Overseas Pakistani Friends

Maria Toor Pakay, Pakistan’s 19-year old emerging squash star challenged every stereotype regarding the potential of her fellow tribeswomen who languish in tents awaiting aid. Young, determined and undeterred by the unceasing pressures of patriarchy, Toor is beginning to compete in squash championships nationally and abroad

With the Americans refusing to take sides in any part of the conflict that doesn’t suit their own national interests, little incentive remains for the Pakistanis to construct a strategy that would leave them without options after American withdrawal

While Chinese women work to produce anything that sells and raise their country to new heights as an emerging power, Muslim women remain embroiled still in proving that their worth is more than just their virginity
Clerics in Egypt are in a quandary. A new device made by a Chinese company threatens to make every Egyptian [...]

In our sixty-second year, perhaps it’s time we came to terms with the reality that we are and have always been a nation of beggars. Ironically, it is only in embracing this grim reality that we can find the opportunity to change our future

Even if the United States is able to define military and political victories in achievable terms, its failure to respond to the moral questions imposed on them could ultimately be what determines this war’s outcome
This past week, General Stanley McChrystal, the NATO Commander in Afghanistan, submitted his strategic report on the war in Afghanistan to [...]

Immigration laws within the US already provide avenues for immigrant brides that are brought to America to apply for citizenship even if they divorce their husbands due to abuse. This new direction in asylum law in the US provides a tangible commitment to the empowerment of women around the world

In the sweltering July heat of [...]

The extent of the Arab world’s disinterest in American policies in Afghanistan and Pakistan is notable not as much for the alleged hypocrisy it could expose between President Obama’s speech and American policy, but rather in the crude disjunct between the interest and influence of Arab issues on the Pakistani psyche
On June 4, 2009, at [...]

The task of returning to the values enshrined in the US Constitution and regaining lost moral authority necessitates the recognition that the rule of law and the requirements of justice transcend territoriality
On his third day in office, President Barack Obama signed three executive orders. These executive orders, which required the closure of the Guantanamo Bay [...]

The symbolic meeting between American, Pakistani and Afghan leaders brought together three countries whose relations are marred by mistrust based on broken promises on all sides
In the cavalcade of photo opportunities and press conferences that took place this past Wednesday during trilateral talks between the United States, Afghanistan and Pakistan, much was said about three [...]

The residents of Karachi are entrepreneurial, highly educated and without the feudal connections and conservatism that typify other parts of Pakistan. This makes them most likely to suffer in the event of a pro-Islamist Taliban regime that forces women indoors, shuts down businesses arbitrarily deemed un-Islamic and extracts taxes from minoritiesrafia.zakaria@gmail.com
As the temperature of the [...]