Pak Tea House » Archive
On the Issue of the United States, Pakistan Is Playing with Fire
By Kevin Gosztola: The Dawn Media Group in partnership with WikiLeaks has been releasing the “Pakistan Papers,” cables from the trove of more than 250,000 US State Embassy cables that WikiLeaks obtained which specifically deal with Pakistan. Thus far, some of the revelations include the following: Pakistan’s military asked for continued drone coverage, the US has had troops deployed on Pakistan soil, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been financing jihadist groups in Pakistan and the … Read entire article »
The Curious Case of Suo Moto Notice of Ms. Odho’s Wine Bottles
By D. Asghar Any reasonable person will not disagree, that if Ms. Odho was violating any law by carrying two wine bottles in her luggage, from Islamabad to Karachi on a PIA flight, she is answerable. If there is a law that requires her to declare the spirits she is carrying, with her on a domestic flight, then it should be enforced. There is no question that Ms. Odho is a frequent traveler and more than likely … Read entire article »
Filed under: Democracy, Fashion, Images, Judiciary, lawyers movement, Pakistan, Politics, Society
Servants, not masters!
Salman Latif While the wounds of Abbottabad’s ‘imperial insurgency’ were still fresh, a debate was going on in the GHQ. For the first time in the history of Pak Army, the Chief was vociferously questioned by the officials who were briefed by him about the entire operation. Some of them went as far as to suggest resignation for the entire top echelon. The interesting part, however, is that all the questions thrown to the Army Chief General Kayani revolved around the violation of national sovereignty and about the drone attacks. The officers demanded immediate bans on drone attacks and wished to know how could US violate international regulations and launch an attack on our land. Sadly, not one of the officials asked the … Read entire article »
Is America really our Enemy No 1?
By Raza Rumi : Six months ago, an extraordinary news report was published by Dawn, which recounted the contents of a military briefing given to journalists on November 30, 2010. A top Pakistani military official stated that Pakistan “has transited from the ‘most sanctioned ally’ to the ‘most bullied ally’” of the US. Essentially an off-the-record briefing, the contents were leaked to the public wherein the army leadership declared that the US had a “transactional” relationship with … Read entire article »
Pakistan and principle of Hegelian ‘contradiction’
Feroz Khan’s exclusive and provocative post for PTH which argues that “a country that was created in conflict, bred on the idea of conflict and sustained on the logic of conflict, it has to exist in a state of conflict”- comments and feedback vital I had meant to write an article for Pakistan Tea House in response to a request by Raza Rumi, but there seemed to be nothing left to write. There are fragments of other articles, few scattered paragraphs here and there, but there was simply no commitment on my part to see them to a finish. Friends kept asking me to write and offered ideas, but the first blush of an effort always seemed to fade with a glass of wine and some old blues guitar … Read entire article »
Filed under: Pakistan
Understanding Pakistani Mistrust of the United States
By Raza Habib Raja This was orginally published at Huffington Post Over the years, U.S. bashing has become a national pastime in Pakistan. This trend is dominant almost everywhere, ranging from drawing room discussions to media talk shows, and in recent months has assumed alarming proportions due to host of events such as Afia Siddique verdict, Raymond Davis’s capture and subsequent release, incessant drone attacks and above all, the recent killing of Osama bin Laden. Although it would be an exaggeration to say that everyone in Pakistan mistrusts and hates the U.S., a substantial majority does. Several surveys have revealed that majority of Pakistanis consider USA as an enemy rather than a friend. In fact Al-Jazeera-Gallup Pakistan Survey 2009 revealed that 59% identified the U.S. as the greatest threat to Pakistan. Even India, … Read entire article »
Five Myths About Pakistan
We are cross posting this short but insightful post by Anatol Lieven where he discusses the five popular myths about Pakistan. In our view, these myths as much of a must-read for non-Pakistanis as they are for the Pakistani nation. (Editors, PTH) … Read entire article »
Filed under: Islam, Islamism, Pakistan, Religion, state, Taliban
Don’t cut Pakistan aid, fix it
By Nancy Birdsall, Wren Elhai and Molly Kinder: For nearly two years, the United States has been trying something completely new in Pakistan. In 2009, with President Obama’s backing, Congress passed a bold piece of legislation that committed the United States to support Pakistan’s people and its economy, as opposed to focusing almost exclusively on the country’s military. The United States would try to help Pakistanis entrench the transition to democracy they won in 2008, and … Read entire article »
Filed under: Economy
Our silence is audible in their blood
By Kiran Nazish: While I was secretly praying for 31st May to pass without any bad news; the month that broke hell in Pakistan with Osama’s revelation on May 1st and subsequently followed by 8 attacks, most on military and others on US, NATO and Saudi reps and disposals. My wistful thoughts succumbed to a phone call by Anita (Mrs. Saleem Shahzad); complaining he hasn’t returned yet past the given time he was supposed to be … Read entire article »
Women inside, not outside
By Amna Shaikh Musings of a Foreign Born Muslim Woman As a 25-year-old woman who was raised abroad and greatly values the empowerment and independence of women, I find it a struggle at times to roam the streets of Pakistan. Growing up in Singapore I was exposed to a variety of cultural and religious values regarding the role of women in society. From hijab wearing Malaysian Muslim women working at Abercrombie and Fitch to Singaporean Chinese women working as CEOs of multi-national corporations. Growing up as a Muslim girl in Singapore I never felt as anything less or different when it came to being female. I was encouraged by my parents to expose myself to as much as possible and explore what cultures, religions and places the world had to offer. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Women
Rehman Malik assures the nation about Nuke safety
The Mush-Tak Series, PTH bi-weekly cartoon drawn exclusively for PTH by the GS team http://gstech-online.com … Read entire article »
Filed under: PTH Biweekly Cartoon
The evil in our midst
By Saad Hafiz: “The Taliban are trying to purify our culture, they are trying to re-establish a purist Islamic culture and tradition,” a young middle class IT professional explained to me in Toronto in 1996. What worried me then was that this person was not a Taliban madrasah graduate living in Pakistan but a professional living in and enjoying the fruits of the “decadent” West. I remembered an earlier ideology based on purification … Read entire article »
Filed under: Taliban
President of APNS confirms that Saleem Shahzad’s emails were not ‘baseless’
Statement from Hameed Haroon, Chief Executive Dawn Group of Newspapers and President All Pakistan Newspapers Society. A leading newspaper publisher in Pakistan and the president of the nationwide newspapers body has reacted sharply to charges by the Inter Services`Intelligence Agency (ISI) that allegations by Human Rights Watch of the intelligence agency’s involvement in the abduction and murder of Pakistani journalist Salim Shahzad were “baseless” . It has … Read entire article »
Filed under: journalism, Media, Pakistan
Lesley Hazleton: On reading the Koran
Lesley Hazleton sat down one day to read the Koran. And what she found — as a non-Muslim, a self-identified “tourist” in the Islamic holy book — wasn’t what she expected. With serious scholarship and warm humor, Hazleton shares the grace, flexibility and mystery she found, in this myth-debunking talk from TEDxRainier. Source: http://www.ted.com/talks/lesley_hazelton_on_reading_the_koran.html … Read entire article »
Filed under: Islam, Islamic Holy Book Quran
Saleem Shahzad’s Passing: And The Score Is Despair 3, Hope 0
By D. Asghar Nothing can be more disheartening, than news of someone’s brutal murder. This year started out with a tragic and insane murder of Governor Salman Taseer in Islamabad. That killer who was supposed to be the “bodyguard”, Mumtaz Qadri surrendered on the spot. Or else we would still be looking for Taseer’s assassin. The indifferent attitude of many was appalling. Their callous and cruel display towards his point of view was to say the least, beyond shameful. It was followed by the equally gruesome murder of the Minorities Minister, Shahbaz Bhatti. He was gunned down and till date his killers are perhaps roaming. Of course his life was not such a precious thing to many, perhaps because of his belief. In both of these cases, the cold and crazy … Read entire article »
Filed under: Democracy, journalism, Liberal Democratic Pakistan, Pakistan, secular Pakistan, Terrorism
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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