Pak Tea House » Archive
What Happened with Kerry-Lugar
By David Ignatius It’s a classic example of the law of unintended consequences: Congress triples its assistance to Pakistan as part of a deepening strategic relationship. But members of Congress, always eager to tell other countries what to do, insert conditions that Pakistanis find insulting. … Read entire article »
Pakistan's Partial War on Terror
The deadly results of cooperation with terrorists. By C. CHRISTINE FAIR The past week’s spate of suicide bombings in Pakistan and the siege of its military headquarters are again casting the spotlight on that country’s war on terror. Attention will—and should—focus in particular on Islamabad’s many failures to control militants on its own soil. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, FATA, Pakistan, Taliban, Terrorism, war
Attack on GHQ should lead to immediate policy shift
Bilal Qureshi Why is there so much commotion about the attack on the GHQ in Pakistan? Come on, please; did we not know that the Taliban are a threat to everything Pakistan? Regretfully, there is still support for the Taliban in the country. I was watching Ijaz-Ul-Haq, son of Zia, one of the worst dictators in Pakistan’s history argue on TV that the government should not launch any offensive against the Taliban. Instead, he argued, shamelessly, that Pakistan should not fight America’s war. Before I get to Ijaz’s despicable argument, I must say a word about the role of media in Pakistan. I don’t understand why is (electronic) media in Pakistan determined to support the Taliban? I mean, if the producers, or the anchors working for TV Channels in Pakistan don’t like the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Taliban, Terrorism, USA, violence, war
PAKISTAN: State faces crisis of purpose
This is an old piece but after the attack on GHQ it is quite a relevant reading. Comments are welcome. Raza Rumi Oxford Analytica – Wednesday, October 1 2008 SUBJECT: Scenarios for the future of Pakistan. SIGNIFICANCE: Recent geopolitical developments have undermined the traditional rationale of the state, promoting deepening internal discord. To survive, Pakistan will need to re-cast itself and find a new place in the international order. Yet the three most likely ways forward are each fraught with difficulties. ANALYSIS: Most of the domestic and geopolitical forces that have held Pakistan together since its hasty creation in 1947 have been weakening rapidly. As such, the country is at an historic crossroads. Its future in recognisable form will be in serious doubt unless it can find alternative sources of cohesion. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Pakistan
Chandra Muzaffar on Islamic Reform & Liberation Theology
Chandra Muzaffar is Malaysia’s best-known public intellectual. He has written widely on questions related to Islam, inter-faith relations and liberation theology, issues that he discusses in this interview with Yoginder Sikand. Q: Much of your writing focuses on a critique of capitalism and consumerism, or what you very aptly term as ‘moneytheism’, which you contrast with the monotheism of Islam. How do you see Muslim scholars dealing with these issues? A: Unfortunately, what is in some circles called ‘Islamic Economics’ has not sufficiently critiqued capitalism and the consumerist ethos. In fact, many of those associated with the ‘Islamic Economics’ project have simply tried to apply a so-called ‘Islamic’ gloss on capitalism. If at all those associated with the ‘Islamic Economics’ project critique consumerism, which is such a deeply-rooted phenomenon globally, including in … Read entire article »
Filed under: Pakistan
Separating Myth From Fact on the Kerry-Lugar Bill by U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations WASHINGTON, DC FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 8, 2009 Contact: Frederick Jones, Communications Director, 202-224-4651 Separating Myth from Fact on The Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of 2009 … Read entire article »
Can we unite to protect our future?
By Bilal Qureshi There we go again. Another bomb blast in Peshawar destroyed everything – peace, confidence and hope, yet again. We all know that the campaign against the Taliban is going to be bloody, and these nihilists are going to do everything in their power to scare, destabilize and intimidate Pakistan, but I am confident that Pakistanis will not, and they cannot be pressured into accepting a barbaric and primitive life style that these thugs are trying to impose on Pakistan. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Pakistan
The Military’s Ideology
By Ayesha Siddiqa The country’s ruling elite and the military have traditionally used a particular aspect of religion to gain strategic dividends. —File Photo PAKISTAN observers often wonder what the Pakistan military’s primary ideology is. Is it a secular institution or one which is high on religious values? Since the military is considered the strongest institution of the Pakistani state, the question becomes critical in determining what direction the country will take or how its armed forces will fight the war on terror. … Read entire article »
The Obama Plan to Radically Remake Pakistan
IN AN UNUSUAL MOVE, the Pakistani military on Wednesday publicly criticized the Kerry-Lugar Bill — a five-year, multibillion-dollar U.S. aid package recently approved by Congress and now awaiting President Barack Obama’s signature. The military’s motivation is simple: The aid package is designed to limit the Pakistani military’s role in governance. It stipulates that the aid is contingent upon the U.S. secretary of state’s certification that, among other things … Read entire article »
Filed under: Army, Pakistan, Parliament, south asia, USA
Congratulations US President Obama
By Yasser Latif Hamdani on behalf of the PTH Team Congratulations are in order for the US president Barack Hussain Obama for winning the Nobel Peace Prize. We hope that he will now work towards bringing peace to Pakistan and resolving the Kashmir Dispute once and for all. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Kashmir, Pakistan, Palestine-israel, USA
Pak Army’s Objection to US Aid Not a Threat to Zardari Govt: US
The Obama Administration believes that there is no threat to the democratically elected Government in Islamabad in view of the Pakistani Army’s public opposition to the Kerry Lugar Bill which is not in line with the official position of the Zardari Government. “I don’t think it is a threat to to the civilian government in Pakistan,” Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs told reporters when asked about the differences that has emerged between the army and the Zardari Government on the Kerry-Lugar Bill. … Read entire article »
Confessions of a 'Reluctant Anti-Americanist'.
Bradistan Calling Certain brands define the love-hate relationship that Pakistan has had with the United States of America over the past 60 years. America has been the biggest and most advanced ‘Superpower’ of the world. American technology, capital markets and economy is the biggest in the world. Pakistan as a third world country needs investment and technology for development. Pakistan needed allies and military hardware after its traumatic birth and found a willing patron in United States of America. I will not try and re-write Tariq Ali’s critically acclaimed book ‘Pakistan on the flight path of American Power’. Now the American and Pakistani right-wingers are having an acrimonious divorce over ‘Black Water’ and ‘Predator’ drones, ‘never wash your dirty laundry in public’ is the sane advice. Pakistani right-wingers love to hate Americans … Read entire article »
Self-Appointed Custodians of Self-Defined National Security
By Usman Sadozai The Pakistan Army has taken the unusual step of officially expressing concern and apprehension about the Kerry-Lugar Bill, at the end of the 122nd Corps Commanders Conference. The communiqué is a poorly disguised warning. It’s a transgression by the military and poses a challenge to the fragile and nascent democracy that it could have done without. One of the concerns that the military wishes to address, it is claimed by analysts, is to give out the message to the Pakistani public that its Army does not take orders from Washington. … Read entire article »
'I questioned things at Guantánamo from day one
Six months into his stint as a guard at Guantánamo, Terry Holdbrooks converted to Islam. What made him do it, asks Sarfraz Manzoor Sarfraz Manzoor Terry Holdbrooks, now named Mustafa Abdullah. Terry Holdbrooks arrived at Guantánamo detention camp in the summer of 2003 as a godless 19-year-old with a love of drinking, hard rock music and tattoos. By the time he left Cuba the following year, he had alienated his army colleagues, won the respect of the detainees and, most astonishingly, converted to Islam in a midnight ceremony in the presence of one of the detainees, who had become his mentor. … Read entire article »
Kerry Lugar Bill and the Conspiracy Theorists
By Yasser Latif Hamdani The conspiracy-monger brigade of Pakistan is up in arms against the Kerry Lugar Bill. Hysterical shrieks are being heard from all corners against it. Those who had struggled for rule of law and democracy only a few months prior ago are now hailing the top brass of the Pakistan Army for taking a stand against this “anti-national faustian bargain”. All and sundry have denounced it as the worst compromise in Pakistan’s history. … Read entire article »
PTH biweekly Cartoon
Picture of the Week
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Sunrise at the Arabian Sea, Charna Island
24 Dec 2011
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