Pakistan

People rally behind politicians who stand up for national honor, but in rare cases, phony politicians fail to win support from masses. In the process, heroes lose respect, and turn followers into adversaries. Take for example Imran Khan, a national hero so many of us grew up worshiping, but sadly, now we are witnessing him […]

NEW DELHI: Former president General Pervez Musharraf has said he would consider returning to politics again provided he was invited to play a useful role for the country, Press Trust of India said on Saturday, quoting from an interview he gave to an Indian TV channel. ‘If someone offers, I will see whether I can […]

WANA, PAKISTAN: Taliban militants claimed to have shot down a US drone in the Angoor Adda area of South Waziristan on Saturday. Militants loyal to Taliban commander Maulvi Mohammad Nazir said the unmanned aircraft had crashed in a jungle after the attack and soldiers took away the wreckage. But security officials and political authorities disputed […]

NEW DELHI: Flames of terrorism from Pakistan are leaping across the borders and, unless checked with a sense of urgency, could engulf the world, more so India, Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here on Friday. Inaugurating an international conclave that will be addressed on Saturday by former president Gen Pervez Musharraf, Mr Mukherjee urged international […]

LONDON/LAHORE: Pakistan is facing a “mortal threat” from its internal enemies amid worsening security in the country, Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Friday. It is now vital that rival democratic forces unite to combat the “very grave” security situation, he told BBC radio in the wake of the attack on the Sri Lanka […]

PAKISTANIS have become so accustomed to terrorist attacks that they are almost incapable of shock when fresh horror strikes. But the attempted massacre of the Sri Lankan cricket team penetrated even the thickest skin, and brought home to us yet again what a murderous place Pakistan has become. However, despite the familiar nature of the […]

Many situations have jinxed Pakistan since its birth nearly 62 years ago. Yet the forbearance and endurance of its people is admirable. Neither decades of military rule nor obsequious politicians have disheartened the nation. It has faced a long ordeal with very little respite. Still the people’s eyes remain fixed on a democratic setup which […]

Yesterday’s terrorist attacks do not mean that Pakistan is a failed state. But it has a failed President. Asif Zardari, a disastrous replacement for his assassinated wife, Benazir Bhutto, is compounding his country’s problems by his pursuit of personal survival at the expense of its Constitution, the rule of law and agreement between the main […]

Pakistan’s Swat valley is quiet once again. Often compared to Switzerland for its stunning landscape of mountains and meadows, Swat became a war zone over the past two years as Taliban fighters waged fierce battles against Army troops. No longer, but only because the Pakistani government has agreed to some of the militants’ key demands, […]

WASHINGTON: US drone attacks continue to inflame Pakistani animosity against the United States and undermine both the government and the Pakistani military, says a recent report by a major US think-tank, the Atlantic Council.   While reviewing the current political and economic problems confronting Pakistan, the council warns: ‘It is our estimate that the Pakistan […]

NEW YORK: ‘Between the threats from extremists, an unraveling economy, battling civilian leaders and tensions with its nuclear rival India, Pakistan is edging ever closer to the abyss,’ the New York Times said Saturday. In a lead editorial the newspaper asks President Asif Ali Zardari and the leader of Pakistan Muslim League (N) Nawaz Sharif […]

INAYAT KILLAY: Troops guarded the remnants of a war zone as a military convoy crunched past shops blown to pieces and an electricity pylon collapsed on rubble near the Afghan border. “Any human being who sees this destruction will cry. There was bombing, there was shelling, we have never seen such fighting,” Haroon Ahmed told […]