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 ...

By Asif Haroon Raja The US sole worry is to ensure safe and smooth withdrawal of US-NATO troops. At the same time it wishes to ensure peaceful transition of power in Afghanistan and to leave behind stable Afghanistan under a US friendly regime. Another aspect which is yet to be decided is the size of residuary force that will be left behind after 2014. Kabul government has yet not given blanket diplomatic i ...

 by Mordechai Kedar To the Honorable Leaders of the Arab States, We in Israel received with great pleasure your agreement to normalize relations with Israel  on condition that we agree to the establishment of a Palestinian state and exchanges of territories between that state and Israel. The Palestinian state that you propose to establish in Judea and Samaria would be the second Palestinian state, since the ...

By Asif Haroon Raja None can deny that the US and its allies apparently mandated to eliminate terrorism in Afghanistan had a different agenda. Under the garb of fighting terrorism, Pakistan was to be systematically destabilized, weakened, de-nuked, secularized and turned into a compliant state. The six intelligence units led by CIA based in Kabul since end 2001 were instrumental in diverting flames of terro ...

Gen Kayani’s unflinching resolve  By F Z Khan The elections this time are being directly attributed to the armed forces’ “major contribution” towards democracy. Tremendous satisfaction has been expressed by the people in general and the general election contestants in particular, both print and electronic media as well as the intelligentsia especially after the Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Pervez Kay ...

By Rajeesh  Left with only a few days of freedom, Sanjay Dutt reportedly feels “betrayed” by his co-stars. The Arnold Schwarzenegger of India has apparently vented his anger that Bollywood has let him down. The actor, who has been convicted for the illegal purchase of firearms from the culprits behind the 1993 Mumbai blasts, is going through a tough ordeal. He is reportedly busy these days wrapping up work ...

By Zaheerul Hassan and Sajjad Shaukat According to Israeli news agency, on May 7, 2013, Israel’s Ministry of Finance published a new austerity economic plan, with a view to reduce the country’s 11 billion U.S. dollars of budget deficit.  The Israeli cabinet will vote on the new budget, along with the Economic Arrangements Bill, which includes legislative changes as part of the economical policy. But focus o ...