Mustafa Qadri

After a decade-long hunt, Osama bin Laden has been killed. But the grievances and poverty that give rise to terrorism remain, writes Middle East correspondent Mustafa Qadri No individual has influenced the course of US military strategy more over the last 10 years than Osama bin Laden. In an age of increasingly narrow ideologies, Osama has been [...]

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Mustafa Qadri finds out for himself during a night patrol with members of an anti-Taliban militia in Pakistan that sometimes, it’s kill or be killed. On the boundary between Pakistan-controlled Peshawar and insurgency-hit regions of the tribal areas, the global fight against the Taliban has turned former neighbours in this once sleepy rural setting into [...]

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[Listen to audio report here] By Mustafa Qadri It has been a relatively quiet winter in Peshawar with few bombings. There’s a sense that life is slowly returning to normal. But take a short drive north of the city and the situation is quite different. The village of Adezai marks the boundary between Peshawar city and [...]

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January 27, 2011By Mustafa Qadri Peshawar is a hotspot for suicide and IED attacks. Mustafa Qadri travels with the city’s bomb squad to find out how local police are coping. Image credit:Mustafa Qadri In almost any other city in the world, last year would have sounded like a nightmare—25 bombings, including one at a marketplace in [...]

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Asia Link Melbourne University Public Forum: Pakistan – Between Despair and Disaster video available here As winter approaches, 2 million hectares of crops have been lost and the damage and destruction of 2 million homes has left 7 million people without shelter. Disease is now setting in creating even more despair in Pakistan. Malaria is [...]

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More people have died from violence in Karachi than from suicide attacks in the whole of Pakistan so far this year Mustafa Qadri, guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 27 October 2010 09.59 BST A recent surge in targeted killings in Karachi is the product of years of lawlessness, much of which implicates major political parties and not just militant [...]

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PART I PART II PAKISTAN, ITS JOURNALISTS AND THE STORIES THE WEST FORGETS On 13 October 2010 the Centre hosted a round table discussion of Pakistan as seen from the eyes of some of the most respected journalists in the country. Participants discussed the portrayal of Pakistan in the West and the critical features of [...]

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Pakistan has faced a myriad of crises over the last decade. No one has had a better perspective on them than its journalists. Join Chatham as we meet experienced journalists from Pakistan talk about the country they know and report on every day. 30 minutes of panel discussion introduced by Mustafa Qadri and chaired by [...]

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The floods Pakistan took place against a backdrop of an internal security crisis and mounting political tension internationally: With some 14 million people displaced, the country is suffering a disaster of an unprecedented scale – but what impact is the political turmoil having on the unfolding crisis? UK Prime Minister David Cameron recently accused Pakistan of [...]

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Mustafa Qadri August 22, 2010 GLOBAL solidarity with Pakistan and the soft power of humanitarian assistance can help deliver regional and global stability more effectively than any troop surge or drone strike. As the monsoon rains continue to pelt over Pakistan this weekend, however, the US has continued its controversial drone strikes on suspected militants [...]

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Mustafa Qadri Last Updated: August 16. 2010 9:00PM UAE / August 16. 2010 5:00PM GMT When the UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon described flood-ravaged Pakistan as the worst natural disaster he had ever seen, he was not merely describing the extent of the devastation. He was also underlining the extent to which the outside world [...]

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FEW will not have been moved by images of flood-ravaged Pakistan. Now in their second week, the floods are believed to have affected one-third of Pakistan’s land and just over one-tenth of the entire population. In a nation of more than 170 million, that is an astonishing number. According to the UN, the Pakistan floods [...]

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Cameron’s comments stoke a dangerous perception in Pakistan that its efforts in the war against the Taliban have been ignored Mustafa Qadri, guardian.co.uk, Thursday 29 July 2010 18.15 BST News of Cameron’s visit may have been sidelined by Pakistan’s worst-ever air disaster. Yet his speech in Bangalore, India, has fast become infamous here. It isn’t [...]

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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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For three decades Pervez Hoodbhoy, a Professor of Particle Physics at Qaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad, has been promoting science and humanism in Pakistan. His was one of the earliest voices to sound the alarm not only against the Pakistan Taliban movement but also against the perils of developing nuclear weapons and the deepening religious intolerance that has been aided in large part by the Pakistan state. In this fascinating and insightful encounter, journalist Mustafa Qadri speaks with Professor Hoodbhoy about science, Islam, and the challenges faced by Pakistan.

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Misguided individuals such as Faisal Shahzad have obscured our rich heritage and reduced Pakistan to a ‘terror central’ stereotype

Mustafa Qadri
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 6 May 2010 19.00 BST

The well-worn maxim that all publicity is good publicity does not immediately spring to mind in Pakistan. But given the country’s frontline position in the fight against global terrorism, the involvement of yet another Pakistani in a plot to bomb a major international city will be a boon for everyone in favour of continued war in the “AfPak” region. For the rest of us, the alleged attempt by Pakistani-American Faisal Shahzad to bomb New York’s Times Square has been a disaster.

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Leading Pakistani humanist and anti-nuclear scientist Pervez Hoodbhoy gives Mustafa Qadri his take on the current crises facing his country

For three decades Pervez Hoodbhoy, professor of Physics at Qaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad, has been promoting science and humanism in Pakistan. His was one of the earliest voices to sound the alarm on the perils of developing nuclear weapons, and on the danger posed by the country’s deepening religious intolerance — issues that have gone on to damage the country’s reputation. His respected scientific work has been published widely, but in 2001 when the Pakistani Government wanted to present him with a national award, Hoodbhoy refused it, saying that Pakistan’s misuse of such awards had eroded their own credibility. Recently I spoke to Professor Hoodbhoy about science, Islam and the challenges facing Pakistan.

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It’s unlikely Richard Goldstone’s report into the Gaza bombings will result in ICC prosecutions but it may mark a turning point in the conflict, writes Mustafa Qadri

This week the United Nations released an explosive report on Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip in late December last year. It finds both Israel and armed Palestinian groups guilty of war crimes and, potentially, of crimes against humanity. Over 1400 mostly civilian Palestinians (including over 300 children) and 13 Israeli (including nine soldiers) were killed during Israel’s massive invasion of the Gaza Strip, the most densely populated region on the planet.

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The South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR) and South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) have jointly decided to take a Peace Mission from Pakistan to New Delhi from 21st to 24th January 2009. The 19-Member Delegation will interact with civil society, media and political leadership of India to stress the need to keep the peace [...]

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Addressing a certificate distribution ceremony of National Vocational and Technical Commission (NAVTEC) here on Tuesday, the Prime Minister termed poverty, illiteracy and unemployment the root cause of terrorism and extremism.

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LAHORE: A meeting of Muttehadda Ulema Council (MUC) held here Tuesday issued a unanimous decree (fatwa) declaring suicide attacks in Pakistan as haram (unlawful) and Najaez (unjustified).

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The father of an Israeli girl killed by a suicide bomber was invited, but no Palestinian victims, even though the Palestinian Authority proposed several names. Arab ambassadors complained that the selection process, which tilted toward victims of Islamic militant groups, was secretive.

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On Saturday armed settlers from Kiryat Arba invaded a Palestinian house in Hebron where a wedding was taking place, throwing stones and harrassing guests. Two of the guests were wounded and one, 15 year old Hamza Abu Hitta, was thrown from the roof. He suffered a broken back and is in hospital, where his condition [...]

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Statement by His Excellency Hamid Karzai President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan At the 15th Summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Colombo, Sri Lanka 02 August 2008 Please Check Against Delivery Your Excellency President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Excellencies Heads of State and Government, Distinguished Delegates, ladies and gentlemen, I thank you, [...]

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In a demonstration of growing U.S. frustration, the CIA’s deputy director flew to Islamabad this month to warn Pakistani officials that they need to do more to address dangerous ties between the country’s spy agency and resurgent Al Qaeda-linked militants, a U.S. official said Tuesday.

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“Mindless violence or endless cycle?” OnlineOpinion.com.au 9 July 2008
(On the bulldozer attack on West Jerusalem by a Palestinian Israeli citizen)

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“Guilt by association” NewMatilda.com 7 July 2008
(On the punishment of NGOs coordinating their activities in the Gaza Strip with Hamas)

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