Nawaz Sharif

By Brian M. Downing | (Informed Comment) | – China and Pakistan announced, with considerable fanfare in Islamabad, a $46 billion dollar investment program to build a transportation corridor from the western Pakistani port of Gwadar to Xinjiang region in northwestern China. In time, the route will link with Chinese railways bringing Afghanistan’s wealth to […]

Central Asia

Pakistan as Hong Kong West: China’s New Silk Road & US Failure

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Chinese President Xi Jinping made a state visit, full of pomp and circumstance, to Pakistan on Monday, but its centerpiece was a $46 billion investment in the country, dwarfing the US Congress’s $7.5 bn. program initiated in 2008. Whereas the US likes to sell useless weapons systems that […]

Epidemics

Another Terror: Do Taliban stand in the Way of Eradication of Polio Scourge?

contributors

By Inter Press Service Correspondents | KATHMANDU/PESHAWAR, Pakistan (IPS) – The goal is an ambitious one – to deliver a polio-free world by 2018. Towards this end, the multi-sector Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) is bringing out the big guns, sparing no expense to ensure that “every last child” is immunised against the crippling disease. […]

Nawaz Sharif

Pakistan: Judge orders arrest of cleric accused of refusing to condemn Taliban Massacre at School

contributors

Reuters | — “A judge orders the arrest of a senior Pakistan cleric accused of refusing to condemn the school massacre in Peshawar. Paul Chapman reports.” Reuters: “Arrest call for Pakistan cleric”

FATA

3 Problems Pakistani Politics has to Resolve after Grisly School Attack

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | — Pakistan politics has been mired in stagnation for some time now. In September of 2013, Pakistan undertook the first successful civilian hand-off of power in its entire history. Then-president Asaf Ali Zardari was succeeded by the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Despite this milestone, Pakistan’s politics have been full […]

Afghanistan

Even Other Terrorists Denounce Taliban School Attacks In Pakistan

contributors

Cenk Uygur (The Young Turks) | — “”In one of the worst terrorist attacks in Pakistan’s history, militants belonging to the Pakistani Taliban on Tuesday launched a brazen attack on a military-run school in the city of Peshawar. Officials said the eight-hour siege left at least 141 people dead, most of them students. Tehrik-e-Taliban claimed […]

FATA

Child Survivors Describe Horrors of Peshawar School Massacre

contributors

By RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal | — [Written by Michael Scollon, based on reporting from Peshawar by RFE/RL Radio Mashaal correspondent Zaland Yousufzai (RFE/RL) ] Islamist militants have killed more than 140 people at a military-run school in Peshawar, most of them children, in a devastating assault Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif called a “national tragedy unleashed […]

Afghanistan

Desperate Pakistani Taliban, on the ropes, attack Army School in Peshawar: Large scale Casualties

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | — On Tuesday, six members of the Movement of Pakistani Taliban (Tehrik-i Taliban Pakistan or TTP) invaded a school for children run by the Pakistani army in Peshawar The Pakistani military counter-attacked, with early reports of dozens killed and wounded in the cross fire. Some of the Taliban were wearing suicide […]