By Safiullah Baig Diamer District is once again in the limelight for not a good reason but for a despicable act of burning a girl’s school in Darel by some extremist elements. Some mainstream and social media activists as usual were quick enough to point towards Diamer as bastion of extremism in Gilgit-Baltistan. This has made things murkier and will …

Since July, the courts have handed down more than 5,000 verdicts with heavy sentences against members of a Shiite Ismaili ethnic group. About 100 detainees, including seven journalists, are awaiting trial. Authorities in Tajikistan have forced the closure of two religious bodies in the capital Dushanbe within a succession of a week, according to media reports. The institutions are the …

News Desk Three senior commanders of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have been killed reportedly in a blast in southeastern Afghanistan, dealing a heavy blow to the militant group, wrote Daud Khattak, the Managing Editor of Radio Mashaal on Sunday (Aug 7). One of the commanders was Abdul Wali alias Omar Khalid Khorasani, who was considered to have been one of …

In addition to needing a male chaperone to go places within the war-torn country, women are now required to bring a male family member with them if they hope to study abroad.

Akbar Ahmad and Noam Chomsky examine examine issues of race in America which engender different forms of violence and terrorism. While race is on the surface of society, understanding how it related to society’s deeper structures can help make sense of it. It is the failure to tackle race issues that is partly responsible for the turbulence in contemporary American society.

The 50-minute documentary titled “Islam’s Battle Within” gives a rare insight into the Jamia Haqqania Akora Khattak aka the “University of Jihad”, an ideological nerve centre of the Taliban and other splinter groups in Southeast Asia i.e. Jemaah Islamiyah

We are faced with an intolerant generation that is self-righteous, hates dissent and wants everyone to think one way – which is their way. In short, we are reaping the fruits of the seeds we had sown ourselves in our classrooms and society at large. Today it is the misogynist, fascist Imran Khan, tomorrow it can be a right-wing extremist force which will use the same herd to its own advantage and ruin the already religiously intolerant and anti-women society.

By Waseem Altaf Whoever thinks rationally and has seen the harrowing video of lynching of Mishal Khan, accused of blasphemy, a final semester student of Mass Communication at a university in Mardan, KPK, is in a state of shock since!  But let us not be shocked! Let us not be shocked because Jinnah, the father of the nation himself pronounced …

By Asim Sajjad Akhtar After each ‘terrorist’ attack, they tell us they are going to go after ‘them’. But there is always another attack to follow. Token condemnations by government officials aside, the gruesome attack on a Shi’a masjid in Peshawar that has to date taken 62 lives appears to have triggered more worry about the economy and/or the visiting …

A suicide bomber blew himself up inside the mosque during Friday prayers, police say By Inayat Amir PESHAWAR: At least 30 worshipers have lost their lives and more than 50 have been injured in a suicide bomb attack during Friday prayers at a mosque in Qissa Khwani bazaar in the Kocha Risaldar area of Peshawar on Friday, police and rescue …

News Desk Google has honoured Pakistani slain social activist, architect, and urban planner Perween Rahman on her 65th birth anniversary. She devoted her life to uplifting marginalised communities, says a statement by Google. The name Perween Rahman will always be synonymous with Karachi’s katchi abadis, where she worked closely with communities to improve their quality of life through simple yet sustainable …

by Waseem Altaf Since the Muslims of the South Asian sub-continent were divided into ethnic, linguistic, cultural, provincial and class lines, the only thread available to the makers of the state of Pakistan was religion which was used to form the basis of a separate national identity. To further strengthen the role of Islamic nationalism, the “Objectives Resolution” was adopted …

Prime Minister Imran Khan in interviews to TRT, a Turkish channel, and ‘Middle East Eye’ said that his government was in talks with TTP.

Pervez Hoodbhoy WHAT did Afghan kids study after Mullah Omar’s Taliban were ousted in 2001? What was their school curriculum and, most importantly, how does it differ from PTI’s controversial Single National Curriculum (SNC)? When the Taliban government permitted boy-schools to reopen last week, these questions somehow popped into my mind. Quick answers were unavailable because the Afghan ministry of …

The Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, marked on August 15, has prompted a sequence of pushbacks on the rights and regular movements of citizens, especially women who, as they anticipated, are facing multiple threats to political representation, education and public work.