Pakistan

On Monday, April 4, veteran journalist Ahmed Rashid addressed a select crowd at Karachi’s Mohatta Palace Museum. Not surprisingly, the subject of his talk was ‘Afghanistan and Pakistan: Quest for Peace or Recipe for War?’ He argued that Pakistan was facing a major existential crisis: ‘I no longer say that there’s a creeping Talibanisation in […]

As Taliban forces edged to within 60 miles of Islamabad late last month, the Obama administration urgently asked for new intelligence assessments of whether Pakistan’s government would survive. In briefings last week, senior officials said, President Obama and his National Security Council were told that neither a Taliban takeover nor a military coup was imminent […]

MOHRI PUR, Pakistan — The elementary school in this poor village is easy to mistake for a barn. It has a dirt floor and no lights, and crows swoop through its glassless windows. Class size recently hit 140, spilling students into the courtyard. But if the state has forgotten the children here, the mullahs have […]

WASHINGTON — As the insurgency of the Taliban and Al Qaeda spreads in Pakistan, senior American officials say they are increasingly concerned about new vulnerabilities for Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, including the potential for militants to snatch a weapon in transport or to insert sympathizers into laboratories or fuel-production facilities. The officials emphasized that there was […]

After joining the “war on terror” following the attacks on the United States in September 2001, Pakistan saw a significant rise in attacks by tribal movements and groups linked to the Taliban and al-Qaeda. The security forces have borne much of the brunt of the violence but hundreds of civilians have also been killed. 2007 […]

  Once again, Karachi is burning, and everyone has a theory. On April 29, at least 34 people were killed in an escalating wave of violence across the port city. Most of the dead were Pathan, though the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) also claimed losses. Even before funeral processions were organised and the last fires […]

With President Zardari due to arrive in Washington next week, the US has piled on the pressure on the civilian government. On Wednesday, President Obama explicitly spelled out his concern: ‘The civilian government there right now is very fragile and [doesn’t] seem to have the capacity to deliver basic services.’ Perhaps Mr Obama meant less […]

PESHAWAR: Suspected militants have warned female teachers and students in Peshawar to wear a veil and accompany male members of their families while going schools, or face action. A resident of the Achini village (upper), who asked not to be named, told Dawn that suspected militants had sent threatening letters more than once to the […]

WASHINGTON: The administration of US President Barack Obama is reaching out to former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the chief rival of President Asif Ali Zardari, in hopes to find a way to strengthen the country’s government, The New York Times reported late Friday. Sharif, who served prime minister twice during the 1990s, represents the Pakistan […]

KARACHI: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani criticised on Friday US President Barack Obama’s statement that the civilian government in Pakistan was ‘fragile’, asserting that his government was strong and state institutions were functioning ‘effectively’. He was speaking at a news conference at the Chief Minister’s House after chairing a meeting on the law and order […]

WASHINGTON: US presidential envoy Richard Holbrooke on Friday voiced the Obama administration’s full confidence in the ability of the democratic Pakistani government to deliver services for its people as he rubbished media reports implying that Washington might be concerned about the performance of the elected government to the point of seeking change. Referring to stories […]

KARACHI: At least 25 people were killed and over 40 others injured in a fresh wave of ethnic violence in different parts of Karachi on Wednesday. About 20 vehicles were torched. Tension and panic gripped parts of the city as unidentified attackers went on a shooting spree, killing most of the victims at point-blank range. […]