‘Featured’ Archives

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 [...]

Related posts: LUBP Archive on Nadeem Afzal Gondal Chan A few months ago, I wrote a post on the distinction between Pakistan's lifestyle liberals and political liberals. Of late, I have been asked by some friends on Twitter and also via email to provide some examples of Pakistan's political liberals. Here is one such example: Pakistan MP Afzal [...]

On 31 December 2011, as the rest of the world was anxiously awaiting the midnight bell to toll, to celebrate with magnificent multi-million dollar elaborately orchestrated fireworks and other musical and cultural programs manifesting peace, harmony, and tranquility, the people of Karachi especially the Shia Muslim inhabitants of the metropolis, [...]

We condemn the Pakistan army-backed Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and his tribe in the Supreme Court on their ongoing attacks on the elected government and its various ministers and officials. Supreme Court is currently hearing a reference filed by President Asif Zardari under Article 186 (advisory jurisdiction of Supreme Court) of the [...]

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 [...]

Bhuttoism is an ideology, which surges like blood in our bodies. The slogans of “Jeay Bhutto” send frissons to the enemies of democracy. Nevertheless, when one unfastens the brutal myth of the far-fetched Bhutto heroism; one ends up kaput, with a derelict empathy. It gets implausible to count the tears, when one emerges to unwrap the very [...]

  update: There has been alterations and additions made to accommodate few other articles on the same issue The Supreme Court has stated that under the Article 184-3, they have jurisdiction to hear the petition on alleged memo, because fundamental rights are directly involved. The three fundamental rights that are directly at issue [...]

“If you wish to be a ghazi, Take up your sword : Before killing the Kafir, You must slaughter the swindler.”Those were the times of turmoil and religious intolerance in Punjab when Bulleh shah emerged as a major voice against orthodoxy. A voice against the rigid and hardliner policies and views of Aurangzeb and Sheikh Ahmad Sirhandi who [...]

The ongoing conflict in Pakistan's largest in terms of area but smallest in terms of population province of Balochistan is often called Pakistan's "dirty war". In the following Al Jazeera documentary ethnic Baloch politicians and leaders share their vision of self-determination and freedom from Pakistan's military establishment's rule. The [...]

There is nothing unusual about pain; there is nothing different about fear. But courage to overcome fear and pain defines it uniquely for us. Today is a day marked by 26 bullets that ripped the life out the most powerful person from Punjab who dared, and I say that again, who dared to stand for a helpless Christian woman sentenced to death under [...]

Do you know about the 'haka' or 'hanka' technique used in colonial India to hunt tigers? That's exactly how the Punjab Governor and PPP's central leader Salmaan Taseer was killed by the right wing and (fake) liberal proxies and affiliates of Pakistan army. For starters, the right-wing left-wing binary does not apply to the context of Pakistani [...]

According to news reports, extremist Deobandi-Wahhabi affiliates of Jamaat-e-Islami’s student wing Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT) on Thursday 22 December 2011 attacked Shia students of the Punjab University with bamboo sticks and stones and opened the indiscriminate firing to sabotage a program of Youm-e-Hussain (as) to mark the sacrifice of [...]

Related posts: LUBP archive on Adil Gilani LUBP archive on Transparency International Pakistan LUBP archive on corrupt generals Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) has included the military for the first time in a survey that shows the defence being amongst the least corrupt while police and land administration departments were the most [...]

Although confession is not a tradition in Pakistan but since restoration of judiciary few very prominent and impartial leaders of the lawyers’ movement have openly criticized the same judiciary which got freedom because of their sincere efforts. Some journalists and politicians were raising questions about the independence of judiciary even [...]

Editor Note : President Asif Ali Zardari, while speaking to the people at Garhi Khuda Bux,  informed the nation that 80 percent of his party’s manifesto had been implemented. It is important to mention here PPP 2008 election manifesto was formed in the light of Charter of Democracy . In COD  PPP and PML N made a commitment to merge FATA [...]

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, [...]

Adding to the miseries of Hazara Shias, who are already living under the severe kind of persecution and violence in Pakistani provincial capital Quetta at the hands of radical Shia haters i.e. likes of Malik Ishaq who had been released earlier this year as a result of so called peace deal between Pakistani security establishment and the banned [...]

Related post: The mysterious connection between Malik Riaz of Bahria Town and jihadi terrorists: A call from Hunza We express our deepest displeasure on the federal government's decision to reward the pro-Taliban, pro-Sipah-e-Sahaba religious extremists of Islamabad's Lal Masjid (Red Mosque). According to news reports, Interior Minister Rehman [...]

Related post: Why Imran Khan should be worried about PTI’s Vice President Shahid Qazi’s resignation According to his fans, Imran Khan is Pakistan's cleanest politician and the only hope of many (particularly for the newly discovered PTI lota group). However, many of his critics see him as the military establishment's pawn who will save [...]

Related posts: HRW is concerned about the fear of judicial over-reach in Pakistan: Interview with Ali Dayan Hasan AHRC appeal: DG ISI Gen Shuja Pasha must be prosecuted for hatching conspiracy against democracy Critical readers of Pakistan's politics are aware that it is not only Pakistani generals but also their loyalists in judiciary and [...]

Kab ho gi paida phir aik aur Benazir: A Tribute to Shaheed Benazir Bhutto (1953 - 2007) Note: I wrote the following tribute last year in memory of Benazir Bhutto. I am posting it again this year for my new friends and for countless admirers of BB to mark the 4th Anniversay of her martyrdom. This time, in both Urdu and Roman script and with [...]

Friday 30th December, 2011 will be remembered as one of the blackest days in Pakistan's political history and also the blackest day of judiciary when the army-backed Supreme Court declared Nawaz Sharif's petition on the memo controversy maintainable and constituted a three-member commission to probe into a case carefully crafted by the [...]

December 27, 2007 – the day, when the entire Pakistani population was left orphan and in obscurity, the journey of Shaheed Mohtarmah Benazir Bhutto’s perpetuity began. She was not buried under mud – she was laid in a divan of roses. The slogans of “Zinda Hai Bibi, Zinda Hai” engaged the ambiance – ostensibly sending frissons to the [...]

I had been a staunch supporter of the CJ during the lawyers’ and civil society’s movement. I even designed a flag for a Pakistan Justice Party and that flag was on my house for almost a year. I supported them because they stood against a dictator. Asma Jehangeer was then in the streets, too, for the restoration of the judiciary. But when [...]

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 [...]

Editor's Note: We are pleased to cross post Ali Aftab's article from Pakistan Today.  The writer makes an important observation when he highlights how an "analyst" pointed out the tensions within the Lota-Enhanced PTI that have already emerged; tensions between the Multan heavyweights like Shah Mahmood Qureishi and Makhdoom Javed Hashmi.  The [...]

US researchers claim that Gay marriage 'improves health'. A research published in "American journal of Public health" Research shows "There was a reduction in blood pressure problems, depression and "adjustment disorders", which the authors claimed could be the result of reduced stress." There is a known link between health and happiness. [...]

Jinnah gave expression to his vision of Pakistan in an address to the Constituent Assembly, delivered on August 11, 1947. He spoke of an inclusive and impartial government, religious freedom, rule of law and equality for all. He also seemed to advocate the separation of religion and state. August 11, 1947 address of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali [...]

“I know death comes. I’ve seen too much death, young death”. Benazir Bhutto is no less than an idol of worship to me – the name engraved on my compassion and psyche from my evolution and the very rationale of my continuation. Nevertheless, it is by no means an idyllic claim. Penning her name is agonizing, for her life and her struggle [...]

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 [...]

While Watching different News Channels I was Wondering that what is that fact that has made Asif Ali Zardari to be one of the Most Criticized Person In Pakistan I was Wondering the Fact that why He is being Criticized though he was Called MARD-E-HURR by his Opponents. I was Wondering the Fact that He Belongs to Pakistan a Tribal Head of the [...]

It was one of the largest shows of political strength in Pakistan's political history after Benazir Bhutto's arrival from exile in September 2007 (when about a million PPP workers and supporters had gathered to receive their leader at Karachi airport). On Benazir's fourth death anniversary (27 December 2011), more than 300,000 PPP supporters [...]

Have heard from ancestors that: once who bereaves, never comes back! But there are some meritorious people who pass away just in the eyes of world but leave behind a never-ending life – The martyr of democracy “Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto” is one of them. She’s the one greatly admired lady who had really made history by her innumerable [...]

The aura of her was something most frightful for the mindset that had evolved over the later period of her lifetime – an unshapely blend of religious intolerance, jingoism, counterfeit cultural assimilation and hegemonic masculinity. She was abhorred, loathed and scorned like anything just as she was adored, esteemed and revered like a goddess. [...]

President Asif Ali Zardari's return to Pakistan from Dubai, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani's comments on the floor of national assembly and the conclusions & recommendations by the PPP core committee reveal Pakistan Peoples Party resolve to take on undemocratic forces that are out to topple civil elelected government. Implicit in the [...]

PTI's massive show of support, or 'Inquilaabi Tsunami' as Imran Khan would like to term, in Pakistan's political powerhouse yesterday, reinforced much of what his October 30th Jalsa in the country's cultural capital had proved. The cracks that have been struck by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in the urban votebanks of other parties at Lahore, [...]

ISLAMABAD - In one of Pakistan’s poorest neighborhoods Christmas lights are going up while artists paint holiday scenes on concrete walls. The decorations do little to mask the trash and sewage that litter the ground. “Life is tough here,” complains Stefan, a 30-year old Christian from one of Islamabad’s largest Christian slums. As [...]

There are some clear signs that Pakistan's military establishment and its allies (commonly known as Teen Jeem (3 Js), i.e., "Jenerals" and their loyalist judges and journalists) have decided to derail the fragile democratic set up in Pakistan. According to informed sources, a senior army officer held an important meeting with an influential [...]