There was time when Punjabi army was dreaming to occupy Kabul, but today they are worried about their survival in general: Riaz Afghan Pir Pashtunistan Freedom Movement (PFM) is a new organization of Pashtuns. This organization is struggling for free and independent Pashtun state-Pashtunistan. Riaz Afghan Pir, the exiled leader of Pashtunistan Freedom Movement in London told THE PASHTUN TIMES ...

The most discussed issue but more thorny in character. After chewing words for more than half a century I can see no solution to this question in the frame of Pakistan. Though I attained this maturity in mid-twenties of my life but had no courage to say it. Apart from my minerals makeup, there were socio-political coercion or conciliation.  Any change ...

I can just say it again and again, I have never met any culture that was more hospitable as the Pashtuns. I have been welcomed in many places around the world but nobody went so far out of their way for their guests as the Pathans that I met, says Manolo Ty -a German artist, photographer and author of “Pakistan ...

Self-policing: The colonial system of Frontier Management through “traditions” and “jirgas” (1) In 1799 the Afghan emperor Zaman Shah executed his powerful vazir Painda Khan Barakzai, who Zaman thought was a party to the recent coup of his half-brother Mahmud against him. A bloody civil war ensued in the wake of Painda Khan’s execution in the Afghan heartlands. This civil ...

A few days ago Pope Francis in his Christmas message, mentioned three icons of peace and non-violence from the 20th century; Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Abdul Ghaffar Khan (popularly known as Bacha Khan). One would have expected it to be an important news item worth reporting by the Pakistani media. A towering political figure, social reformer and freedom fighter ...

As U.S. President Barack Obama leaves office on January 20, he leaves behind an unfinished conflict, the longest lasting and least successful U.S. war in history: Afghanistan. For Afghanistan and the Afghans, Mr. Obama was a President of contradiction whose Afghan policy proved markedly disastrous. He wrongly believed that he would win the War on Terror militarily and by appeasing ...

The Awami National Party, ANP, led provincial government (2008- 2013) of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province came under relentless Taliban terror attacks. The Pashtun nationalist ANP lost over seven hundred workers, activists, supporters and their family members, including legislators. One of the assassinated legislators is Bashir Bilour (1943-2012). Bilour, an ANP stalwart educated as a lawyer and a resident of Peshawar, was ...

Contrary to the general perception, terrorism was started in South West Asia long before the Soviets invasion of Afghanistan. It was State terrorism then and State terrorism now. It is an obscured notion that they are Non-State actors; they are assets of States but not publically owned by them. Though as such, terrorism is as old as human being, going ...

Of late, there has been considerable amount of discussion in various circles of Pakistan on the need of counter extremist narratives for all good reasons. Appreciating the good intentions of all those involved in the process, one would like to underpin essentials for success of such a process. We need to raise and address some fundamental questions. What constitutes a ...

 During my recent trip to Berlin, I was invited to attend the final leg of the peaceful ‘long march’ campaign which was launched in Dusseldorf on the 16th July 2016, by a group of Baloch activists in an effort to raise awareness and highlight the violation of human rights in Balochistan. Coincidentally, I happened to be in Berlin on the ...