Tag: US
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Breaking point?
Guest Post by Faisal Kapadia from DeadpanThoughts As Muslims, we are often informed by the local and international media of our innate ability to react emotionally to anything concerning religion. They say we react too aggressively to any remarks on our faith or system of values and have knee-jerk reactions to issues that can be…
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Op-ed: For whom the drone tolls
A question lurks within the mind of every Pakistani: where are we headed with this war on/of terror? Is Pakistan a simple ‘franchisee’ or are we developing our own long-term interests in this war? The strategy to hit out at selected al Qaeda targets unfolded in early 2007 when our government offered facilities for launching…
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Who is The Terrorist?
Guest Blog by Zeeshan Khan She crouches in a corner of her humble abode Fear writ large in her light brown eyes In her heart she cries out to the world, “How much more will we be terrorized?” There has to be something about the term ‘Terrorism’ which makes it the most misused term in…
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Zardari, an American National but Straight & Depressed
The National Names Database has some interesting facts about our President, Mr. Asif Ali Zardari. It appears that he may have US Citizenship / Nationality? I wonder if dual citizenship is permissible while holding office of the President of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, as the issue of the OATH is important, when you take Oath…
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Death of Collective Wisdom
Is there a competition going on in Pakistan between institution to earn shame and notoriety for their nation?” my colleague asked me casually while we were having some drinks and watching a news television. “We are on that path for last 40years”, I answered stubbornly. Can there anything such shameful to force you behave that…
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Anti-Americansim: Time to Make it Unfashionable
When I first learned that the suspect in an incident to set off a bomb in Times Square was Pakistani, my reaction was somewhat jaded. Most of us Pakistanis living here in the United States have become accustomed to the unflattering amount of attention given to our country of birth. Perhaps as a sign of…
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Drone Attacks in Pakistan have a 2.5% strike rate against Al-Qaeda
The Pakistan Body Count, a website run and managed by Zeeshan Usmani, a professor at Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute has documented over 124 drone attacks since 2004 and as per the last documented attack on May 11th 2010 in Miranshah shows that only 30 Al-Qaeda operatives have perished in the last six years but more…
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Ex-CIA official reveals Waterboarding Torture & the Iraq Invasion
In a video interview John Kiriakou, a former CIA counter-terrorism official reveals new information about the capture and torture of “high-value” detainee Abu Zubaydah. Abu Zubaydah was arrested in March 2002 in a joint operation with the CIA, FBI and Pakistani intelligence agents from Faisalabad, according to intelligence reports from the Bush administration who had…
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Pictures of Protest in Karachi – Against Civilian Killings In Khyber
On Saturday April 10, the Pakistani army bombed villages in Tirah in the Khyber Agency and killed more than 70 civilians. While the military denied the incident, local government confirmed compensation payments for civilian deaths and injuries. “All of those killed were civilians, 100% innocent,” said Ikramullah Jan Kukikhel, a tribal elder. He further elaborates…
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What’s a Meridian Jet doing in Karachi?
Last week while traveling to Islamabad for a personal visit I noticed this jet parked on the tarmac near the PAF sheds, little did I think again about the airplane until I read a blog post by Omar R Quraishi who also happened to notice this plane while he was jet-setting to Lahore for a…
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US are Collateral Murderers in Iraq … and they wouldn’t do that in Pakistan, will they?
Yesterday [April 5th 2010] WikiLeaks has released a classified US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad — including two Reuters news staff. The video, shot from an Apache helicopter, clearly shows the unprovoked slaying of a wounded Reuters employee and his rescuers. Two…
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USAID’s Global Pulse 2010
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is sponsoring the Global Pulse 2010, a 3-day, online collaboration event, that will bring together individual socially-engaged participants and organizations from around the world. Global Pulse 2010 is an online “virtual” event. Registration is free and participants can join from any computer with internet access. The event has…
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Why perceptions matter more than grievances: Conspiracy theories, our Achilles heal?
Conspiracy theories are making a big splash in both the domestic and international media. While we in Pakistan are often angered as to how Pakistan is portrayed in the Western media, the same people seem to be supporting various individuals and right wing parties who are also gaining much traction with foreign correspondents in Pakistan.…
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Rendezvous with Farah Pandith, US Special Rep for Muslim Communities
Last week a few “new media” journalists were invited by the US Consulate to an exclusive meeting with Farah Pandith, who has been recently appointed as the U.S Special Representative for Muslim Communities. The usual bloggeratti excitement was held at bay since the invitation card had a blazing “No-Camera” policy, which had most of us…
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Terrorists are the American Agents: Shia Scholars
Guest Blog by Farhan Janjua In the aftermath of today’s deadly twin bomb blasts at the Shia pilgrims, the scholars of Jafarria Alliance notably Allama Hasan Zafar Naqvi has blasted the United States of America in strong words stating that these terrorists pretend to be Anti-American and in fact are working on the very own…