By Zaheerul Hassan The 23rd Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) has been held in the capital city of Colombo, Sri Lanka, from 15th – 17th November 2013. The last CHOGM was held in 2011 in Perth, Australia and the first ever CHOGM was held in 1971 in Singapore. The Commonwealth is an organisation consisting of former colonies of the British Empire with the Queen as the head. It is the biennial s ...

By Zaheerul Hassan 12 died, 80 injured and millions of rupees damage caused to the properties of the people in the sectarian violence of 16 November in Rawalpindi. Authorities have imposed a curfew for two days in Rawalpindi after sectarian clashes erupted at a Muharram 10 procession near Fawara Chowk. Beyond any doubt, one can deduce that the sadism resulted due to the negligence of local administration an ...

By Sajjad Shaukat After the killing of the Tahreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Chief Hakimullah Mehsud in a US drone attack on November 1, this year, Taliban Shura decided to appoint the most ferocious and notorious militant Maulana Fazlullah as chief of the TTP. In this regard, a controversy arose for the selection of new leader, as many TTP insurgents had been intensely whispering against Fazllulah by arguin ...

              By Sajjad Shaukat Being a neighbouring and brotherly country, Pakistan always respects Iran’s sovereignty, system of governance and its socio-political developments. But, some external elements misguide Iran through false propaganda by manipulating various terror-incidents which take place inside Iran, especially its province of Iranian Sistan-Baluchistan and Pakistan’s province of Balochistan ...

 By Sajjad Shaukat                                              In the recent months, Pakistan made strenuous efforts to advance peace talks with India in order to resolve all issues, especially Kashmir dispute, while it took several positive steps to improve relations with Afghanistan. Similarly, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ahmad Khan decided to begin negotiatio ...

By Zaheerul Hassan On 10 November ISPR Spokesman Major General Asim Bajwa strongly condemned the irresponsible and misleading statements of Syed Munawar Hassan in a TV programme, declaring the dead terrorists like Hakimullah Mehsud and Baitullah Mehsud as shaheeds, whereas soldiers those who sacrificed their lives  fighting against terrorism are not shaheed. Similarly JUIF leader Fazlur Rehman stated that a ...

Abu Ezaan The prevailing stalemate in Afghan war amply validates the futility of military option in defeating insurgency. Erroneously, the political alternative has also been used to supplement the military option and weaken the insurgency to make it more amenable to reconciliation.  It is now imperative that political negotiations in Afghanistan are pursued with sole objective of peace and stability in the ...

 By Sajjad Shaukat People from different walks of life including politicians, religious scholars (Ulemas) and media persons have expressed their feelings of grief on the recent comments of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and especially of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Ameer Syed Munawar Hassan who evolved new theory on Shahadat (Martyrdom). Maulana Fazlur Rehman in an interview with senior j ...