Pak Tea House » Archive
Even If Raymond Davis is an intelligence officer, will he still have diplomatic immunity?
by Feroz Khan If Raymond Davis is an intelligence officer, he still will have diplomatic immunity. The intelligence community is a very small world and when a diplomat is accredited to a foreign country, the host country is notified about the posting and the person who who will be posted. In this case Pakistan would have been duly informed by the United States that Raymond Davis will posted to Pakistan and in this case, Pakistan had the option to allow him into the country or not but the fact that Pakistan accepted his posting and issued an official visa to that affect means, legally under international law, that Pakistan accepted his credentials and that automatically conferred the status of a diplomat upon him. Even if he is an intelligence officer, the protocol in … Read entire article »
Sunil Sethi: Life in a Pakistani village
Most reassuring was the sweet cadence of the rustic Punjabi dialect spoken in these parts Sunil Sethi / New Delhi February 19, 2011, 0:06 IST A lightening strike by Pakistan International Airlines having put paid to our plans for departure to Delhi, we found ourselves with a few extra days in Lahore, awaiting our air exit permits to be converted for the overland crossing at Wagah. Our friend Jugnu Mohsin, the Cambridge-educated lawyer who is also a leading … Read entire article »
An Angry but Patriotic Retort
By Adnan Syed This post is meant as an “honorable” and “patriotic” reply to all the liberal bloggers and PTH-likes who cast doubt on popular nationalist narratives, and point out the nationalistic ideology steeped in hatred and revulsion against foreign powers as self defeating. The post had its genesis in Raza Raja’s article titled “The Misplaced Hatred and Our Rational Self Interest”[i], but is also applicable to all articles calling for restraining our patriotic fervor when it comes to drones, Blackwater, and now Raymond Davis. (AZW) Hold on right there you so called liberal Pakistani bloggers: Are you suggesting here is that Pakistan is in a mess here because of America? Do you not think it was Americans, not us who were pursuing the ideas of strategic depth by backing every rabid extremist like … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Economy, Egalitarian Pakistan, FATA, Identity, India, Islam, Islamabad, North-West Frontier Province, Pak Tea House, Pakistan, Politics, state, USA
Pakistani Intelligentsia’s ‘Cowardly’ Silence
By Iftikhar Nasim We, Pakistanis as a nation, have a problem. We claim to be very brave but is it more bravado and less bravery? As Muslims we claim that we are not scared of death but can we say the same about the “Angel of death”. I will explain later. The bitter truth is we (Pakistani Diaspora) emigrated to England, America and Europe in 1960s and 1970s and the young men of my generation really enjoyed themselves, having fun in night clubs and drowning their “loneliness” in drink, dozens of “girlfriends” and three/four wives here and back home as well. Those old enough to remember know that it was same in the “liberal” era of Ayub Khan and Bhutto’s Pakistan. Now when even Viagra cannot do any miracles (excuse me!), we have suddenly remembered … Read entire article »
Filed under: Pakistan
The Misplaced Hatred and Our Rational Self Interests
Raza Habib Raja In the current era of media fueled URBAN politics, the issues most discussed on the media have tendency to take all the limelight. Once an issue assumes the status of a “rallying” point then political parties try to show adherence to the same in order to remain politically popular. Right now and increasingly after 9/11, US bashing supplemented by notions like national sovereignty and nuclear arsenal paranoia, have taken the centre stage. Historically the anti US sentiments had always been present but these were given a new vigor after 9/11. From that point onwards, the scale has increased to such an extent that it has become the sole paradigm through which we view the world. I would have casually dismissed this hatred as comic absurdity had it been a … Read entire article »
Deciding the Raymond Davis Case—By Principles or Realpolitik Stakes?
By Dr. Niaz Murtaza In an earlier piece (Raymond Davis-Further thoughts) on the PTH, I looked mainly at the legal side of this case and argued that RD’s immunity depends on whether he is a consulate or embassy employee. In the first case, he does not have immunity. In the second case, he would still be liable for civil and admin jurisdiction in Pakistan though it is not clear what rights it will then give Pakistan over him. His actual status is complicated by the poor written communication between Pak and US prior to this incident. I also argued that both countries should form a committee of renowned international jurists (from both western countries and some Muslim countries like Turkey and Malaysia). Pak courts lack jurisdiction, knowledge and international credibility over immunity … Read entire article »
The Pak US conundrum
Saad Hafiz Charles de Gaulle once said “You may be sure that the Americans will commit all the stupidities they can think of, plus some that are beyond imagination”. Well, the “stupid” Americans spearheaded the liberation of France, allowed the Free French Army to lead the march into Paris contributing to De Gaulle being declared a national hero eventually becoming President of France. Similarly, the Americans have pumped over $ 45 billion in direct military and economic aid to Pakistan since Independence, $ 21 billion since 9/11 alone in effect making a huge contribution to stabilizing an impoverished nation. In return almost daily, Pakistani leaders like Imran Khan and Syed Munawar Hasan among others, accuse the United States at minimum of murder, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Pakistan, public policy, USA
Five reasons why I am anti-Valentine
By Ali Suleman Three years back, I wrote an article titled “Pro-Valentine”. Since then, at the start of February every year, I avidly have been sending it to different magazines in hope of seeing it in print. But much to my disappointment, the only Valentine articles I am witnessing have been by the authors who are… well… anti-Valentine. So this time, I decided to change the strategy in order to get my article published. Therefore, instead of stating why I am pro-Valentine, I’ll argue this time why I am anti-Valentine! I am anti-Valentine, because: 1. Valentine’s Day promotes us to have relationships out of marriage. It encourages young people to betray their spouses to-be. And this is something totally forbidden in Islam! Now take the example of my friend Fooka. He and his … Read entire article »
Faiz Ahmed Faiz: poet of peace
By Najam Sethi his year, South Asia celebrates the centenary of Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Pakistan’s pre-eminent Urdu poet in the classical tradition of the subcontinent. Faiz was the last of the five greats – Mir Anis, Mir Taqi Mir, Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib, Allama Muhammad Iqbal and Faiz. Writing one hundred years before Faiz, Mirza Ghalib would have recognised the former’s classical style and would have loved the new metaphor and colloquial touch of introducing common speech … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
Let’s Not Forget the Stakes
By Raza Habib Raja I still vividly remember when Pakistan went nuclear defying the international pressure. The then Prime Minister, Mr. Nawaz Sharif decided to play hard ball and ride the media generated frenzy emanating after Indian blasts to go nuclear as well. Prior to the blasts, the US government along with the international community tried to offer several economic compensations but the government obviously under pressure by the media and encouraged by promises of sacrifices from the various groups (traders in Lahore actually suggested a nuclear tax) went ahead and conducted the tests. More than even the euphoria generated by the blasts (which lasted merely a week), I remember the aftermaths when Pakistan spiralled out of economic discipline. Soon after the blasts, Foreign Currency Accounts were frozen and the resulting panic … Read entire article »
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Analysis : Gap in Pakistan Predator strikes not unusual
By BILL ROGGIO For over three weeks, the CIA’s controversial covert air campaign that targets al Qaeda, Taliban, and allied terror groups’ leaders and operatives in Pakistan’s lawless and Taliban-controlled tribal areas has been silent. There has not been an airstrike by the armed, unmanned Predators and Reapers, or drones as they are more commonly called, for 25 days. This pause has sparked speculation that the US has halted the strikes for political reasons, but a … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
Egyptian ‘revolution’ and Pakistan
Transcript of an interview I gave recently- YLH Do you think many in Pakistan are hoping for a revolution of the sort Egypt went through? Many envied the 18-day non-violent mass protest? But do we have a crop of disgruntled but educated youth with a vision? Answer: I don’t particularly consider the Egyptian protests to be non-violent. Many people are hoping for a similar “revolution” in Pakistan even though we have already been through the Lawyers’ Movement. We have a disgruntled educated middle class- probably bigger than the kind of numbers we saw in Cairo- but popular revolutions are brought about by participation of workers, peasants and other sections of society who are mobilised with a clear strategy and aims and objectives- which were lacking in Egypt and which would certainly be … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
The Liberal Islamist
By AA Khalid Our religious parties claim that ideas of Caliphate and Islamic law are absolutely God-given mandates that we must carry out. Pakistani Islamism is regressive, intolerant and autocratic in spirit, however that is not to say that other types of Islamist thinking is just the same. Below is an interview with the influential liberal Islamic thinker Rachid Al Ghannouchi who speaks against theocracy, imposing a single interpretation of Islam on the country via the State and speaks of strengthening democracy. The work of Al Ghannouchi and others like thinkers associated with the AKP Party in Turkey indicate the capacity for liberalization and democratization within the Islamic traditions. Al Ghannouchi is an intellectual but also a political leader hence his reformist views have serious clout and appeal in the Arab … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
Jinnah’s record as a lawyer
By Yasser Latif Hamdani Fali S Nariman, a senior Indian supreme court advocate, in his book “Before memory fades” quoted a leading light of Bombay bar as saying that Jinnah was the greatest advocate of his time. H M Seervai, the leading authority on Indian constitutional law, also called him one of the greatest lawyers produced by India. There is however a tendency amongst some Pakistanis, entirely ignorant of legal journals and authorities, to even bring about a question … Read entire article »
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