Feature / Analysis

Ex-Tihar jail inmate claims IB traps Muslim youth into terrorism

Irshad Ali wrote to the prime minister when he was lodged in Tihar Jail, how the IB traps Muslim youth by planting jehadi maulvis among them. Ali, who according to his letter, had worked as an informer for special cell of Delhi police, claimed that his arrest was because he refused to carry on worki...

ACTING DIRECTOR

Usually a successful second innings is seen more of a course corrector than anything else. Many artists have enjoyed greater success the second time around as far as their true calling went. So, would it right to believe that there could be something of a false calling for an artist?The actor in Rak...

THE IDEOLOGY OF PAKISTAN: A THORNY ISSUE

If I were a rational person I would not be writing this blog. In the past I have lamented the proliferation of garbage, lauded junkies and soothsayers at a sufi saint’s shrine, delved into nostalgia about rail travel, and written about other harmless subjects. These blogs and features received most...

What Class you Belong?

Precisely, that concerns me even if I don’t ask you. I’m very interested in knowing which social strata you come from so I could decide and assign you the right place in my rack of social-relations. Obviously, in order to define myself and my prestige I need You to be positioned perfect so I could u...

The Importance of being a Baloch

Baluchistan was never given importance by the adjacent fertile and powerful kingdoms of India, Persia and Afghanistan in the past. They were happy to give this unproductive and nomadic land the status of a buffer zone, separating them with the deserts and gorges from each other. And so, the people o...

Afghanistan: When Should Longest U.S. War End?

TranscriptThe war in Afghanistan has gone largely unmentioned by both presidential campaigns. With a withdrawal scheduled for 2014, public opinion has turned ever more negative on America's longest war. Amid continued insider attacks, many ask why we continue to risk American lives. NEAL CONAN, HO...

No love in this affair

For a man who nurses ambitions to play a role in India’s national politics, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has again shown us just how low he can stoop to target a political opponent.Speaking at an election rally in Shimla last week, the Bharatiya Janata Party leader, campaigning for his party...

Pur Suroor and Parsu Ram

Once upon a time, there was a princely state with the name, Amber. Long before Hawa Mehal and Jantar Mantar became the icons of this pink city, Man Singh of the Kechwah dynasty was a reference to this place. Akbar, pleased with the acumen of this prince, granted him a fiefdom, which lied on way to K...

Lesson from a superstorm

Hurricane Sandy struck United States on October 29. It started as a mere Caribbean wave ten days earlier but as it closed in towards American shores it converged with a cold-weather system transforming into a Superstorm – a monstrous hybrid that delivered massive rains, winds gusting to the velociti...

Childhood lost to bullets

SRINAGAR: The musical tunes of a piano greet the ears as one walks towards the room of Muneer Ahmad. Climbing the creaky wooden stairs of a rundown two-storey house, the music gets clearer and louder. The tunes take us to Ahmad’s room where he seems lost playing his electronic piano while his younge...

UNHCR raises return package for Afghan refugees living in Pakistan

QUETTA: The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Pakistan has enhanced return package for the registered Afghan refugees aimed to facilitate the maximum number of families living in camps and urban settlements across the country. In addition to the amount of $150, the refugees hav...

Breaking Dawn: Doesn’t Live Up to Expectations

The most highly anticipated movie of the year is finally upon us. The Twilight saga continues with its latest installment Breaking Dawn. Although most of its fans have read the book and know what happens, it is the idea of a work of fiction being brought to life by an incredibly beautiful cast that ...

New Commitments for Harmony

It is a privilege of Pakistan that the Sixth Conference of the Association of SAARC Speakers and Parliamentarians is going to be held in Islamabad from November 4 to November 6, 2012. This prestigious kind of connection provides a plinth for the peoples of South Asia to work together in a spirit of ...

New Challenges of Social Media

The emergence of some recent incidents in Middle East and South Asia and their analysis in the context of the wide-spread use of Social Media Websites and overwhelming response from internet-users all over the World bring in mind some important questions: • Is Social Media emerging as a new threat f...

A Confused Pakistani

This Eid when I got free from prayers, I performed the same ritual which I have done so for so many years since I have left abroad. Take a drive. Since living close to the beach knowing that everyone back home would be still asleep. I prefer stopping by there to enjoy the view of the Gulf. I prefer ...

Pakistan in the Grip of a Diabolic Threat

Pakistan could be devoured by the merciless, ignorant and myopic religious networks, if their proliferation is not checked well in time and on war footing level. Pakistan indeed was created as an Islamic state and for the social, political and economic independence of the Muslims of the Sub-continen...

Afghanistan's first female rapper tells the stories that might otherwise be lost

Soosan Firooz isn't just a rebel with western appeal – her highly personal narrative also shines a light on the nation's suffering Soosan Firooz is being touted as Afghanistan's first female rapper, a voice for women's rights and political consciousness in a country that has been torn up by war, ex...

Torture claims halt MoD transfers to Afghan jails

Head of directorate to which MoD wants to transfer prisoners is alleged to have been involved in torture, court hears A determined attempt by the Ministry of Defense to transfer insurgents to Afghan jails was blocked by the high court on Friday after it heard evidence that they would be handed over...

U.S. Finds Graft by Favored Afghan Leader

Governor Seen as Hope for Security Is Steeped in Corruption, Documents Say, Clouding Strategy of Allying With Warlords JALALABAD, Afghanistan: One of Afghanistan's top power brokers has been freeing suspected insurgents, running an open extortion scheme and traveling with suitcases of undeclared ca...

The great white pressure

I’m in Singapore with a friend of mine – a 38-year-old Philippino man. Yesterday we decided to go shopping in a vast shopping area called Orchard Road. This road reflects a variety of different people, cultures, foods, and countries. On one street you could bump into Indians, Malaysians, Singaporean...

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