The crisis of an ideology
It’s really quite unfair. The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) is facing considerable criticism for following its mandate and legitimately attempting to align Pakistan into a Shariah compliant state. Never…
Nightmare scenario
As the country’s right goes further down the path of a dialogue or appeasement with the terrorist Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), no player is looking pretty. Well, almost no player. In…
Somali piracy profits go to investors, big and small
Somali piracy has become a big business that profits large criminal kingpins as well as small investors in the diaspora, even as international efforts have cut back on their earnings,…
The terror landscape
There are three clear divisions of the TTP collage. The first is TTP Central, based in North Waziristan and controlling operations from there. Mostly consisting of the Mehsud tribes and…
Memoirs of an angry warrior
‘Duty’ is an angry and occasionally self-serving account of the four and a half years Robert Gates served as US defence secretary. But the book also offers important insights into…
Roadmap to internal security
Internal security fault lines have assumed threatening proportions resulting in the weakening of state institutions and confusion developing in society. The belated but welcome development of the National Internal Security…
The Swat lesson
Since the start of the process of negotiations with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the last military operation against the Taliban in Swat has been a hot topic in the media. One…
Gaza bodyguards open first private security firm
As hoards of excited fans scramble to reach Arab Idol winner Mohammed Assaf, they are pushed back by a group of tough-looking men in shades - the face of Gaza's…
Dollar-inspired mumblings
The leaders in Pakistan seem possessed by magic. Is there another logical explanation for the deliberate effort of our rulers to nurture and strengthen the scourge of terror? The debate…
Stretching the truth
Besides the recent dastardly attacks on policemen and Rangers in Karachi, the TTP brutally beheaded 23 Frontier Corps men who had been in its custody in Afghanistan. Why are we…
