By Asif Haroon Raja India’s unabated belligerence forced both civil and military regimes to remain India focused and to turn Pakistan into a security state. It in turn retarded economic and democratic growth. National security and unresolved Kashmir dispute being of prime concern enabled the military to maintain a domineering position even when it was not in power. The civil government was restrained from c ...

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="266"] Horia Ankour, 30, was taken off an Air France flight after confirming she’s not Jewish[/caption] By Elham Asaad Buaras A French court has found Air France guilty of discrimination for removing a pro-Palestinian activist from a flight to Israel because she was not Jewish. The incident happened during the ‘flytilla’ campaign in April 2012 – when hundreds of pro-P ...

Asif Haroon Raja Ziaul Haq’s ghost still haunts the liberals and seculars, which means his legacy is winning. They see him as the vilest man ever born in Pakistan and responsible for the malaise in the society. What a big joke and travesty of truth. None can deny that unlike stiff-necked Pakistani Generals, and that too with all powers in his hand; he was humble, courteous and led a simple and austere life. ...

By Alireza Nader The Islamic Republic of Iran is a crucial player in the current Syrian conflict. Iran is the Syrian regime's biggest supporter, even more so than Russia. Tehran's ties with Damascus have historically been based on shared strategic interests, including thwarting U.S. and Israeli power in the Middle East. Both countries have also relied on each other to balance unfriendly Arab states. The Syr ...

By Robert D. Kaplan The most appropriate image of the present-day Middle East is the medieval map, which, in the words of the late historian Albert Hourani, depicts an age when "frontiers were not clearly and precisely delimited" and the influence of a regime was not uniform "within a fixed and generally recognized area," but, rather, grew weaker with distance as it radiated outward from an urban core. Lega ...

By Abdul Majid Zargar In-spite of a massive force build-up and despite adoption of “ Shock & awe” theory and thousands of Drone attacks backed up by latest technology, a defeat stares in the face of America in Afghanistan. Its troop withdrawal plan by the end of 2014 is an organized retreat, if not a total surrender. And this defeat has not made appearance out of thin air. Washington has known for years ...

I.A Rehman GEN Ashfaq Parvez Kayani’s warning against separating Islam from Pakistan’s polity or politics should not surprise anyone because Islam has been used as a battle cry by almost all Muslim warriors across the globe and throughout the ages, even when both sides have recited the same Kalima and the issue is nothing more than ownership of the throne or a piece of land. Also not surprising is the way t ...

Posted by Sumera    Through a pre-emptive strategy, India is trying to convince the world in general and Afghan neighbors in particular that, its collaboration with the later aims at securing its soil from foreign invasions and attacks, which have taken place historically. In this context, the statement of Indian external Affairs Ministry spokesperson is very evident once he said, “There is a history of Afg ...