The upsurge of the youth and ordinary Pashtuns mainly from the FTA in recent weeks has been defying all odds till now. It has stirred Pakistan’s society in a relative inertia and has sent a fresh breeze of hope, encouragement and inspiration to struggle against all odds for the youth across the country. In ordinary times the politics, values, morality, ...

I recently visited Miramshah and my village, Darpa Khel — after many years, owing to militancy followed by Operation Zarb-i-Azb. Much has been written on the miseries of the tribesmen during militancy and displacement. Here, I examine what their lives look like after returning home. December in this part is dry and dusty. Trees denuded and grass lifeless; it paints ...

Jan. 27, 2018, was another bloody day in the Afghan capital Kabul, with more than 100 killed and about 200 injured in a suicide attack in one of the busiest areas of the city, just meters away from the old Interior Ministry complex. As usual, the victims were mostly civilians, including women and children. There was no hesitation from the ...

Obaid-Chinoy has a legitimacy problem that needs to be addressed to restore her credibility as an unbiased and professional film-maker. Pakistan army’s strategic depth policy has had devastating consequences for people of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). The area was handed over in de facto manner by Pakistan  army to its  proxies, the  Taliban, since 9/11. The Taliban disrupted ...

Army chief General Qamar Bajwa seems to be against the military’s direct intervention in politics but Khadim Rizvi and his cohorts have been making insinuations that the general might not belong to the right sect. If the history of Pakistan was made into a movie, one scene would be repeated several times albeit with a new cast of characters each ...

In pre-Taliban era when the last president of Afghanistan, Dr. Najibullah was ruthlessly hanged to death, Kabul was frozen with terror of the deadliest civil war. The atrocities which followed by are unspeakable. Afghanistan, a land, where you can take any of your war with your enemies, became a living hell for its masses, and paid an unbearable price to ...

Although the Supreme Court is expected to take up the inquiry report of the JIT against the Sharif family on Monday, but it seems to be a mere  formality as the cheerleaders of the creeping coup are determined to force the Apex Court to sack the elected Prime Minister of the country. By now it’s pretty clear that in actual ...

The recent ghastly terror attacks in Kabul and London makes me wonder whether such acts of violence are fast becoming the new normal in our lives. Over the last few years, we, as citizens of this world, have grieved for hundreds of innocent lives lost in Boston, Brussels, Paris, Nice, Ankara and many other cities, and have held numerous international ...

The savagely violent murder of Mashal Khan on April 13 is a grim reminder of our consistency in aversion for critical minds and free thinking from olden times down to present day. This lynching is not a unique episode in human history. Socrates (470-399 BC), the classical Greek Philosopher was accused of corrupting minds of youths and impiety. He preferred ...

After taking charge of Presidency, Ashraf Ghani was very enthusiastic to have more cordial and wide ranging strategic relations with Pakistan, his three frequent visits including the highly criticized visit one toArmy GHQ is indicative of the fact. However, President Ashraf Ghani was not happy with the outcomes which resulted in nose dive slide in the already not-so-good relations between ...