Posts Tagged ‘Taliban’

The doctrine of strategic depth means Pakistan is not a safe haven for Pakhtuns opposing Taliban or Talibanization either with arms or musical instruments. The ordeal of the late Kamal Mahsud, a well-known singer from Waziristan, and his family is a case in point. Mahsud went on singing despite threats passed by Taliban. He was ordered [...]

Military's predation is an institutional feature’, Ayesha Siddiqa. A dissident’s job is always fraught with dangers. In case of Pakistan, the risks involved in criticizing all-powerful Khakis and their proxy Taliban hardly need an elucidation. Still, dissident voices keep tormenting military establishment. Ayesha Siddiqa is one such [...]

The Lahore blasts – though sectarian in nature – may raise the level of threat felt by the hundreds of international aid workers who have come to help Pakistan after its worst flooding in 80 years. A series of suicide bombings targeting Shiite religious processions in Lahore, Pakistan killed at least 25 [...]

The US designated Pakistan-based Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) as Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO), paving the way for overseas travel ban on its leaders and financial restrictions on the dreaded group. US prosecutors have charged the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Hakimullah Mehsud, in the plot that killed seven CIA employees at an American base [...]

As the death toll from today's gruesome attacks on a Shiite procession commemorating the martyrdom of Hazrat Ali, probably the most venerated muslim saint after the Holy Prophet rises, few if any are addressing the core issues that have lead to these killings. Since the advent of Zia ul Haq, Pakistan has been wracked with violence that is [...]

“The Qur’an is a book, covered, between two flaps, and it does not speak. It should therefore necessarily have an interpreter. Men alone can be such interpreters…..” (Imam Ali Nehj ul Balaga) On the grounds of Siffin, when the best of Arabs showed the skill of his sword to Muawiyah, his friend the greatest of [...]

Three humanitarian workers operating in the Swat Valley, in the northern part of the country, have been killed by Pakistani Taliban while working to bring aid to flood victims. The attack of the fundamentalists, which has also caused several injuries in two villages, took place between August 24 and 25. The tragic news was communicated to Fides by [...]

Dr. Abbas Zaidi has shared this intellectual piece with us for LUBP. A slightly edited  version is published in Dailytimes today, we have posted it earlier from the newspaper, Now we are replacing it with the complete, unedited and original one directly sent by the writer.(aliarqam) In the backdrop of the public lynching and then hanging of [...]

The human tragedy unfolding in Pakistan right now demands our full attention. Flooding there has already stranded 20 million people, more than 10 percent of the population. A fifth of the nation is underwater. More than 3.5 million children are in imminent danger of contracting cholera and acute diarrhea; millions more are in danger of starving [...]

The political and social aspects of Islam in Pakistan can be seen as existing in and emerging from three distinct clusters of thought. These clusters represent the three variations of political and social Islam that have evolved in this country: i.e. modern, popular and conservative. The modern aspect of Islamic thought in Pakistan has its [...]

Violence against the women in the whole region is not strange thing. But when it comes to Taliban and their brutalities against the women, denial prevails, arguments are given that Taliban do not attack women etc etc. When BiBi Sahiba was martyred by the same monsters, the same arguments were used. One argument was that since Taliban are Pashtuns [...]

The more mischievous among us even prayed to the Almighty to let the Saudis fall in love with this eminent ‘Islamic scholar’ and fund his outlandish theories, leaving television viewers ever so grateful for keeping him there. But, alas, he is set to make a comeback. This time he would be seen on a different channel. Of course, just [...]

Pakistan may have lost a talented fiction writer when Fatima Bhutto went into journalism. Clearly, she is adept at spinning a tale, fudging facts and re-defining reality in a manner that is the exclusive domain of talented story tellers. Throw in her photogenic looks and her propensity to endear herself with the security establishment and she [...]

Objective and constructive criticism is the cornerstone of secular liberal democracies. In that regard, those who have disagree with the current Pakistani president’s trip to the UK have the right to express their protest at what they perceive is wrong. At a time when Pakistan is facing unprecedented challenges, common sense dictates that [...]

Wikileaks, an international whistle-blowing website, recently leaked US and Allied forces military documents highlighting the situation on the ground in Afghanistan. One of the many things highlighted is Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI's, double game in the War. If you followed the mainstream media in US and UK, the two main allies of [...]

WASHINGTON DC: On Wednesday, the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and the Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP) co-sponsored an event featuring Pervez Hoodbhoy and Zia Mian. The speakers discussed the present crisis in Pakistan regarding the Taliban and other extremist Islamist forces, and what a US/NATO withdrawal would [...]

Source: PICTURES BEYOND THE PICTURE As the week ends, the most controversial and conflictive details of  the Afghan war come to surface, marking the greatest information leak-out of the US military. The details were provided to The New York Times, The Guardian and German Weekly Der Spiegel by the tattling WikiLeaks following a round of strong [...]

Which political party in Pakistan has taken most clear and most daring stance against extremist Deobandis of the Taliban and Sipah-e-Sahaba? ANP Which political party has offered most sacrifices in Pakistan's war on terror? ANP Which political leader in Pakistan has been most steadfast and straight forward in his condemnation of the [...]

Find: Laila Ebadi Here is an evidence of how extremist Deobandis (terrorists of the Taliban and Sipah-e-Sahaba) are now attacking the very institution, i.e., the ISI, which once groomed and nurtured them. Yet, Generals Kayani and Pasha are unable to liberate themselves from the God forsaken good Taliban and strategic depth theories. In the [...]

Source: The Express Tribune Scenic Parachinar belies an undeclared human rights free zone where they have no legal protection. Years ago, when in my hometown Parachinar and in other tribal areas, malicious actions were initiated by inhuman terrorists against innocent and peace-loving people, I had written an article titled “Let think for [...]

For long Karachi has been known as one of the country’s most liberal cities. But its liberalism is of a Nietzschean sort: what doesn’t kill Karachi makes it stronger. It would be obvious to proclaim that no place is safe from the brutality of terrorism in Pakistan. There are no safe havens here where the barbarians can’t and won’t [...]

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 [...]

Source: Critical Threats Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters use Waziristan to prepare for and launch attacks against American forces in Afghanistan and Western targets abroad. Since early June, the Pakistani military has been conducting a campaign to kill Waziristan’s preeminent Taliban leader, Beitullah Mehsud. Standing in the military’s way [...]

By Omar Khattab On 17 July a convoy of Shias was attacked by the Taliban who used rockets and automatic weapons and cut down killing 18 including women and children. The most significant part of the attack is not the murder of the Shias, which has become a routine in Pakistan. The point to consider is that the Shia convoy was being escorted [...]

Who killed the brave Son of Baluchistan fighting for his Rights today ? Who killed 100s of Baloch Nationalists , Punjab Settlers and Hazara Shias , all 3 big Entities of Baluchistan ’s Demographics in recent years ? Who is their Common Enemy which is Killing them without any Distinction so that Baloch Nationalsits blame FC and Security [...]

There is a Pashto proverb: ‘Oba pa kamzori zai mateegee’ (water makes its course on the weaker bank). It is happening in Waziristan now as the political administration is forcing the displaced Ahmadzai Wazir tribesmen to hand over the militants or face the music. It is ironic that the warning comes from the political administration [...]

As the Taliban in Bajaur blew up another girls' primary school just yesterday it might be relevant to look at some details of Taliban threats against women as documented in a recent Human Rights Watch report Many people are asking the question today of how the Afghan Taliban will treat women if they are included in some reconciliation process [...]

Raza Rumi It is a matter of public record that the founder of Pakistan had stated that Indo-Pakistan relationship will resemble that of the USA and Canada. Even before the Partition, Jinnah in a 1946 press conference stated, “the two states (Pakistan and India)… will be friends and will go to each other’s rescue in case of danger and will [...]

Before you read this post, you may wish to read: Parachinar: Pakistan’s Gaza Strip remains under siege by Taliban and Sipah-e-Sahaba and LUBP Archive on Parachinar In the eastern Afghanistan province of Paktia, Taliban terrorists opened fire on a minibus carrying Pakistani Shia tribal people who had crossed into Afghanistan to buy [...]

Due to the demands of a majority of Pakistanis and leaders like Shahbaz Sharif, Imran Khan, Munawar Hussain and other such groovy people, the Pakistan government has signed a peace agreement with the Taliban in Waziristan and South Punjab. The peace deal comes after several rounds of negotiations and many glasses of orange juice. The major [...]

We don't need rabid mullahs or pseudo-liberal poodles of the ISI to propagate wild conspiracy theory in Pakistan, Chief Justice of the Lahore Hight Court is more than enough. According to the Chief Taliban Protector in Punjab, Justice Khwaja Sharif, Blackwater could be the culprit behind the barbaric attack on Lahore's Data Darbar. [...]

In Afghan War,  when the capitalist  world, the salafist  Arabs, the communist  Chinese and  the  opportunist Pakistani  Generals along with their puppet warriors and clergies were in a war with the USSR and the Communist Afghan regime on Afghan territory, the whole world fell in romance with Afghans. Books were written on the courage and [...]

Before the Soviet forces entered Afghanistan in 1979, I used to visit Kabul regularly. I found President Mohammad Daud a fatherly figure who had no idea of what was happening in his country. Even otherwise, he was dependent on warlords, a pattern which has not changed since. But he was not aware of the strong base that the communists had [...]

لال مسجد کے سات کیوں وسعت اللہ خان بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام، اسلام آباد ’جنہوں نے مشرقی پاکستان آپریشن پر معافی نہ مانگی انکے آگے لال مسجد آپریشن کس کھیت کی مولی تھا‘ کیپٹل ڈویلپمنٹ اتھارٹی ( [...]

Here I am, once again, trying to muster up some emotional and physical energy to write a few lines in condemnation of the Taliban terrorists (and their supporters and apologists). Today, on Friday 9 July 2010, a Talib suicide bomber exploded himself "in the way of Allah" (as Qari Hussain would probably claim) or "in reaction to the USA and [...]

The Taliban are very intelligently shaping the narrative and we are falling in line, so to speak. What is a Punjabi Taliban? Or for that matter a Pakhtun one? It is being turned into an ethnic fight based on narrow understandings and considerations of provincialism Public relations officers have a rule that they live by. The rule is that if you [...]

Thanks: Express, 7 July

In a recent press conference Mian Nawaz Sharif - the head of the largest opposition Party Pakistan Muslim League-N (PMLN) - claimed that terrorism in Pakistan is a result of government’s foreign policies. Sharif made the commen ts two days after two terrorist suicide bombers had attacked the most popular Sufi shrine in Punjab. The province [...]

Blame game always affects our unity as a nation.  5 July 1977 reminds us that how one dictator can divert our national priorities from secularism to terrorism.  Here is an urdu article addressing the blame game: (more...)