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Jaswant: I am happy BJP expelled me

Irfan — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:04:10 +0000

At the Mumbai launch of Jaswant Singh’s much-publicised book, Jinnah: India-Partition-Independence, on Tuesday, commentators and political historians tried to dissect the real Jinnah. And they ended up analysing the real Jaswant too.

Is Jaswant a villain-glorifying betrayer of national pride, or is he a mature historian holding a mirror up to the Indians when he says that Partition is a shared guilt, so why blame only the Indian Muslims for it? Since the speakers were all friends of Jaswant, there were only eulogies for him.

MJ Akbar, journalist and chairman of Covert, took the myth-busting route to Jinnah, with an engaging, anecdotes-peppered talk about how he loved his drink, often forgot about Ramzan and became communal only when he began aligning himself with the politics of north India.

For the Worlds Hungry, the Recession Is Far from Over

Irfan — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:17:00 +0000

It’s late morning and Minara Khatoon’s five young children haven’t eaten yet. They sit huddled on the dirt floor of their mud thatch hut, waiting as their mother stokes a makeshift fire with straw and dry leaves to prepare what will be their main — and perhaps their only — meal of the day. Minara has just returned to her home in the riverside village of Kapasia, 192 kilometers north of Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, with a monthly supply of wheat grain given to destitute rural families like hers by the United Nations’ World Food Program (WFP). The food aid helps, but only lasts Minara’s landless peasant family —among the poorest of the poor in what is already Bangladesh’s most impoverished district — for 20 days. Her husband doesn’t work due to a chronic asthma condition so to make ends meet she toils as a maid in wealthier households during the day and at night cobbles together handicrafts to sell in a local market. “This is how we survive,” says Minara, pounding fistfuls of wheat on an earthen plate, her tired face far older than that of a woman of her 30 years.

Why Pakistan Balks at the U.S. Afghanistan Offensive

Irfan — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 07:32:27 +0000

Pakistan is not betting on a U.S. victory in Afghanistan, nor is it going out of its way to help achieve one. Instead, say analysts and former top officials in Islamabad, Pakistan views the conflict in Afghanistan through the lens of its own national interests and its conflict with India — and it will act accordingly, prioritizing securing its own interests in Afghanistan’s future. And that could be bad news for a U.S.-led military campaign that depends on Pakistan’s help for thwarting the Afghan insurgency.

Afghan residents fear kidnapping gangs more than Taliban

Irfan — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 12:29:22 +0000

Ghulam Farooq Hussainkhel lives on the outskirts of the Afghan capital in the latest district to fall under Taliban influence. A teacher, Hussainkhel moved last year from a neighboring district after surviving three Taliban assassination attempts for opening two girls’ schools.Taliban forces now occupy positions just five miles from his home in Charasayab and terrorize his neighbors at night with demands that they house and feed their forces.Hussainkhel, 53, fears they could one day force him to close the school system he now runs in the modest suburb south of Kabul, a one-street town at the base of the Hindu Kush mountain range. The Taliban, however, isn’t the biggest security threat, he said. It’s the criminal gangs that roam the capital, kidnapping middle-class citizens for ransom.’’Ordinary citizens are more afraid of the criminals than the Taliban. It takes a long time before the Taliban and the Islamic Party can control an area. But the criminal groups can move in right away. They want to harass the educated people,’’ said Hussainkhel, who has been a teacher for 31 years.

Dancing girls of Lahore strike over Taliban law

Irfan — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 07:27:50 +0000

The dancing girls of Lahore, the cultural capital of Pakistan, are on strike in protest against the tide of Talibanisation that is threatening to destroy an art form that has flourished since the Mughal empire.The strike, which is supported by the theatres where they perform, was sparked by the decision of Lahore High Court last month to ban the Mujra, the graceful and elaborate dance first developed in the Mughal courts 400 years ago, on the grounds that it is too sexually explicit.

The Perils of Blaming Pakistan

Irfan — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 10:02:31 +0000

Indian accusations of a Pakistani hand in last week’s Mumbai massacre couldn’t have come at a worse time for the government in Islamabad: As a Taliban insurgency continues to simmer in the tribal areas along the Afghan border, clashes on Sunday between rival political groups in the southern metropolis of Karachi killed 13 people and wounded 70. The country is on the verge of economic collapse, its desperate pleas for financial assistance from China and Saudi Arabia last month having been rebuffed, forcing Pakistan to accept loans from the International Monetary Fund — but those loans come with stern conditions limiting government spending, the implementation of which will risk inflaming further unrest.

ZAID HAMID ON MUMBAI ATTACKS- DETAILED VIDEO RESPONSE

Irfan — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 09:33:49 +0000

I think that India and other “friendly” countries should now wakeup and realize that terrorism and terrorists do not have borders.A terror attack may or may not have initiated from some remote part of Pakistan’s soil but that definitely does not mean that it is state sponsored. The whole world is aware that Pakistan is leading the war against terrorism.

US must target Pakistan havens

Irfan — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 18:11:55 +0000

The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff has called for a new strategy in Afghanistan to deny militants bases across the border in Pakistan.

I am a human being and may have committed follies: Musharraf

Irfan — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:05:00 +0000

Following is the summary, as translated from Urdu and posted on the Dawn website, of the speech Pervez Musharraf delivered Monday announcing his resignation as Pakistan’s president:President Pervez Musharraf began his address to the nation at...