By Asif Haroon Raja In united India, Muslim majority East Bengal was the poorest with lowest percentages of urbanization, industrialization, literacy and per capita income. It was kept economically and socially backward by Hindu Zamindars and was a hinterland of Calcutta utilized for 200 years to provide raw materials for the industries in Hindu dominated West Bengal. Division of Bengal and Calcutta becomin ...

Asif Haroon Raja Terrorism in Pakistan is the outcome of backup support provided by USA, India and Afghanistan to TTP and its affiliated groups in the northwest and to BLA, BRA and BLF in the southwest. While foreign agencies fund, equip and provoke the terrorists to strike civil and military targets in Pakistan so as to create bedlam, the liberals and section of media on the payroll of outside powers keep ...

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, ...

Asif Haroon Raja The provisional/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 are being ...

By Zaheerul Hassan  During war on terror Pakistan paid heavy price in the shape of life losses and finances in addition to the sponsored militancy of hostile agencies   against the country and its security forces.  The security environment all over the country is still not conducive due to the involvement of covert hands. Since 9/11, more than 50000 individuals have been either killed or dislocated as resul ...

By Asif Haroon Raja Iran-US antagonism started peaking in the aftermath of Islamic revolution in Iran, followed by seizure of American Embassy in Tehran by student militants in November 1979 and holding 52 Americans hostage for next 444 days. An American rescue operation ended in a disaster, which further bolstered Khomeini’s image in Iran and Islamic world. Hostages were released as a result of secret agre ...

Asif Haroon Raja During the Reza Shah Pahlavi era in Iran from 1953 to March 1979, Iran-Pakistan relations were extraordinarily warm. Iran supported Kashmir cause, extended military support during 1965 Indo-Pak war and full diplomatic support in the 1971 war with India. Iran helped in quashing 1973 insurgency in Balochistan. After Shah’s departure, certain events like Islamic revolution in Iran, Jihad again ...

By Sajjad Shaukat After a US drone attack which killed six students at a Madrassa (Religious seminary) in Hangu on November 21, this year, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) halted the NATO supply across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to Afghanistan through sit-in protests and various rallies in order to denounce that these strikes are violation of Pakistan’s territorial integrity and are illegitimate acts of killing innoc ...