KARACHI, April 18: Secularism is not against religion; it is the message of humanity.
This was the gist of the speeches delivered by eminent speakers at the launch of the Pakistan chapter of the Forum of Secular Bangladesh and Trial of War Criminals of 1971 at the Karachi Press Club on Wednesday.
Prior to the launch, a documentary Portraits of Jihad directed by distinguished Bangladeshi filmmaker Shahriar Kabir was screened. The subject of the film was the spread of religious fundamentalism in Bangladesh. It gave a detailed …

THE dates are muddled and my memories of the place are at times vague and confused, but a lifetime ago, my family and I lived in East Pakistan. I went to school there, learned about life from wise teachers, made wonderful friends and wallowed in the languid beauty of a truly golden land.
It was a privileged existence. We were in Dhaka for about three to four years and I loved every minute of it. I delighted in the magic of the city, the mysterious …

Both Jamat-e-Islami and Pakistan’s deep state were looking for a charismatic character, who had a glitz of the Western culture and a mindset of an Islamist. One senior memeber of Jamat-e-Islami, namely Hafeea ullah Niazi effectively solved this problem by finding the right person for this job. He happened to be the brother-in-law of Cricket’s super star, male sex symbol and Casanova of International repute, Imran Khan.
The Jamaat Islami (JI) won Pakistan state’s patronage to be given a role in home politics for the first …

Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican, represents California’s 46th District in the U.S. House.
There has been quite a stir since I introduced a resolution this year calling for recognition of the right to self-determination by the people of Baluchistan. I drafted the measure after a Feb. 8 hearing by the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on oversight and investigations that exposed horrific violations of human rights by Pakistan security forces in Baluchistan. The U.S. State Department, Amnesty International and other human rights groups have verified and denounced …

One of the most important challenges we face as a free people is understanding the true nature of – and threat posed by – a totalitarian, supremacist Islamic doctrine its adherents call shariah. So, it would seem to be good news that a $3 million public education campaign is being launched nationwide to “clarify” what shariah is.
The question is: Will this campaign be truthful and helpful, or will it amount to an exercise in what is not only permissible under shariah, but obligatory: lying for the faith, or …

The last week has done much to educate me in the ethnic politics of South Asia. After writing this blog post criticizing those Canadian Sikh activists who expressed support for convicted terrorist Balwant Singh Rajoana, I received an avalanche of hate mail. Many of the messages repeated the same words, and clearly were part of an organized mass-mailing campaign against me and CBC reporter Terry Milewski (who also has reported on Rajoana’s supporters) — similar to the Tamil mass-mailing campaigns that targeted me when I …

General A.A K Niazi had amorous relations with Ms Saeeda Bukhari of Gulberg Lahore who used to run a brothel house by the name of Sinorita Home. She also worked as a tout for Tiger Niazi for receiving money and getting things done when he was GOC and later Corps Commander at Lahore. She also colluded with Niazi in the smuggling of pan from East Pakistan. Shamim Firdaus was another notorious character from Sialkot who did the same job as Saeeda Bukhari but at a different location

Brigade Major Munawar Khan …

Pakistanis specially journalists welcomed Bangladesh’s initiatives to try 1971 war criminals and urged their government to seek formal apology for their misdeeds.
Three Pakistani journalists and an NGO activist hold the same opinion in exclusive interviews with the news agency on the sidelines of an international conference held in Sri Lanka recently.
“We still feel sorry for the misdeeds of Pakistani forces in 1971,” said Saleem Saikh, a senior journalist of widely circulated newspaper Dawn.
He said a formal apology by the Pakistan government for misdeeds in 1971 could smoothen the way for …

The war of liberation of Bangladesh lasted less than nine months, but for those who were impacted by the devastation to lives and property, each month counted as a year. From its beginning in March 26 to December 16 when it ended each Month brought to the people of Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) sufferings of a differing kind. The first three months were spent by the Army in consolidating its hold over the country; the next three months were spent in spreading canards and lies about the mass killing and …

The US House of Representatives under the auspices of Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission organized a hearing on the continuing plight of religious minorities in South Asia, focusing particularly on Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The hearing was held in Canon House Office Building Room No: 340 on March 21, 2012 at 10 AM.
The following individuals gave their testimony in the hearing:

Leonard Leo, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom,
Majed El Shafie, Founder, One Free World International,
Amjad M. Khan, National Director of Public Affairs, Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA,
Dr. Sachi …

KLF 2012, The Emergence of Bangladesh: A Military failure or a Collapse of Civil Society
Khaled Ahmed, Sarmila Bose, A. R. Siddiqi
Moderator: Yaqoob Bangash

Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) has admitted to meddling in India’s Northeast and funding the right-wing Bangladesh National Party (BNP) during the 1991 general elections in that country.
The admission came from no less than former ISI chief Asad Durrani during a Pakistan Supreme Court hearing on the spy agency’s mandate on Wednesday.
A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary grilled the former spy agency chief on ISI’s funding for politicians both within and outside Pakistan.
Recently a UAE-based daily had alleged that ISI paid Rs …