By Sajjad Shaukat                                 After the continued aerial strikes by the Pakistani jets and helicopters which have bombed militants’ hideouts including bomb-making factories in some tribal and surrounding areas of North Waziristan, killing several terrorists, on March 1, this year, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has announced a month-long ceasefire with the government for resumption of ...

 By Zaheerul Hassan Pakistan’s largest province Balochistan is facing international intrigues due to its strategically important location, mineral reserves including gas, coal and gold.  The anti Pakistan elements are operating throughout the province and making their efforts to destabilize it by promoting acrimonious sense of dissent, political volatility, sectarian violence, deteriorating law and order si ...

By Asif Haroon Raja Some of the glaring reasons that have given rise to religious extremism in Pakistan are as follows: Early demise of Quaid-e-Azam resulted in leadership crisis, which persists to this day. Growth of regionalism gave rise to fissiparous tendencies. Antagonism between seculars and Islamists impeded constitution making for nine years. Widening gulf between rich and poor and callous attitude ...

By Asif Haroon Raja When war against the Soviet forces in Afghanistan was won by the Mujahideen duly supported by Pakistan in 1989, the US claimed that the war couldn’t have been won without surface to air stinger missiles. In its view, stingers made the difference and forced the Soviets to beat a hasty retreat. In the ongoing war on terror in which the US for all practical purposes has lost the war and its ...

By Shaista Zulfiqar While the ladies of the Wisteria Lane get together, gossip and catch up on who’s been doing what, our Desperate Housewives’ Club in DHA has a slightly more pompous agenda. A typical get-together of desi housewives’ meeting starts with sending out invitations, both in person and over phone. A meeting, in almost all cases, is either a khatm, milaad or something along the same lines and is ...

By R.  Zaheer Foreign sponsored TTP and hit Peshawar, Waziristan and Quetta in which at least six persons were reportedly killed and 50 injured in three different actions. It includes security elements too. TTP headed by Mullah Fazalluah accepted the responsibility and intensified the militancy after rejecting the offer of negotiations made by the government on December 17, 2013. In this regards Prime Minis ...

World View: Everyone knows where al-Qa'ida gets its money, but while the violence is sectarian, the West does nothing By Patrick Cockburn Donors in Saudi Arabia have notoriously played a pivotal role in creating and maintaining Sunni jihadist groups over the past 30 years. But, for all the supposed determination of the United States and its allies since 9/11 to fight "the war on terror", they have showed as ...

By Asif Haroon Raja The interim nuclear deal signed between Iran and P5 plus 1 in Geneva on November 24 has apparently defused the explosive situation in Middle East. It has been widely hailed as the triumph of diplomacy. President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Javed Zarif are being applauded for their pragmatism and for averting a catastrophic war in the making. High sounding names such as historic, ...