydFc

Related post: Kayani and Iftikhar Chaudhry agree on Judicial Martial Law in January 2012 "It is indeed the darkest day in the history of Supreme Court of Pakistan, not because it is the worst decision ever (we have seen many such worst decision in our checkered history), but because it was given by the “judges” who owe their existence not [...]

To GHQ: Shame on you GHQ. In the name of 'National Interest' you have always acted as an imperialist force. Right from the day of partition your vultures are devouring our resources. The Bengalis resisted your colonialism and in return your forces cut them down ruthlessly. The brave people of Baluchistan have been rightly trying to [...]

Real issue: regime change There should be no room for confusion. Nor should we put blinders on our eyes. The Memo (with a capital M) has not endangered our nukes or lowered army morale. This last is really absurd. If army morale is to be lowered by a forgotten piece of paper, no matter what was inscribed on it, we are in more danger than we [...]

31 December 2011 is an important date in Pakistan’s judicial history. Not that a case is likely to be heard or that the government is going to be taken to task or the general public is going to be given relief, but a tender is likely to open for the repair of a 1953 vintage Woleseley car owned by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. According [...]

Reply of Army chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani Supreme Court of Pakistan (Original jurisdiction) In CP 78/2011 Muhammad Tariq Asad, Advocate Supreme Court Versus Federation Pakistan etc Reply on behalf of Respondent (General Ashfaq Parvez Kayai, COAS) in Compliance with Orders dated 1/12/2011 passed by the Honorable Court Respectfully [...]

Related post: An open letter to Prof Saleem Ali – by Mustafa This article offers a rebuttal to Professor Saleem Ali's article in Express Tribune (later retracted but republished on his personal blog with some edits) in which he ridiculed and insulted Shia Muslims and their Ashura rituals. Shia rituals which were so shamelessly detested by [...]

By Zia Khan ISLAMABAD: Mum’s the word as far as the government and the military’s media wing are concerned regarding Mansoor Ijaz’s latest allegations. The mood in the National Assembly session on Thursday, however, was anything but when a female parliamentarian demanded that Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt General Ahmed [...]

Related post: In defence of Shia rituals on Ashura – by Fawad Manzoor To a not-so-victim, from a real victim! Mr. Saleem Ali, I read your articles and followed your twitter timeline in an attempt to understand your argument in this whole episode of you first writing a childish article and then scurrying for clarifications after having [...]

Related Post: Najam Sethi parrots Deep State’s lies by equating Pashtuns with Taliban – by Salma Jafar A manufactured perspective about the Pakistani media is that the sauve English speaking types are somehow more objective in their reporting and liberal in their outlook. It is also derived from this basic false assumption that the English [...]

In Pakistan economic progress does not automatically translate into liberal progressive modernity mainly due to the nature of the state. Pakistan's modernity is structured along two axes: neo-liberal nationalism and right-wing radical nationalism. While the neo-liberal nationalism axis depicts an authoritarian and top-down model of economic and [...]

Change Afghanistan can believe in 10 years later, life isn't just better -- it's much better. BY CHARLES KENNY After 10 years of war and reconstruction, and as tens of thousands of international troops and aid workers in Afghanistan gear up to spend yet another holiday season a long way from the comforts of home, a lot of people are [...]

Sectarian bloodshed, in Afghanistan and Egypt, is a tool to thwart democracy and diplomacy Lahore, Pakistan From a distance, the devastating attacks on Shia Muslims in three Afghan cities this week looked like the type of sectarian religious attacks which we got used to in Iraq. The faultline between Sunni and Shia is one of the greatest [...]

One might have thought a new low for Pakistan’s reputation would have been a little difficult to achieve given the attention it gets on a daily basis for ‘strategic depth’-led support for criminal and extremist elements within and without the country, corruption, misgovernance, poverty, honour killings, state terrorism in Balochistan, energy [...]

By Josh Rogin President Barack Obama's administration has sided with Bahrain's ruling regime over its domestic protest movement more clearly than in any other country affected by the Arab Spring. But that position is unwise and unsustainable, according to one of Bahrain's leading human rights activists, who visited Washington last [...]

My life with the Taliban By Abdul Salam Zaeef Translated from Pashto and edited by Alex Strick van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn Hurst/Columbia University Press; Pp 331 In his foreword to Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef’s book, Professor Barnett Rubin of New York University sets the stage for the launch, ostensibly, of a refreshingly authentic work [...]

A number of well coordinated attacks clearly targeting Shia Muslims in Kabul, Mazar-e-Sharif and Kandahar have killed at least 58 Shias in Afghanistan. A Pakistani anti-Shia group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has accepted the responsibility of the attacks. (Source) A spokesman for an Pakistani extremist group called Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al Almi claimed [...]