By Ray McGovern January 20, 2013 "Information Clearing House" - Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, a practicing Catholic, sought a blessing on Wednesday from Pope Benedict XVI. Afterward Panetta reported that the Pope said, “Thank you for helping to keep the world safe” to which Panetta replied, “Pray for me.” In seeking those prayers, Panetta knows better than the Pope what moral compromises have surrounded h ...

By Yvonne Ridley The only thing that surprised me when I heard that the Algerian kidnappers had called for the release of  Dr Aafia Siddiqui was that it hadn’t happened sooner. Don’t get me wrong, as a former hostage myself, there is no way I condone the actions of what has unfolded in a remote corner of the Algerian desert. And my heart goes out to the families of those who have lost loved ones in the unfo ...

By Sajjad Shaukat After signing of the Islamabad Long March Declaration by the representatives of the coalition government and Dr Muhammad Tahirul Qadri, the chief of Tehrik-e-Minhaj-ul-Quran (TMQ) and Pakistan Awami Tehrik (PAT) on January 17, this year, the five days episode was ended, which started from Lahore on January 13, and continued at the D-Chowk of the federal Capital where thousands of persons c ...

By Felicity Arbuthnot It is the first genocide of the 21th century. Poor Iraq and Iraqis. The silence of the world pushes me to lose faith in humanity. – Anonymous Incredibly it is twenty two years to the day since the telephone rang in the early hours and a friend said: “They are bombing Baghdad.” It was not alone Baghdad, of course, Iraq was being systematically destroyed, from ancient southern Basra to h ...

By Jay Janson Panetta said the Pope said to him, “Thank you for helping to protect the world.” said he replied, “Pray for me.” Fellow Catholics, can only hope that the Pope said something else that Panetta was reluctant to mention to US foreign policy promoting reporters. One paragraph re Panetta’s crimes, Reagan’s Assist. Sec of Treasury quoted, and the usual plea for a responsible public to call for prose ...

Asif Haroon Raja In order to hide their crimes and to distort historical facts, Indian historians and political leaders have chosen to paint Quaid-e-Azam as the ‘villain of the piece’. The Indians propagate the theme that ‘Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a communalist responsible for the bloody break up of Pakistan. He founded a theocratic and non-secular State’. The BJP and other Hindu hardliners even now accuse h ...

ISLAMABAD: Tehrik-e-Minhajul Qauran chief Allama Tahir ul Qadri culminated his four days long march after an agreement with the government here on Thursday. After successful negotiations with the government, he congratulated the participants of long march, the nation as well as the ruling coalition for what he termed the successful culmination of the long march. Addressing the participants of the sit-in, fo ...

By Zaheerul Hassan Top military commanders of India and Pakistan on16 Jaunary 2012 agreed not to allow escalation of tensions along the Line of Control (LoC) with the Pakistan Army asking its troops to observe ceasefire strictly and exercise restraint. The ways to defuse the tension on the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir, which was triggered by the killing of initially one and later on two Pakistani soldiers by th ...