Posts Tagged ‘Radical Islam’

I was visiting my home district of Badin for Eid al Adha and used this opportunity to visit flood affected areas of my district. Just to tell readers, Badin is a big district of Sindh blessed with natural resources like Oil and Gas reserves while also housing a number of sugar mills. It has high quality rice, spices and sunflower being produced. [...]

The Mumbai attacks will be linked to Islamabad regardless of who perpetrated them. By Con Coughlin A fresh wave of terrorist attacks are launched at the heart of the Indian city of Mumbai, and immediately the finger of suspicion points towards Pakistan. And this is before Indian counter-terrorism officials have even had a chance to [...]

when Pakistan cries ‘foul,’ everybody just kind of laughs at it and shrugs it off and says, ‘Good job, America.’ ” (Associated Press)"] By Rowan Scarborough The U.S. has compiled a wide body of intelligence on the locations of militant training camps in Pakistan, but has been unable to persuade Islamabad to shut them down, current [...]

Editor's note:  The following article that was originally posted in yesterday's Daily Times is the typically bold and lucid piece written by Dr. Taqi.  Along with Farhat Taj, Dr. Taqi has been the leading light in debunking the racist anti-Pushtun narrative that is hocked by the security establishment and its urban chatterers. Read and [...]

This summer, thousands of people will become new Canadian citizens. Many of them will be Muslims. They have come to Canada from every corner of the globe and, like my parents did 24 years ago, they will make this peaceful, progressive nation their home. My parents left behind Pakistan and chose Canada for the same reasons many other Muslim [...]

As US prepares troop withdrawal, Taliban's strong hold on border regions reveals Pakistan's vulnerability. "] By Mujib Mashal Parachinar, in Pakistan's tribal north west, remains under siege. The only road connecting this district bordering Afghanistan to the rest of Pakistan has been blocked by Taliban fighters since 2007. The blockade [...]

President Obama’s Afghan withdrawal plans include working with Pakistan to “root out the cancer of violent extremism.” Bruce Riedel’s three key steps to do it right. By Bruce Riedel On Wednesday evening, President Obama rightly said we “need to work with the Pakistani government to root out the cancer of violent extremism, and we [...]

The Pakistan army has extended an investigation into officers with links to the Hizb-ul-Tahrir, a spokesman said on Wednesday, in what analysts said was a long overdue move to root out sympathizers of the banned Islamist group. The military, which said on Tuesday it had detained a brigadier -- the highest-ranking serving officer arrested in a [...]

By NICK SCHIFRIN A 17-year-old died this week in Afghanistan, hanging from the end of a rope. A prison official fastened it around the boy's neck in Kabul's largest jail, tightened the knot, and then, in front of a crowd, removed the platform that held up the boy's feet. He was hanged by the Afghan government because he was a killer. In [...]

The courts should remain defenders of fundamental rights and personal liberties. When the Facebook ban was issued, the court appeared to be playing to the gallery of populist radicals A long time ago, when I was a college student in the jihadi era of Ziaul Haq, I had a sitting with late Dr Eqbal Ahmad along with a few friends. We asked a very [...]

The piece examines the TTP's media productions and the movement's shift toward having its media distributed to jihadi-takfiri Internet forums via the Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF), a long-established jihadi-takfiri media and translation network. The writer argues that this shift toward GIMF distribution is further evidence of the TTP's [...]

A number of interrogations about the causes of extreme radicalism & terrorism in Pakistan occupy every psyche – from a lay man to the ruler of the state, no one considers his life secure in this country. Indeed, that is a genuine concern. However, rolling the folios of the precedent enables one to grasp some facts about its underpinning, and [...]

Editor's Note: We highly recommend this superb and comprehensive article by award-winning author, Mohammed Hanif.  In this in-depth article, Hanif has traced the roots of religious extremism and underlined the institutional support for this tragic phenomena. How Pakistan’s Generals turned the country into an international jihadi tourist [...]

Originally published in the 'Daily AajKal'.

Reporters often put themselves in harm's way as they try to dig up the truth about Islamic militant groups, shadowy intelligence agencies and the possible links between the two. One reporter recently ended up dead; another has a harrowing tale. By Alex Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times June 6, 2011 Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan— The [...]

Originally published in the 'Daily AajKal'.

Inter Services Intelligence suspected of involvement has long been above the law. All aspects of this crime, including the possibility of links to the ISI, need to be independently investigated and prosecuted. The ISI and other military and intelligence-related agencies have long been beyond the reach of the regular criminal justice system. To [...]

Originally published in 'Daily Aajkal'.

Takes a look at incidents of support for terrorists from within the armed forces and police Despite Gen Zia’s Islamisation, the promotion of piety in the barracks, and the support for puritanical movements that were allowed to organise sermons, the armed forces have still essentially retained a secular outlook. Institutionally, religion might [...]

“We don’t know if the ISI killed him,” Dayan says, “but the manner of his killing is consistent with the other murders where there has been credible evidence of ISI involvement.” by Ron Moreau Courageous Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad, who had scored major scoops on al Qaeda and the Taliban, was abducted and brutally [...]

Asia Times Pakistan Bureau Chief and TRNN contributor Syed Saleem Shahzad was found murdered in Islamabad on Tuesday. In a recent report for Asia Times and a TRNN interview, Shahzad reported on splits in the Pakistan military over support for al Qaeda. Collected here are his interviews for TRNN. Pakistan Post Bin Laden Saleem Shahzad: [...]

by Lizzy Millar Religious seminaries Madarash in Pakistan are raising a new generation of children to propagate hatred in the wake of bin Laden's assassination. Shehrbano Taseer, the daughter of Salman Taseer, the governor of Pakistan’s Punjab region who was assassinated by his bodyguard on 4 January for opposing blasphemy laws, blames [...]

Editor's Note:  The following post by Omar Ali (cross posted from 3 Quarks Daily) is a timely reminder of how the security establishment has run the country into the ground.  Unable to protect their own sensitive installations that are housed on prime real estate, the security establishment continues to promote the same xenophobia and [...]

Editor's Note: At a time in its history when the Pakistani State is hostage to the Anti-India Jihadi enterprise of its security establishment, we the people of Pakistan can look to such universal heroes like the seventeenth century Mughal Prince, Dara Shikoh. Here was a man who possessed the humanity to see spirituality in everything and who [...]

Originally published in the 'Daily Aajkal'

General Zia — a murderer, tyrant, usurper and a monument of moral bankruptcy — was the greatest patriot during his 11 years of misrule During my time as a student of English Literature at Government College, Lahore, my most unexpected but lasting discovery was Dr Samuel Johnson, who is remembered for many things such as his Dictionary and [...]

by Shoaib Adil Originally published in the 'Daily AajKal'

Who are the Taliban and why they are there? Pakistan has suffered a lot during the last ten years on this account. Pondering upon the history of Taliban’s making, it may be note worthy that Mullah Omer had started his Taliban movement with less than 50 madressah (religious school) students after the fall of Kandahar in November 1994. Then [...]

Jon Stewart is funny. He made me laugh when he asked Musharraf where Osama was. Musharraf’s response of “lead the way, I will follow” comment made me smile. The late Af-Pak Envoy, Richard Holbrooke, in answer to my question related to bin Laden’s whereabouts, cracked a joke about lunching with him. I appreciated his humor. However, this [...]

This article was originally published in the 'Daily AajKal'

Editor's Note:  The following article is a excellent thought provoking piece (cross-posted from 3quarksdaily)  by our valued contributer, Omar Ali.  The author raises many interesting points which are then well argued.   In its increasing Anti-Semetic attitudes atleast (as captured by this Nazi poster), Pakistan does seem to heading [...]

Related articles: LUBP Archive on Javed Ghamidi Javaid Ahmed Ghamidi does not breathe fire and brimstone. As someone who preaches tolerance and reason, he is not your typical Pakistani religious scholar. And he has had to pay a price for it. For speaking out against those who murder and maim in the name of Islam, Ghamidi is in the crosshairs of [...]

The New York City Landmarks Commission unanimously allowed for the demolition of the Italianate building of 1857, near where the World Trade Center's Twin Towers stood, and paves the way for the construction of the Cordoba House, a Mosque in the heart of Manhattan. Cordoba symbolizes the Muslim conquest of  Spain. Today the western democracy [...]

Source: View Point ‘Data Darbar had to be destroyed because of Ibn Taymiyya' Sunni-Sunni war was much earlier and it reached a peak in 2006 at Nishtar Park, the year the ISI allowed Sipah-e-Sahaba to stage its show of power in Islamabad Mazhar Jadoon The Sunni-Sunni war reached a peak in 2006 at Nishtar Park, the year the ISI allowed [...]

Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan The Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) was formed in 1985 in Jhang mainly by four anti-Shia clerics: Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi, Maulana Zia-ur-Rehman Faruqi, Maulana Easar-ul-Haq Qasmi and Maulana Azam Tariq. The group had grown out of the Anjuman-e-Sipah-e-Sahaba, and was supported by the Zia regime to deal with what was [...]

Photo source: Newsline On more than one occasion the PML-N has demonstrated sympathy, and even outright links, with the forces that are considered to be part of the Pakistani Taliban It was Dante who said: “The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of moral crisis.” The attack during Friday prayers in [...]

A thought provoking piece by Aamir Husaini from the only Pakistani liberal Urdu daily newspaper Daily Aajkal on the states pursuing ideologies, turning the world to a burning hell for those who they consider an obstacle in their way(aliarqam)