The Peshawar atrocity did not come out of a clear blue sky—the foreboding context an inert, corrupt state ambivalent towards violence, hardly functioning public institutions and unregulated madrasas.
In theory, Pakistan’s constitution upholds equality of all its citizens, regardless of religion. In theory.
The Federally Administered Tribal Areas touching Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan suffer a toxic mix of state and non-state violence and neglect. The consequences are unlikely to be good.
Western enthusiasm for Malala Yousafzai overshadows the fact that western policies deny children in Pakistan their most basic rights. The short-term memory of the media cycle, coupled with political self-interest and selective attention continue to marginalise the trauma of CIA drones.
There is a central contradiction at the heart of the construction of Pakistan. A state that was created to protect a minority nation was, and still is, wholly unwilling to extend the same kind of protections to its minorities.
Attacks by US drones have often been presented as forensic, yet only one in 25 victims in Pakistan were identifiably associated with al-Qaeda.
As the political turmoil in Pakistan continues to unfold, the underlying implications for India-Pakistan relations are discouraging.
Recipients of humanitarian awards often invite controversy. In Pakistan, religious and political identities are valued more than the contributions of such recipients. Malala Yousafzai may have the Nobel Peace Prize, but she remains the target of criticism from Pakistani conservatives and also many
Just when many thought Pakistan was finally on the trajectory towards a functioning democratic system, unrest broke out in a number of cities and provided a stark reminder just how fragile the country’s politics remain.
The military is never far from politics in Pakistan—and it may be implicated in the latest political crisis, as opposition forces led by Imran Khan challenge the legitimacy of the government of Nawaz Sharif.
We need to subject intelligence gathering to similar rules that regulate the conduct of war regarding medics and Red Cross personnel. The exploitation of humanitarian efforts for intelligence purposes must be opposed.
This statutory nature of the Sharia begins to emerge, paradoxically, in the colonial British courts. It is this legacy that led to a reimagining of the role of Sharia, that now plagues the modern Muslim nation state.
