The two allies in the war on terror, Pakistan and the US, have somewhat remained estranged after a series of incidents last year that put Pakistan in a not so good light, both inside the country and before the world community. The Salala check post incident was the final blow after which Pakistan reacted with [...]
The tragedy of the Frontier Corps (FC) Inspector General (IG) Major General Obaidullah Khan Khattak’s obtuse explanation in front of a three-member Supreme Court (SC) bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry hearing the Balochistan missing persons case could only have been offset by an equally rational response put forward by the court, as [...]
Summer seems to have aggravated the already acute power crisis at its very onset with over 20 hours load shedding in the rural areas and 18 hours outages in most of the urban areas of the country. Protesting against the precarious situation on Thursday, people in different cities of Punjab took to the streets, blocked [...]
The seven-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC) has released the detailed judgement regarding the contempt case against Prime Minister (PM) Yousaf Raza Gilani. Whereas the short order of the SC had convicted the PM and sentenced him till the rising of the court, it had clarified that the reasons for the conviction and sentencing [...]
Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar has warned that if the NATO supply routes are not restored, Pakistan risks being subjected to sanctions under international law. This is because apart from the inherent rights of landlocked countries like Afghanistan to access through neighbouring countries, the struggle against the Afghan Taliban has the authorisation and mandate of the [...]
Mark Grossman’s three-day ‘charm offensive’ has apparently failed to ease the deadlock that has stymied Pakistan-US ties since the November 26 Salala attack in which 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed. A Pentagon inquiry report, rejected by Islamabad, has tried to portray the assault as a case of “friendly fire”. Salala has served as the proverbial [...]
For at least three days running, the Lyari area of Karachi has been turned into a battlefield. The police moved in in force some days ago after a PPP local leader, Malik Mohammad Khan, was killed while leading a protest against the prime minister’s conviction by the Supreme Court in the contempt case. The People’s [...]
One day after being convicted and symbolically sentenced for contempt till the rising of the seven-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC), Prime Minister (PM) Yousaf Raza Gilani appeared in confident, fighting mood in his appearance in the National Assembly (NA). In a hard-hitting defence from the floor of the house of his stance on [...]
What next? The SC verdict has serious consequences for Gilani though it is not likely to pose any immediate threat to the system. Gilani has been declared a contemner, ordered to be imprisoned till the rising of the court i.e. for thirty seconds, and disqualified from being elected for a period of five years. As [...]
The draft of an agreed strategic agreement between the US and Afghanistan is still behind a smokescreen since details are yet to follow ‘internal reviews’ in the two countries. However, from whatever has appeared in the media, it seems it is intended to send a message to the Taliban, regional players and other forces interested [...]
