Pakistan

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 […]

Education

Pakistan: Fighting Extremism with Schools, Not Guns

contributors

By Zofeen Ebrahim | — KARACHI (IPS) – As a wave of outrage, crossing Pakistan’s national borders, continues a month after the Dec. 16 attack on a school in the northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, some citizens are turning away from collective expressions of anger, and beginning the hard work of building grassroots alternatives to terrorism […]

al-Qaeda

Yes, they’re Condemning the Paris Attacks: The Muslims’ War on Terror

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) — When American commentators like Carl Bernstein complain that Muslim authorities have not sufficiently denounced the terrorist attack on the Charlie Hebdo staff in Paris, they show a profound ignorance of the current situation in the Middle East. The fact is that both governments of Muslim-majority countries and the […]

Drones

After 500 Strikes: Is America’s Drone War Crashing And Burning?

contributors

AJ+ | — “Drone strikes are the weapon of choice in America’s so-called War on Terror. They’ve been used nearly 500 times in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia since 2002. But while U.S. officials praise their “surgical precision,” the reality on the ground tells a different tale. Here’s what you need to know about the U.S. […]

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”

Islam

Not the Onion: Pakistanis Demand arrest of Cleric for not Condemning “Jihadis”

contributors

AJ+ |– “Pakistanis are calling for the arrest of a Muslim cleric, Abdul Aziz, who refused to condemn the recent Pakistan Attack that led to 148 deaths. Some feel the Taliban school attack in Peshawar is a turning point in Pakistan’s complex relationship with extremist groups. There’s been an ongoing controversy both inside and outside […]

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 […]