The Afghan government should release the approximately 400 women and girls imprisoned in Afghanistan for "moral crimes," Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. The United States and other donor countries should press the Afghan government under President Hamid Karzai to end the wrongful imprisonment of women and girls who are crime victims rather than criminals. The 120-page report, "'I Had ...

By Zaheerul Hassan Differences between 26Th Indian Chief of Army Staff General VK Singh and government (govt) have been exposed when he tried to take actions against some of the most corrupt generals of the Army and simultaneously also went to the Supreme Court against the govt for correction of his "date of birth" . He is scheduled to retire at end of May this year. He wanted the govt to accept that he was ...

By James Petras The March 11 Massacre of the 17 Afghan citizens, including at least nine children and four women, raises many fundamental issues about the nature of a colonial war, the practices of a colonial army engaged in a prolonged (eleven-year) occupation and the character of an imperial state as it commits war crimes and increasingly relies on arbitrary dictatorial measures to secure public complianc ...

By Asif Haroon Raja Gen Musharraf had accepted the US demands in September 2001 since he suffered from legitimacy bug and country's economic health was unsatisfactory. He agreed to make Pakistan a frontline state in the global war on terror assuming that it would benefit him as well as Pakistan. He had not foreseen that war on terror will backfire on Pakistan with debilitating effects on socio-politico-econ ...

By Zaheerul Hassan In the first week of March 2012, India has conducted four days major military exercise in north-eastern sector, including Arunachal Pradesh close to the Chinese border. Special Forces of the Army and frontline fighters such as Su-30MKI as part of the endeavour to be battle ready in the inhospitable mountainous region have participated in day–night Exercise "Code-named as 'Pralay' (devasta ...

By Asif  Haroon Raja In India the religious right led by BJP had emerged on Indian political scene in mid 1980s with a bang. The BJP became the mother hen and political face of dozens of Hindu extremist parties and groups like RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena, all espousing Hindutva. These extremist forces kept provoking Rajiv Gandhi and Narasimha Rao regimes to use full force to crush the movement in Ka ...

By Tehran Times An Indian newspaper says the United States is putting pressure on Pakistan to allow Washington to establish espionage bases in the country's Balochistan province to gather intelligence on Iran. According to a report published by The Times of India on Monday, the U.S. Congress has been discussing a resolution to recognize the right of Baloch people to self-determination as a means of putting ...

By Sajjad Shaukat At this critical juncture when foreign elements have accelerated their conspiracy against the integrity of Pakistan in order to complete their hidden agenda, it is regrettable that without taking cognisance of the ground realities, and without knowing the functions of the Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) including its director general, our own political leaders, media an ...