No talks with TTP
THOSE in favour of negotiating with the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan mistakenly believe that the group is a legitimate insurgent movement. The Afghan Taliban see them as a comparable entity, deserving…
A lesson from the Taliban
JUST a week before the third anniversary of the Doha Agreement, a high-profile delegation from Pakistan led by Defence Minister Khawaja Asif visited Kabul on Feb 22. It was not…
The change in the wind
TWENTY-ONE years ago, the 9/11 attacks in the US set off a range of social and political changes in Muslim societies. The Middle East was the flashpoint as it was…
The business of hate
PAKISTAN’S economy has been under pressure for decades; the country has yet to get down to the business of undertaking the structural reforms necessary to put it on a firmer…
End of ideology
THE Islamic Republic of Pakistan is the world’s second-largest Muslim-majority state and the self-declared fortress of Islam. It has the world’s largest network of religious institutions and seminaries. Yet, it…
Balochistan’s youth in focus
IF we want to feel the pulse of Balochistan, we need to listen to the Baloch youth. Nothing else can tell us more about the political, ideological and social transformation…
Mired in extremism
THE clumsy uproar of a religious group on filmmaker Sarmad Khoosat’s film Zindagi Tamasha and an appeasing response by the government reveal only a part of the extremism problem facing Pakistani state…
The crisis within
The national security of a country is not at risk only when its borders are not safe or when it does not have significant defensive capability against a powerful enemy…
Beyond the India gambit
China, with its rapid economic growth and expanding influence, has emerged as the primary focus of American foreign policy in recent years. Consequently, Washington has increasingly sought a strategic partnership…
China, the neighbour: ‘In a way’
What did Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar mean when, during a press conference in London, he clearly listed Pakistan’s immediate neighbouring countries as Afghanistan, Iran and India, but then said that…
