Overseas Pakistani Friends

Our rational self-interest in this situation dictates that we help rebuild a stable Afghanistan, help end the war and deepen our relationship with the United States, taking it beyond the contingencies of Afghanistan

This is a wrong question that is often raised and debated in the media, academic and political circles. Why it is a wrong question? Friendship between and among states has a different quality to it, and has more substance and meanings than the conception of friendship between people. And it is not really friendship between states, but the totality of relationship — its nature, extent, diversity, depth and commonality of objectives — that matters. Otherwise all countries with which a country might have diplomatic ties could qualify as ‘friends’, with very rare exceptions.
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The causes of suicide bombings lie not in individual psychopathology but in broader social conditions. Understanding and knowledge of these conditions is vital for developing appropriate public policies and responses to protect the public

Suicide bombing attacks have become a weapon of choice among terrorist groups because of their lethality and ability to cause mayhem and fear. Though depressing, the almost daily news reports of deaths caused by suicide attacks rarely explain what motivates the attackers. Between 1981 and 2006, 1200 suicide attacks constituted 4 percent of all terrorist attacks in the world and killed 14,599 people or 32 percent of all terrorism related deaths.
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We have been sliding downhill for too long, the slide must stop somewhere. Now is as good a time as any, and better than most, given a COAS who is bending over backwards to establish the principle of civilian supremacy

When I first read in the papers that the intelligence ‘Wonder Boy’ Brigadier Imtiaz Ahmed (retd) alias ‘Billa’ had decided to open his mouth and that he had been running from pillar to post asking people to interview him, I decided he was best ignored. However, I did wonder what treatment succeeded in ridding him of the constipation of years and why. That the disease (or should it be treatment?) was bound to be contagious was a foregone conclusion; and even when asked, I refrained from comment except to ask, “what was unknown that he has now disclosed?”
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By Rauf Klasra

LONDON: Former caretaker prime minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain emerges as the only top politician of today’s Pakistan, who had the guts to say “NO” to millions of rupees offered to him by the then Chief of the Army Staff Gen (retd) Aslam Beg to become part of a larger conspiracy to stop Benazir Bhutto from coming to power in 1988.

That decision is paying him off today when many political reputations are at stake for accepting the ISI’s slush fund. Talking to The News from Islamabad on phone on Tuesday, Ch Shujaat Hussain confirmed that he was offered millions of rupees by General Beg, but he politely declined the offer. Continue reading »

By Rauf Klasra

LONDON: The resurfacing of the 20-year-old scandal of Mian Nawaz Sharif accepting millions from the ISI for political shenanigans has thrown a fresh lifeline to a besieged Gen Musharraf (at least that’s what his closest aides in London insist), who feels that now Nawaz could be made to end up in a dock for committing crime against democracy and the people.
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