Tag: Pakistan

(CNN)During Pakistan's national election campaign last year, Imran Khan was dismissed by detractors as a political lightweight and foreign policy novice who relied on populism and deference to the country's influential military for support. Now, just over six months into his role as Prime Minister, those claims are being tested, as Khan finds his country closer to war with its nuclear-armed neighbor, India, than at any point in the past 20 years. India blamed the attack on a Pakistan-based militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), and said Pakistan itself had a "direct hand" in it. Tensions escalated even more this week, with an Indian airstrike on Pakistani soil, followed by retaliatory measures by Pakistani forces that resulted in the capture of an Indian pilot. "In Pakistan there's nothing like aggression from India to rally the people," he said. However, Kugelman said this is a political test for Khan, who formed his own party 23 years ago. "Now the ball is in (India Prime Minister Narendra) Modi's court. "(The military is) pro-conflict. "We've seen what has happened with previous Pakistani prime ministers who have not been supplicant to military -- they haven't been able to accomplish anything," Pakistan journalist Rafia Zakaria said. And that will be a test of his relationship with the military."

Chandrababu Naidu blames the BJP's "inefficiency" for what he describes as a threat to national security in the wake of Pakistan's reaction to criticism for last week's terrorist attack in Pulwama. In comments published by ANI, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh accused BJP leaders of "belittling" India with their "petty" actions and "wrongdoing". He said he would not tolerate what he described as the "jeopardising" of national security for self-interest. Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu: Will not tolerate jeopardizing National security for self-interests. Tough action should be taken on terror attacks. It has said the presence of Jaish-e-Mohammed and its leader, Masood Azhar, in Pakistan should be sufficient proof for Islamabad to take action. "The prime minister of Pakistan has offered to investigate the matter if India provides proof. This is a lame excuse," the Ministry of External Affairs said on Tuesday. Likewise, on the terror attack on the Pathankot airbase, there has been no progress." Meanwhile, the Indian Army has warned parents of Kashmiri terrorists that anyone who picks up a gun in the Valley will be killed, and urged them to ask their children to surrender.

Pentagon: Suspended $300 million in military aid to Pakistan over its inadequate action on militants. Nile Gardiner of the Heritage Foundation gives his take. FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking news as…

Barely 20 feet away, at Smriti Sthal (spot of remembrance), lay the mortal remains of his party’s behemoth — former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. In the wake of the Gujarat riots in 2002, Vajpayee, the then prime minister, had reminded Modi, then the chief minister (CM) of Gujarat, about a public servant’s inalienable accountability and non-negotiable commitment to “Raj Dharm” (duty of the ruler). Telling words, coming from a veteran who had been a part of India’s freedom struggle, who was jailed during former prime minister Indira Gandhi’s draconian assault on democracy in the name of Emergency. No one will perhaps ever know whether Modi’s mind had raced back to Vajpayee’s sagacious advice, as smoke billowed from the pyre at Smriti Sthal on Friday. He never let his ideology play second fiddle to opportunism. If the five years of full term as prime minister, between 1999 and 2004, brought Vajpayee the statesman to the fore like never before, then his role as the lodestone for India’s largest Hindu nationalist party — the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — was no less significant. His own man The transformation of the erstwhile ultra-rightist Bharatiya Jan Sangh into the present-day BJP was made possible to a large extent by the Vajpayee brand of politics of consensus and inclusivity. Vajpayee was the foremost Hindu nationalist leader who had realised very early in his career in active politics that nationalism, as the vast majority of Indians see and interpret the concept, isn’t something that ought to be worn on one’s sleeve. Rather, nationalism, and Hindu nationalism in particular, ought to be a way of life that is bereft of all forms of regimentation and indoctrination. He was his own man all through his life and career.

Express News reporter Ahmed Mansoor asked at a press conference. And it seems Mansoor's question was not well-received. For those who follow Pakistan's domestic affairs closely, it is clear that this effort to silence independent voices in the media is part of an attempt to unlawfully engineer the country's political landscape. Controlling the public narrative Today, it is quite difficult to steer the public discourse in Pakistan in one direction. Pakistan now has dozens of independent news channels, and thanks to high mobile and internet penetration, the public lives and breathes politics. Conversations on militancy, foreign policy and court cases of politicians are staples at work, the dinner table and social gatherings. These are just a few examples of the ongoing campaign by the security establishment to intimidate critical media professionals in an attempt to turn public opinion against Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) party and in favour of Imran Khan's PTI. Now, there are new attempts to block Sharif's return to power and bring in a weak, puppet-like coalition parliament instead. But to reverse the 18th amendment, without throwing the country into political turmoil and mass riots, the military needs a change in government and to make this a reality it needs to sell a narrative. After an inquiry into alleged vote-rigging at the 2013 elections failed to produce any results, the former prime minister was then targeted with a corruption court case for failing to disclose the source of funds used to pay for two luxury apartments in the UK.

SITTING stony-faced at the back of a business-class cabin on an Etihad flight from London to the Pakistani city of Lahore, Nawaz Sharif waited patiently for his arrest on the evening of July 13th. Journalists ignored the pleas of cabin staff to stay in their seats. It had also given a seven-year sentence to Maryam. When he did decide to return, just 12 days before a general election, there was much speculation that his flight might be diverted to Islamabad to avoid possible attempts by supporters to prevent his arrest in Lahore, his hometown. It may have helped that there had been an intense crackdown on Mr Sharif’s supporters in Lahore. Around 10,000 police were deployed across the city to prevent a column of tens of thousands of his fans from reaching the airport. Mr Sharif, 68, who retains control of the PML-N, says his sentencing was part of a military-backed conspiracy to deny his party a second term in office and to take revenge on him personally for trying to limit the army’s overweening influence after he began his third stint as prime minister in 2013. He questioned how credible the election would be with the government “taking such action against our people”. “This is worse than dictatorship,” she groaned while waiting in the business-class lounge of Abu Dhabi airport. But, as Mr Sharif put it before leaving London: “These people did not even remember in their hate what stature daughters have in Pakistan.” (the late Ms Bhutto was one such: she went on to become prime minister after her father, a former prime minister, was hanged.)

Political and personal life of politicians in Pakistan can never be told apart. As what’s personal is political and vice versa, more because it gives one’s opponents to spin off the circumstances or even incidents from a bygone era of one’s life to their own advantage with instances proving to be successful. However, moral obligations bind one to not to drag one’s personal life into the realm of work, yet to do so it’s important that the same is aware of the notions of ethics and morality towards their fellows. Much like other local politicians, Imran Khan too time and again has cashed in on the life events of his biggest opponent Nawaz Sharif. Only a day ago, Khan accused the former PM of using his wife’s unstable medical condition to blackmail people and for gaining their sympathies. Regardless of Sharif’s intentions, the PTI chief has outdone himself by stooping even lower than his previous accusations. How Khan was himself was exposed by the then MQM’s Babar Ghauri should have been enough to let him taste the humiliation one faces by having it all out there for millions to know. Yet accusing someone in the absence of substantial evidence is in fact more degenerating. Yaseen Hashim Peshawar

Major political parties in Pakistan that should lead as torch-bearers of democracy are hijacked by authoritarian leadership and cult of personality. While the discussions on party structure, motto, vision and ideology have all been thrown to the backyard. Instead of reaching out to the people at the district and union council level, through consistent presence and performance, they have only reached the people through selection of personalities from such levels for party tickets. As far as party structure and democratic institutionalization is concerned, HDP is the most notable among the three. All the councils are elected through proper election each year, and there are permanent members in them who keep on performing their responsibilities whenever required. This ensures training and development of the members throughout the year, and inculcates in them the democratic behavior and culture. The election of 7 HDP councilors during the last local government elections are enough proof that HDP has the required institutional capacity to reach the people at the most basic level of government. MWM and HSK, on the other hand, have not been able to reach the people through permanent institutional arrangements at the union council levels. Thus, for Hazara community, though it is only HDP that provides opportunities for institutionalization of democracy at the grass-root level, it faces challenges against the personality-worship ingrained within the tribal norms of the community, promoted by MWM and HSK, and believed by some among its own members. Conclusively, it can be said that democracy at international, national and provincial level faces the threats of authoritarian rule and dominance of personality over institutions; therefore, it is necessary that the politicians, political parties and political institutions, in particular, and the people in general must choose to favor institutional development towards democratization of their societies so that they are able to safeguard democracy and, ultimately, their own rights and freedom.

For the first time in the country’s electoral history, the coming elections will be dominated by the aspirations of the very young in the country. They would have reached the voting age since the elections of 2013. Who are they, where are they located and what do they want from the country’s political and economic systems? There is no doubt that the military remains Pakistan’s most powerful institution. Three, Pakistan has moved towards competitive politics. The system will not be dominated by one party but by several representing different segments of the population. Those who support the MMA resent that the Pakistani state has not become Islamic. Pakistan’s population today is seven times its size at the time of the country’s birth. When Ayub Khan decided to move the capital to northern Punjab, a large number of these jobs were lost. It is important to note that this was a youth movement expressing resentment. The Pakistan Peoples Party, which also has its origin in the politics of resentment, has moved on and become a party anchored in rural Sindh.

During Jinnah’s 13-month governorship, the name of the country remained only “Pakistan.” However, it was labeled as an “Islamic Republic” in 1956. After the demise of its founder, orthodox religious strata and state-supported radicalization emerged with the Objectives Resolution in March 1949, prepared by Liaquat Ali Khan and passed by the first National Assembly of Pakistan. This historic resolution was the first step toward legislation as well as the religious bias of all three constitutions categorizing Pakistani citizens as Muslims and non-Muslims. Steadily, religious factions pierced through the socio-political fabric of Pakistan. The religious political parties became more powerful and patronized during the reigns of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq because of public ignorance, as people could not differentiate between religion and politics. Some of these parties and religious politicians have most of their vote banks in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the interior of Balochistan. Political forces also use these religious clutches to obtain political benefits. Religious political parties seek votes to implement sharia, Islamic laws, development of Islamic society, and so forth. Divided into various religious thoughts, the religious political parties have different approaches to promote their religious/communal thoughts with the political force of concerned associated religious party and its leadership, which further subdivides the religious vote bank. The big guns of religious politics have entirely failed to serve even their agendas on Islam; invigorating and contributing only hatred, violence, sectarianism in the society of “Islamic Republic of Pakistan.” The political warfare of religious political parties are the misfortune of an Islamic society and fuel momentum toward a destabilized, radicalized society.