Asif Haroon Raja India was pleased that the new Chinese premier Li Keqiang chose to first visit New Delhi and then Islamabad. She would have felt mighty pleased if the visitor had visited India only and ignored Pakistan as was the case with Barack Obama. India would have liked China’s PM to behave like Bill Clinton when after his three-day high-profile state visit to India in March 2000; he touched down at ...

Case of "Witness Tampering" Not of "Mistaken Identity" - Claims SFJ Rights group will take the human rights violation case against CM Badal to the US Court of Appeals asking for a remand to depose CM Badal personally before a US Federal Judge on the issue of the service of summons. In its May 17 order, the US District Court in Wisconsin ruled that Badal was never served with the court summons as being claim ...

Asif Haroon Raja   The whole nation remained glued towards the elections and as May 11 neared, election fever heightened and so did variety of speculations and theories about election results. Political pundits remained divided about the winning party, some suggesting PML-N and others PTI as the victorious party. There was a tiny minority which kept insisting not to rule out PPP. Most suggested a close figh ...

By Asif Haroon Raja The heavy mandate Nawaz Sharif’s rule came to an abrupt end after two years eight months as a result of military coup by Gen Musharraf on October 12, 1999. He was later on exiled for ten years. After 9/11, Musharraf was coerced and induced by the US and led to believe that partnership with USA would uplift Pakistan’s depressed fortunes and pave the way for prosperity. He was assured that ...

By Zaheerul Hasaan According to the latest unofficial results, so far Nawaz Sharif led party ML (N) won 125 National Assembly seats; PPP party went from first to second position and won 32 seats. Whereas, PTI under the chairmanship of old cricket team captain Imran Khan emerged as third largest party after wining 31 National Assembly seats. To win a simple majority, a party or coalition would have to bag 13 ...

 Asif Haroon Raja Anti-Kalabagh dam (KBD) lobby in Pakistan has successfully scuttled plans to construct KBD which is technically most feasible, economically viable and beneficial for all the four provinces. ANP in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) has doggedly opposed construction of this dam since in its view KBD will sink Nowshera in KPK. Sindh nationalist parties maintain that it would turn Sindh into an arid ar ...

By Zaheerul Hassan According to South Asia Terrorism Portal, from January IST 2013 to April 21, 1536 individuals have been killed and 1263 sustained injuries as result of terrorism in Pakistan. However, in last eight days, 55 individuals killed and over 120 injured. Elections are being held just after few days on 11 May 2013.  But the visible elections campaign can only be seen in Punjab, whereas dreadfulne ...

By Asif Haroon Raja The two mainstream parties used to crib that they couldn’t deliver because they were not allowed to complete their five years tenure and were ousted prematurely during the democratic era from 1988 to 1999. This crib was duly addressed when the last PPP led government completed its full tenure, but instead of delivering it bled the nation white. It has left behind such a huge mess that it ...