Pakistani Taliban chief Mullah Fazlullah By Iftikhar Hussain Pakistan, an ideological state, overrun by religious radicals, have turned the society into a one-way alley closed to any non-Islamic argument or interpretations. “To eradicate the ‘ideology’, you have to fight the core”, says Mohammad Jibran Nasir, a Pakistani peace activist who is single-handedly spearheading a campaign […]
Reclaiming Pakistan from religious radicals
Posted May 10th, 2015 at 6:46 pm (UTC+0)
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Is Qatar Peace Process On Again?
Posted May 4th, 2015 at 7:41 pm (UTC+0)
By Behroz Khan Notwithstanding its official status, the peace negotiations between the Afghan Government and Taliban officials brought some seemingly positive indications to the fore which suggest that today’s Taliban are not as inflexible as of the yesteryears. The Qatar talks remain inconclusive and vague but the two-day deliberations paint a comparatively new face of […]
Afghanistan-Pakistan Drug Transit Routes
Posted April 30th, 2015 at 3:17 am (UTC+0)
by Naseer Kakar & Niala Mohammad India is not the only country complaining about Pakistan’s rising drug trafficking issue; China, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia all have repeatedly voiced their concerns over the smuggling of illicit drugs, mainly heroin, opium, hashish and morphine into their borders via Pakistan. However, Pakistan isn’t producing […]
Taliban Flex Muscles for a New Afghan Kill on Holy Friday:
Posted April 22nd, 2015 at 7:22 pm (UTC+0)
By Behroz Khan Imagine, it is Friday, April 23, and suppose millions of Afghans wake up with the call for prayers on the Muslims’ holy day. But instead they witness the “holy warriors” overrun military bases, security check posts and diplomatic missions across the country in the name of the so-called Spring Offensive by Taliban. […]
Waziristan’s Returning IDPs Find Broken Homes And Broken Promises
Posted April 22nd, 2015 at 4:32 pm (UTC+0)
By Wagma Jalawan Pakistan’s displaced families from North Waziristan and other tribal regions are returning to their homes with despair _ they found their homes in shambles, no presence of medical facilities and failed promises of the state. A resident of South Waziristan, Azam Khan, spoke with VOA Deewa about the situation in his hometown. […]
Ko Agha: A Pashtun-American Comedian
Posted March 27th, 2015 at 8:49 pm (UTC+0)
“Hope is not a dream but a way of making dreams become a reality” by Niala Mohammad Hope-that’s all an 11 year old Naseer Ahmed had when he worked as a child tailor in Zangal, an area located between Quetta and Chaman in Baluchistan Province. Naseer and his family were Afghan refugees from Kandahar and […]
Is MQM in Troubled Water? Really?
Posted March 20th, 2015 at 11:57 pm (UTC+0)
Behroz Khan The powerful Mutahida Qaumi Movemnet (MQM) in Pakistan’s economy hub Karachi is passing through another difficult phase of its short but eventful political history. Launched in early 1980s for fighting the rights of the migrated Muslims of Pakistan, its leader Altaf Hussain is in self-exile in London since his party faced the first […]
Countering Violent Extremism: Calls for Re-interpretation of Islam
Posted February 26th, 2015 at 9:31 pm (UTC+0)
By Iftikhar Hussain The mainstream Muslim world needs to come up with a counter narrative that should work as a bulwark against violent extremism, experts say, in wake of the recent atrocities by the Islamic State. In separate interviews experts told VOA Deewa that Muslim majorities who believe their faith is peaceful are ironically silent […]
Balochistan Insurgency in Focus Again After Latest Killings
Posted February 11th, 2015 at 1:12 am (UTC+0)
By Iftikhar Hussain The latest killing of 15 Baloch insurgents by Pakistani troops in exchange of gunfire in a remote region of Pakistan’s southwestern Baluchistan province, near the border with Iran, is raising questions on the continuous insurgency and military’s option for quelling the insurgency via military action. The fighting in Baluchistan’s Washuk region on […]
Externalizing the Balochs’ issue –Pak army ideological calculus
Posted January 19th, 2015 at 7:02 pm (UTC+0)
By Iftikhar Hussain Faced with the pressing challenge of violent extremism at home, Pakistan Army Chief General Raheel Sharif during his recent visit to London, in the Post-Peshawar school massacre scenario, ironically, demanded of the host nation cooperation on Baloch dissidents. “The issue of UK-based organisations creating security problems in Pakistan was forcefully raised in […]
