Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Zofeen Ebrahim KARACHI, Jun 23, 2011 (IPS) – The pain and anger in 25-year-old Rukhsana Langho’s voice could be heard over the telephone line from Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, 700 kms north of the port city of Karachi. "We hate Pakistan and we want freedom," [...]
CAN THERE BE A REVOLT AGAINST GEN KAYANI?
June 19, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy B.RAMAN Can there be a revolt against Gen.Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, Pakistan’s Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), either by the subalterns or by senior officers due to their unhappiness over his perceived/alleged amenability to US pressure? 2. There has been an interesting and exciting debate on this question in the [...]
PAKISTAN: Taliban Use Human Shields Against Army Offensive
June 16, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Ashfaq Yusufzai PESHAWAR, Jun 16, 2011 (IPS) – Thousands of civilians are virtually being held hostage in the tribal areas of northwest Pakistan, where the outlawed Taliban have been refusing them passage to safer areas ahead of a government plan to intensify army offensives. Some were able [...]
PAKISTAN: Tribes Plead for End to Army Offensives
June 7, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Ashfaq Yusufzai PESHAWAR, Jun 7, 2011 (IPS) – Fear and anxiety have spread among residents of North Waziristan in northwest Pakistan after U.S. Admiral Mike Mullen, outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, announced that the Pakistani government would launch a major offensive in the area. [...]
PAKISTAN: Women Lose Livelihood Centres to Militants
May 29, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Ashfaq Yusufzai PESHAWAR, May 28, 2011 (IPS) – Housewife Shahida Jabeen was devastated when she heard the news that she could no longer take sewing and embroidery classes at the local training centre in her hometown in South Waziristan in north-west Pakistan. "It was like a bombshell [...]
HOW TO WARD OFF THREATS TO PAK NUCLEAR ARSENAL?
May 26, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy B.RAMAN The daring commando style raid into a Pakistani naval base at Karachi on May 22 by terrorists of the Pakistani Taliban has highlighted once again the poor state of physical security at sensitive infrastructure in Pakistan and the undetected infiltration by extremist elements into the Pakistani Armed Forces. Since [...]
The Myth and Reality of Pakistan in Crisis
May 26, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IDN By Shastri Ramachandaran* IDN-InDepth NewsReport MUMBAI (IDN) – Maleeha Lodhi, former editor of two leading Pakistani dailies, scholar and twice ambassador to the U.S. and the UK, was not on the list of insiders whom I very much wanted to meet during a recent visit to Pakistan. [...]
Pakistan Fighting Off U.S. Aid
May 23, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Zofeen Ebrahim KARACHI, May 23, 2011 (IPS) – The killing of Osama Bin Laden on May 2 in a covert operation by the United States has prompted strident calls by many in Pakistan to see it as a lesson for the country to stand on its feet, [...]
Obama Troop Surge Decision Ignored Pak-Taliban Ties
May 23, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS Analysis by Gareth Porter* WASHINGTON, May 22, 2011 (IPS) – The unilateral U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden created a spike in mutual recriminations between U.S. and Pakistani politicians, but their fundamental conflict of interest over Afghanistan was already driving the two countries toward serious confrontation. The [...]
DEATH OF A JIHADI FRANKENSTEIN’S MONSTER
May 4, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy B.RAMAN ( Written at the request of the Editor of the “Economic Times”, New Delhi ) Osama bin Laden (OBL), the head of Al Qaeda, was killed by the US Special Forces during a past midnight chopper-borne raid on his hide-out at Abbotabad, a garrison town, about 100 kms from [...]
