report on The Frontier Post / November 4, 2020KABUL: Addressing Monday’s attack on Kabul University, Chief Negotiator Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai challenged the Taliban to end “brutal killing”, saying the group should agree to an “immediate ceasefire” if they really are committed to Afghan peace process. “If the Taliban are committed to ending brutal killing of the people, they must agree to an immediate ceasefire and cut short hands of the enemy from the throat of…
Posts published in “Paktalibanization”
report on The Frontier Post / November 4, 2020HELMAND: At least 16 Taliban killed and further nine wounded during a battle with Afghan National Defense Security Forces (ANDSF) in Nawa and Nahre Sarar district of Helmand province, the Ministry of Defense said in a statement Tuesday. According to the statement, security forces defused some 20 Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) planted by the “Taliban on public roads” at the location. “16 Taliban were killed and 9…
by Amir Wasim in Dawn, November 2nd, 2020ISLAMABAD: The opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Awami National Party (ANP) on Sunday reacted strongly to the recent remarks of Minister for Interior retired Brigadier Ijaz Shah in which he had allegedly warned the opposition of attacks by the Taliban. While the PPP sought an apology from the interior minister over his remarks, the ANP called for his “immediate resignation”. In a statement, Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar,…
by Muhammad Ashar Khan in The Express Tribune blogs, Nov 2, 2020The witer is a former research fellow at the Youth Center for Research (YCR).As the withdrawal of the American forces from Afghanistan appears imminent, Afghan politicians are forging new alliances to climb up the power ladder. In this regard, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s recent high-level visit to Pakistan was a major development. The former premier of Afghanistan acknowledged Islamabad’s role in the Afghan peace process and…
By Mohammad Haroon Alim in Khaama Press, 01 Nov 2020 at 11:47 AMThe Afghan government and the Taliban have agreed that Qatar will play a role in facilitating peace talks and advising negotiators to both sides. Sources in Doha says after the government and the Taliban failed to resolve their differences, it was decided that Qatar should play a mediative role. According to the reports, the Qatari government will not be able to participate in…
Report in Dawn, October 30th, 2020PESHAWAR: The Islamic State, a militant outfit, is the prime suspect for the Peshawar seminary bomb blast in light of initial investigations, the provincial government was informed during a meeting on Thursday. The high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mahmood Khan was called over the Zubbariyah Madrassah bombing, which had killed eight students and around 120 others injured on Tuesday morning. A senior official told Dawn requesting anonymity that the…
by Inam Ul Haque in The Express Tribune, October 29th, 2020.The writer is a retired major general and has an interest in International Relations and Political Sociology.It is fashionable these days to lump every shortcoming that Pakistan faces at the doorstep of Afghanistan. Be it the inflation, the rising crime, the ever present terrorism, the congestion in our urban places like Peshawar, the proliferation of drugs or the ubiquity of Kalashnikov… Afghanistan and Afghan refugees…
by Fahd Husain in Dawn, Oct 29, 2020Everyone is hurting. Everyone needs a breather. Three bumper rallies by the opposition alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) has shaken Pakistan’s political equilibrium in more ways than one. The key stakeholders are rattled, nervous and exhausted. They need time to figure out what is happening and where it is heading. Luckily for all, they now have a breather — in fact 23 days of a breather till the…
Nobody expected the Afghan peace process to get off to a very fast start. And surely there would be stumbling blocks when two sides that have been mortal enemies for so long sit down to talk about not just living but also working together. Yet the pace of progress so far seems to have disappointed even those who expected it to take time. And the Americans, who were the principal force behind the sudden change…
After the regrouping of banned TTP in Afghanistan, the incidents of terrorism are on the rise in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa and Baluchistan. In the past three days, explosives devices have been exploded by terrorists, one in Quetta on Sunday and the other on Tuesday in Peshawar. The explosion of time device at a seminary in Peshawar city killed 8 students and wounded more than hundred, some of them are in critical condition. Ironically, the stereotype reaction…
The enlightened coup: op-ed by Shahrukh Nawaz Raja in The News, Oct 29, 2020
The writer works as a development practitioner for a local consultancy.This month marked 21 years since General Musharraf toppled the heavily-mandated Muslim League government led by an increasingly assertive and aspiring Ameer ul Momineen in Nawaz Sharif. In a script that we have become all too familiar with, Musharraf promised to rid the political system of ‘corrupt’ politicians and introduce ‘real’ democracy in the country. While the saviour complex was evident in the delight of…