Author Archive

This is a very symbolic exchange between Professor Saba Dashtiyari and a woman who was so angered by the contents of the professor's speech that she actually went in front of the stage and ordered him to stop speaking. The professor asked her one very simple question - "Aap sach se kyun darti hain?" A very simple question, but one whose answer [...]

This article was written by an Egyptian journalist Hani Shukrullah in the aftermath of the bombing of a Coptic Church in Alexandria which killed 21 Coptic Christians, but it's equally applicable to the sorry treatment of Pakistan's religious minorities in today's Pakistan Hypocrisy and good intentions will not stop the next massacre. Only a [...]

Naveed Ali has contributed the following rebuttal to Dr. Safdar Mehmood's article "Did Jinnah Aspire to a Secular Pakistan" which you can read here I again strongly condemn the notion used by Dr. Mehmood that these are atheists or anti-religious who talk in favour of secularism (and subsequently suggest that Jinnah was a secular and wanted a [...]

One of the strangest facts of the present day is that if there is one thing that non-PPP voters from Punjab still appreciate about Benazir's second term in office, it is the use of Naseerullah Babar against the MQM. As an example, consider Ayaz Amir's column of today in The News. This is what Ayaz Amir, a PML-N MNA has to say about MQM: The MQM [...]

On Benazir's 3rd Death Anniversary By Shoaib Mir Larrti rahi woh umr bhar Awam ke leay Amn ki woh devi Char subon ki zanjeer Shahadat ko jis pe fakhr Tha zindagi ko naaz Beti woh Zulfikar ki Ghareeb ki shamsheer Ubhra hai issi dard Se umeed ka sooraj Iss khoon se mitt ja’ay Kaash ghurbat ki lakeer Jamhooriat hai [...]

In recent months, as Western despair over the Afghanistan war has increased, there has been a chorus of voices suggesting reconciliation of the Taliban leadership is the only path to end the Afghan war. It is quite natural that those in the West who do not wish to outright say that the war effort in Afghanistan has been a failure, and do not wish [...]

This is a transcription of an interview given by Benazir Bhutto to Vir Sanghvi on a trip to India in 2001. We are publishing this interview because of the remarkably candid statements made by Benazir Bhutto regarding the military's destabilizing role in Afghanistan and in Kargil. Of special note is her admission that Musharraf presented the Kargil [...]

Related posts :- Adezai Qaumi Lashkar by Behzad Taimur Adezai lashkar ends cooperation with the government by Farhat Taj Paying the Price by Manzoor Ali Cross-posted from I Opyne The Lashkar at Adeyzai has thwarted the march of the Taliban towards Peshawar. This tiny village near Peshawar has been a target for the Taliban for a long [...]

Related article: LUBP Exclusive: A critical interview with Nadeem F. Paracha LUBP is pleased to publish an exclusive interview with Kamran Shafi, one of the boldest voices in Pakistani media particularly because of his courage to write against the Dark Lords of Pakistan, 'Those Who Must Not Be Named.'   Mr Shafi is a leading [...]

Please vote in our new poll, submitted by Saad Mansoor (the poll will also be available in our sidebar for the next few weeks) LUBP Poll What should Pakistan do if Khadim ul Harimain Al sharifain Shah Abdullah asks Pakistan to endorse an Arab-American attack on Iran? Attack! The relations with Saudi Arabia are too important [...]

Also read: General Kayani explains his position on WikiLeaks via Haroon-ur-Rashid This is a fascinating report in Dawn about a briefing given by a "top military official" to "editors, anchors, and columnists" on Sunday. The top military official gave these comments on the condition of strict anonymity. This briefing to the main opinion [...]

Today’s US diplomatic cables leak by Wikileaks, called Cablegate has set off a global diplomatic crises with various countries feeling the heat for remarks and allegations in the leaked messages. While none of the 2, 200 emerging from the US Embassy in Islamabad have been released yet, others from around the region have already sparked debate on [...]

Baloch journalist Lala Hameed Baloch, (whose real name was Abdul Hameed Hayatan) was born in 1985, was involved in Baloch nationalist politics, and was a journalist for Daily Karachi and Tawar and played a role in establishing Gwadar press club. Lala Hameed's journalistic and political activities put him on the wrong side of the Pakistani [...]

The greatest factor in promoting and sustaining state-fascism is not any act of violence but simply this – the systematic and studied ignorance maintained by the mainstream intelligentsia on the state's gravest atrocities. In today's world, it doesn't take any kind of effort to be well-informed on any political issue that one can choose. You [...]

The Burmese military authorities have released the pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, from house arrest. Appearing outside her home in Rangoon, Ms Suu Kyi told thousands of jubilant supporters they had to "work in unison" to achieve their goals. The Nobel Peace Prize winner has been detained for 15 of the past 21 years. It is not yet [...]

There have been several reports in recent days of the federal government using its influence to get thousands of acres of coastal land in Balochistan sold to Arab Sheikhs from the UAE. According to the speaker of the Balochistan assembly, Aslam Bhootani: Arab sheikhs who occasionally visit the area for hunting purposes want exclusive control [...]

Cross-posted from his blog It is a fact that most Taliban are Pakhtuns, but to many that fact alone is reason enough to declare them as representatives of Pakhtuns at large. Many theories that have been doing the rounds portray the Taliban as an ethnic rather than an ideological phenomenon. During the heyday of the Swat Taliban, there was a [...]

Cross-posted from his blog It would be an understatement to say that Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto has admirers as passionate as the people who hate them. He divides opinion like no other politician in our country and the marks he left continue to haunt this country, in both good and bad ways. His political legacy is still alive and Zia only immortalized [...]

I had a facebook exchange after the news. A senior journalist in Pakistan had complained that we are suffering in the war on terror and the US is asking us to "do more" without realizing how hard things are. This is a common complaint in Pakistan. I am copying my reply here since I think it is relevant: According to your timeline (if i read it [...]

Cross posted from Mahatma Gandhi information website I am most grateful to the staff of the Centre of South Asian Studies of the School of Oriental and African Studies for doing me the honour of inviting me to deliver the Annual Lecture. Since the lecture is part of the conference on Gandhi's Legacy, I thought it proper to devote it to that [...]

LUBP Poll Who do you think is responsible for suicide bombings in Pakistan? Taliban: told you not to support America RAW and CIA agents (Taliban are innocent) Pakistani Agencies No clue! View Results With thanks to Saad Mansoor for submitting the poll question. If you have a poll that you would like us to [...]

Recently there have been a number of critical views expressed regarding LUBP's editorial policy and alleged intolerance of criticism of the PPP. Nothing could be further from the truth. This blog is dedicated to the principle of freedom of speech and welcomes contributions from all sides of the political spectrum as well as rebuttals of articles [...]

http: //youtu.be/GAy-n-rBfOw Nailing urban legends by Khalid Hasan: Another urban legend that has also refused to die is Bhutto declaring at Karachi in a throwaway line directed at Shaikh Mujibur Rehman, “Udhar tum, idhar hum.” For the tenth time, I make another attempt to nail this one. Bhutto never said those words. If anyone is guilty [...]

LUBP presents a collection of articles and video clips compiled by Aamir Mughal, one of LUBP's most valued readers and researcher on the subject of election rigging in Pakistan. Intense U.S. pressure has forced Musharraf to resign from the army to keep his presidency, and he is soon to lift martial law. Still at issue is how free the [...]

A very brutal video has recently been circulated on the internet. Taken by a cell phone camera it shows soldiers in Pakistan army uniform brutally killing a number of teenaged boys by first shooting them in a firing squad and then shooting the survivors at close range. Please note that this video is very graphic and watch it at your own [...]

This act of madness committed against Mr Umar Cheema should be condemned in the strongest possible words. Difference of Opinion doesn't give permission to commit such acts of barbarity. In my humble opinion Mr. Umar Cheema is an excellent and no non-sense reporter and this is evident from some his stories . ISLAMABAD: Umer Cheema, reporter [...]

Background Pakistan is exposed to a multifaceted hazard situation, a perilous combination of geographical and socio-political factors. Physically it is exposed to vulnerabilities ranging from earthquakes, floods, droughts, cyclones, landslides etc. The physical milieu is entwined with an awful labyrinth of political instability, bursting [...]

This was forwarded to us by our reader Aley Islamabad: Consumer Rights Commission of Pakistan (CRCP) expresses serious concerns on the announced formation of an independent commission to oversee relief and rehabilitation operations in the flood-hit areas. The formation of such a commission is politically motivated and tantamount to disrupt the [...]

In United Kingdom, right leaning newspaper, daily Telegraph ran the news about diversion of aid from Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA). They quoted an anonymous internal source, and the events mentioned were from 2-3 years ago. The local media then jumped on this and have used this as an excuse for people’s distrust [...]

Source allvoices By Arif YousafzaiPESHAWAR August 7, 2010: The banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has warned Muthahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Awami National Party (ANP) to stop hatching conspiracies against the innocent Pakhtoon living in Karachi, who are falling prey to targeting killing in the port city of Karachi. In a radio message [...]

The situation in upper Swat, Swat Kohistan (Bahrain, Mankiyal, Kalam, Utror) is alarming as the people have now run out of food and medicine but the mainstream media in Pakistan takes it granted whosoever tells them that that much ration has been distributed in the area. This behavior is misleading and devastating as looking at that the [...]

Source Khalid Hasan's website The last formal interview given to a journalist by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto took place on 10th August, 1977, just over a month after his overthrow and 33 days before his arrest, imprisonment, trial and execution on 4th April, 1979. The journalist was Inam Aziz, who with Habibur Rehman, had been invited from London to [...]

Asif Zardari’s callous and indifferent attitude to his country’s woes has reached ”Neroic” proportions surpassing even the worst reputation of Yahya Khan during 1971. He appearance in a designer suit and pink tie with David Cameron served to reinforce the image of a hedonist completely unmindful of the misfortunes of a poor and debt-ridden [...]

First published in The News Global warming is causing increasing alarm because the rising global temperatures have the power to alter monsoon rain patterns. The recent floods that engulfed northern Pakistan have, in a way, not just affirmed the threat of weather aberration, but also spelled out its consequences. According to UNICEF, around three [...]

Following David Cameron's statements in New Delhi last week, there were media reports that the DG ISI had cancelled his upcoming trip to the UK. The DG ISI was applauded for his patriotism. Here is just a small sample of media reports of the trip that had been supposedly cancelled due to extreme patriotism and "ghairat" of the DG ISI. [...]

Published in Daily Times “The lowest form of popular culture — lack of information, misinformation, disinformation, and a contempt for the truth or the reality of most people’s lives — has overrun real journalism. Today, ordinary Americans are being stuffed with garbage” — Carl Bernstein, US journalist. Perhaps ordinary [...]

Apart from any kind of Political Difference "Human Life" is sacred! Today it was somebody else tomorrow it could be me. The life is long and completes its circle. Pakistani Intelligentsia should offer a Collective Funeral Prayers on Decency, Mercy, Consciousness and Compassion because not single TV Channel has stop its "Routine Musical [...]

Cross-posted from his blog There have been very few times when I have not found the right words to express my grief, sorrow, anger or passion for something and today is one of those days as today I write for my man, Prem Chand – A Pakistani Hindu, a true patriot, a social worker who spent his life trying to uplift the condition of his fellow [...]

From BBC The BBC's Aleem Maqbool says whole villages have been washed away Over 300 people have been killed in floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains in northern Pakistan, officials say. The Edhi Foundation - a privately run aid agency - says that 291 people have died in the last three days in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. Officials [...]

Published in The Baloch Hal By Alia Amirali When I was asked to do a write-up on ‘Balochistan after Habib Jalib’s assassination’, I found cynicism bubbling up inside of me. Balochistan appears in the media only after death and destruction. Moreover, the loss of life has to be accompanied by violence and destruction for those outside of [...]