Allowing the drone attacks
The US is continuing to launch drone attacks in the tribal belt of Pakistan. The increased frequency of these attacks confirms that they have all along taken place with the…
Has America gone mad?
What an idea: joint US-Pakistan military operations in the tribal belt. If the "war on terror" policies pursued in Pakistan under the Bush administration have not already succeeded in making…
Ethnicity and ICC cases heat up Kenya presidential race
Alliances forged by Kenya's main presidential contenders for elections in March are lining up a repeat of a largely ethnic-based contest for political power which exploded into bloodshed in the…
Fata
An issue that should have been debated in parliament was the subject of an international conference – the status and future of Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). Reforms to…
An information black hole
I recently attended an exhibition titled ‘Gaming in Waziristan’ at London’s Beaconsfield Art Gallery. The show included a slide projection of photographs by journalist Noor Behram, who has been documenting…
Further progress
Last week I had identified some steps that Pakistan had taken to promote reconciliation in Afghanistan. I had suggested that there were further measures that Pakistan should also take, urgently, since…
Polls and the security challenge
The PPP-led government, despite all its failures in tackling the issues of massive corruption, bad governance and the worsening law and order situation, should certainly be credited for some of…
Path to stability in Fata
THE path to a modicum of prosperity and a semblance of security in the tribal areas is a straight line: it starts from the village Jalaldin where Miangul Kukikhel lives…
Drone strikes
During a visit to Tank, a Mehsud tribesman surprised me with some blunt remarks. Supporting drone attacks in Fata, the young tribesman from South Waziristan Agency said, “We see in…
Testing times for the army
Yet again the army finds itself caught between the devil of a mushrooming tribal insurgency and the deep blue sea of palace “conspiracies.” The president, in his fiery oration on…
