Heartburn at Heart of Asia Conference
Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz did the right thing by attending the Heart of Asia Conference in Amritsar, India, despite the tense state of relations between Pakistan and the host…
Wolf dens, not lone wolves, the norm in US Islamic State plots
If Omar Mateen acted alone in plotting the massacre of 49 people at Orlando's Pulse gay night-club, he would be the exception rather than the rule in US cases involving…
How to cooperate against terrorism
Recent terror attacks in Paris and Brussels have sadly shown the mistakes and sometimes the lack of cooperation of security services. Indeed, the November attacks in Paris were planned by…
Pyramid of challenges
IT is not so much religion-based narratives as religiously inspired actors who pose — either advertently or inadvertently — the greatest challenge to peace and stability in Pakistan. However, while…
How serious a threat is IS?
THERE was nothing new and surprising in the recent official statements, including those made by the foreign affairs and national security adviser Sartaj Aziz, that the Islamic State (IS) poses…
IS: a global challenge
The sensational rise of IS, also known as Islamic State has caused global panic. It has also dramatically altered geopolitics, producing strange bedfellows. Putting aside their hostilities, the US and…
Our ‘battery-powered toy chickens’
The battle lines are clearly drawn. Insofar as the armed forces of Pakistan are concerned, there is no looking back. The ongoing military onslaught in North Waziristan, code-named operation Zarb-e-Azb,…
The dead we grieve for
WHY is it that those who support enforcement of a regressive brand of Sharia, those who endorse a worldview that supports turning back the hands of the clock on human…
The internal crisis
The annual survey of ‘failed states’ covering 2012 has just appeared in Foreign Policy. Using data on elements such as ‘demographic pressures’, ‘refugees’, ‘public services’, ‘economic decline’, ‘factionalised elites’, ‘security…
Combating financing of terrorism – II
Appraisal of global and domestic initiatives: Since the tragic event of September 11, 2001, the United States and its allies have been engaged in what they call 'war on terror'…
