Pakistan must reverse its policy of sitting idle as Islamists blur the line between legitimate civil society and militancy
Mustafa Qadri,
guardian.co.uk, Friday 2 July 2010 16.04 BST
After last night’s bombings in Lahore, an ancient sanctuary, which for centuries was a place for prayer and meditation, has been rudely introduced to Pakistan’s very modern conflict. Nothing short of a shift in national culture will rescue the soul of Pakistan’s Islamic traditions.
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Tags: AfPak · Barack Obama · Data Gunj Baksh · Islam · Lahore · Pakistan · Sufism · Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan · terrorism · United States · war on terrorism
Already ravaged by high inflation, massive energy shortages and political turmoil, Pakistan has been shocked by bombings in most of its major cities, writes Mustafa Qadri
Pakistan is enduring the most brutal spate of political violence since the Punjab-dominated Army was implicated in mass slaughter in 1971. Despite military victories in large swathes of the tribal areas that are home to the Taliban, Pakistan’s major cities have been rocked by an escalating series of violent events that, according to one estimate, have claimed 544 lives in a little under three months.
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Tags: Lahore · Multan · Pakistan · Peshawar · Rawalpindi · Ronald Reagan · Soviet Union · Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
The Taliban Has No Plan B
By Mustafa Qadri
The Taliban is stepping up its violent attacks but ordinary Pakistanis have had enough and the organisation is losing popular support, reports Mustafa Qadri from near the Swat valley…
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Tags: Karachi · Lahore · Pakistan · Peshawar · Taliban · Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
Isolating the Taliban
Violence in Pakistan can only be tackled if the state listens to devastated communities and recognises the Taliban threat
Mustafa Qadri
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 28 May 2009 18.30 BST
It was really only a matter of time before we would see this. A day after a bomb ripped through central Lahore, three explosions rocked Peshawar – two at the famous storytellers’ market, and another near the city’s railway station, destroying significant amounts of property, lives and livelihoods. It is too early to know what motivated these latest attacks in Peshawar. Like so much of the North-West Frontier Province, however, Peshawar businesses, particularly book music shops and women’s clothing stores, have been heavily hit, often after being told to shut for being unIslamic.
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Tags: IDPs · Karachi · Lahore · Pakistan · Pakistan Army · Peshawar · Swat valley · Taliban · Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
I haven’t had many opportunities to write recently due to the lack of internet access. It has shown just how dependent I am on the technology. In my defence, without internet, small scale writers such as I would not be able to contribute very much. The cost of constant phone calls and transport, which I [...]
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Tags: Lahore · Pakistan · rickshaws · travel diary