“Democracy”, the word is being more than mere a government of people by the people and for the people as Abraham Lincoln put it. It is something more than that. Its basic essence is perhaps the same but different countries have tried to implement and practice their own version, proving not necessarily right always. Moreover, the process of democratization is ...

The taboo subject of missing persons is back in the national conversations. Muzzling information and punishing those who reported on it has not worked. This past fortnight Pakistan witnessed unprecedented mobilisation by the youth of tribal areas. Thousands protested seeking justice for Naqeebullah Mehsud brutally killed in a fake encounter by Karachi police — all in the name of counter ...

The truth is no matter what we assume as Punjabis, Urdu speakers or Sindhis, no one in this country has sacrificed as much as the Pashtun. The fact that thousands of Pashtuns have to demand that a police officer who is accused of the extra-judicial murder of dozens of Pakistani citizens be punished for his actions exposes how weak the ...

On Jan 31, 1948, Gandhi was assassinated by Nathuram Godse, a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, for ‘appeasing’ Muslims and for the suffering of Partition. Much has been written about Gandhi’s life and death, but what of the Gandhi in our midst? I have an image of the gentle, towering figure of Bacha Khan assisting a frail Gandhi cross ...

I have been taught… to kill… to not be afraid: the killer PAKISTAN: A college student shot dead his principal on Monday claiming that the victim had committed blasphemy by reprimanding him for skipping classes to attend the November 2017 sit-in of religio-political parties in Faizabad. The incident occurred in Shabqadar tehsil of Charsadda district and the accused was handed ...

Dear Naqeeb your soul that whispered in my ears and asked will there be any justice?  And I said I have no answer to your question because I had seen how Pashtuns were victimized, how a whole lot of an entire generation was pushed into extremism and Talibanization for Pakistan’s strategic designs and games, and I had seen how much ...

What Pakistani clerics mean, suicide bombing is unlawful in Pakistan, but Islamic in Afghanistan. They ignoring estimated 700,00 religious madrassass functioning in Pakistan, producing suicide bombers. The Muslim community around the globe knows better that suicide is forbidden (Haram) in Islam. Whether it is self suicide or suicide against a group of people to kill them, is absolutely against Islamic ...

You were born on the land of those coward people who despite knowing the enemy cannot raise their fingers at them. I too cannot point my finger at them, for I am too a coward man. I too want to live; I have family members and relatives and they too want to live. I can condemn your extra-judicial killing. To ...

Palwasha, the only daughter of Barani orphaned as a kid and married recently. Now she is a widow mother of two, who are now orphaned too. A tank entered the fortress that was recently turned into check post. The Qala (fortress) was attacked by the tank’s main gun, few seconds later a suicide bomber came in, a huge blast took ...

I am devastated to know about Zainab’s case. The severity of the cruelty involved and the repeated nature of such cases emerging across Pakistan shook me to the core. Alone in Qasur at least 12 cases of minor girls just like Zainab being raped and murdered were reported, In 2015 a scandal of filming of 280 children’s sexual abuse emerged ...