Tag: Imran Khan

In Imran Khan’s 18-point Kashmir plan for Aug 5, outreach to Turkey, Malaysia and China
29Jul By Grace TsoiNo Comments
World

In Imran Khan’s 18-point Kashmir plan for Aug 5, outreach to Turkey, Malaysia and China

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has roped in his country’s notorious spy agency accused of colluding with terrorist organization - Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) - in his elaborate 18-point plan to commemorate the August 5 anniversary of India scrapping Article 370, sources said.Under the 18-point programme, Imran Khan is scheduled to visit Pakistan occupied Kashmir where he is supposed to address the assembly, a speech that is going to be beamed live. Then, before Khan reaches Muzaffarabad, Pakistan government intends a field trip for foreign journalists to the occupied territory, with the exception of terror training camps funded by the ISI – a behaviour observed in the past.On August 5 last year, India had tabled the law in Rajya Sabha to strip the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kas
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Where is Ehsanullah?
28Jul By Stuart WhiteNo Comments
Opinion

Where is Ehsanullah?

It was in January when the former spokesman of the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Ehsanullah Ehsan engineered an ‘escape’ from the security agencies’ custody, but until now, there seems to be no effort to recapture him  In fact, the government has barely mentioned him at all except to confirm his flight, which Pakistan’s Interior Minister Ijaz Shah did in the most offhand, cursory manner during a chat with journalists.Meanwhile, Ehsan, does not appear to have opted for a low profile. A Twitter account reportedly used by him has been fairly active. Among the more disturbing recent tweets from this account is a death threat against PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, saying that the latter would meet the same fate as his mother, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.On July 17, the P
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China strengthening military base in Gilgit Baltistan by constructing mega infrastructures: Activists
27Jul By Yusara AskariNo Comments
Asia

China strengthening military base in Gilgit Baltistan by constructing mega infrastructures: Activists

Activists in the Gilgit-Baltistan region are worried that Beijing is using military power to build Diamer Bhasha Dam with an aim to counter India’s growing influence in the region as Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan takes swift steps and kicked off construction work at the mega infrastructure.“We have to look at commencement of construction of Diamer Dam in context of Chinese attacks and occupation of Indian lands in Ladakh, Uttrakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. China is concerned about India’s growing interest in acquiring control over Gilgit Baltistan,” said Senge H Sering, director of the Washington-based Institute of Gilgit Baltistan Studies.“China knows that Gilgit Baltistan is a legal part of India and if the international community helps India then Pakistan will not find many
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So many questions
25Jul By Stuart WhiteNo Comments
Opinion

So many questions

For the nth time, Prime Minister Imran Khan was seen inaugurating the Bhasha Dam with the COAS and Director-General of Inter-Services Intelligence in attendance. Now, since there is no urgent national security threat prompting them to be seen together to fortify the nation, we can only infer that they are signaling their continued resolve to remain on the “same page” amidst renewed rumours of an impending Minus-1 change in the political scenario. Therefore, it become pertinent to address a host of serious questions about governance and accountability not just to the handsome PM but also to the two powerful gentlemen.Why is the corruption inquiry against the PTI Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government in the BRT, Malam Jabba and Billion Tree Plantation cases not being vigorously pursued by NAB when i
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Pakistan no longer retains ‘same strategic firm’ for US: Think tank
20Jul By Grace TsoiNo Comments
World

Pakistan no longer retains ‘same strategic firm’ for US: Think tank

A European think tank has noted that Pakistan's regional machinations no longer serve a strategic purpose for the United States as it used to be in the past for former American administration. Instead, Washington now appears to be gearing up for a bigger and multifaceted battle with China.According to European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS), the fact that Pakistan, China's sworn best friend, no longer holds the same charm for the US it once did was made evident in the US State Department report which highlighted the fact that Islamabad had been designated as a "Country of Particular Concern" (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, and that it had been re-designated as a CPC in 2019.The State Department report also drew attention to the fact that Pakistani "...
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The slow poison of Osama: A man, an organization, and the spreading of terror
19Jul By Stuart WhiteNo Comments
Opinion

The slow poison of Osama: A man, an organization, and the spreading of terror

Since Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan fondly remembers the founder of al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, as a “martyr”, it only makes sense to remember him.Osama bin Laden’s Syrian mother was one of the many wives of his millionaire Yemeni father. While his brothers went to the West for higher education, Osama preferred going to Jeddah’s Abdel Aziz University where his fondness for Islamic studies was spurred by two charismatic teachers, Muhammad Qutb and Abdallah Azzam — the first an Egyptian, a brother of the great Ikhwan leader, Syed Qutb and the second, a Palestinian who merged the Qutb doctrine of jahiliyya (ignorance) with modern jihad against the West.In 1980, Osama came to Peshawar to conduct jihad against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.By 1984, Osama got used to spending a lot of t
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Pakistani media mogul’s bizarre arrest shows how media freedom is being squeezed
17Jul By Stuart WhiteNo Comments
Opinion

Pakistani media mogul’s bizarre arrest shows how media freedom is being squeezed

The country’s most prominent media mogul Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman is detained and incarcerated. The image-conscious Prime Minister Imran Khan ignores a letter from United Nations officials about the detention. The media tycoon is held for over 100 days without charge; five bail hearings are postponed, and the bench assigned to hear his case is changed three times in as many months.Even for a nascent democracy such as Pakistan, under military rule for much of its existence, the bizarre arrest and ongoing detention of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman is novel and tragic.The owner-editor of Jang, Pakistan’s most powerful media conglomerate, was arrested on March 12. The move was so unexpected that he didn’t obtain pre-arrest bail when responding to a summons by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) office
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In Pakistan’s Islamabad, a centuries-old temple where Hindus are not allowed to pray
17Jul By Yusara AskariNo Comments
Asia

In Pakistan’s Islamabad, a centuries-old temple where Hindus are not allowed to pray

For centuries, Hindus traveled a long way just to worship at a tiny sixteenth century temple built against the foothills of the Himalayas in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad where Hindus believe ancient god Ram lived with his family during 14 long years of exile.  To continue their journey, Hindus used to stay peacefully in an adjoining dharamshala, or rest house for pilgrims, in what is today called Saidpur Village.According to official records dating as far back as 1893, a fair was held each year at a pond near the site to commemorate that Ram and his family had once sipped water from it.But since 1947, Hindus have not been allowed by authorities to worship at the temple and the compound in which it is housed.Visitors can tour the temple, but all idols have been removed and the shrine
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Pakistan must protect religious freedom for Hindus: Human Rights group
17Jul By Yusara AskariNo Comments
Asia

Pakistan must protect religious freedom for Hindus: Human Rights group

A human rights panel has called on the Pakistani authorities to protect the right to freedom of religion and belief for the country’s beleaguered Hindu community, including the construction of temples to exercise that right.“The respect for the right to freedom of religion was promised to Pakistan’s Hindus by the country’s founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Those who deny a long-marginalized community the right to practise their faith freely not only betray his legacy, but also violate the human rights of religious minorities protected under Pakistan’s constitution and its international human rights obligations,” said Omar Waraich, Head of South Asia at Amnesty International.The human rights organization’s call came as authorities in Islamabad capitulated to pressure from a discriminatory campa
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SP Is the space for critical thinking shrinking in Pakistan?
7Jul By Yusara AskariNo Comments
Asia

SP Is the space for critical thinking shrinking in Pakistan?

In Pakistan, professors and academic leaving literary institutes has become the new normal. A number of liberal academics have been sacked by their universities, allegedly over their anti-government stance.Ammar Ali Jan, a prominent Pakistani academic and activist has become the latest victim of it. In a Twitter post, Jan said that he would be parting ways with Lahore's Forman Christian College (FCC), where he taught political science.Jan is a renowned progressive scholar who has been vocal against alleged military atrocities in the insurgency-marred Baluchistan province. He also lends support to the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) in the country's northwestern areas."After I participated in a student demonstration, the government registered a sedition case against me. The university admini...
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