Taliban Has Failed To Kill Pashtun Musical Spirit
The Taliban's anti-music campaign has actually given rise to a new form of Pashtun music that has been dubbed The Music of Resistance. The spirit of resistance through art has existed in the region...
View ArticleNational Games- An oasis of Peace in Pakhtunkhwa
On December 25, as worldwide Christmas celebrations were in full swing, a burqa-clad woman exploded herself at World Food Programme (WFP) distribution point in Khar, a city in the Bajaur Tribal...
View ArticleThe Struggle For The Soul Of Pakistan
In 1999, some friends and I were sitting in the Haji Sahib Turangzai hostel of Islamia College Peshawar, a college built by the British rulers of the Indian sub-continent in 1913 to educate the youth...
View ArticleActive anniversary
There are few places in the world, if any, that present more challenges for working journalists than Pakistan. The country was declared "the world's deadliest country for the press" in 2010 by the...
View ArticleRemembering Bacha Khan's Message In Pakistan And Afghanistan
Followers of the nonviolent Pashtun movement known as Khudai Khidmatgar Movement (Servants of God) are marking 23 years since the death of their legendary leader, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan.
View ArticleWhat Pak Media Wants to Achive?
From religious militancy and sectarianism to poverty and corruption, common Pakistanis are confronted with serious challenges for their survival-uncertain about their present and seriously concerned...
View ArticleThe Dynamics Of Outrage And Silence In Pakistan
Activists from some Pakistani religious parties have been organizing demonstrations to demand that Raymond Davis -- an American citizen who was assigned as a CIA agent to the U.S.
View ArticleReviving Swat, Stitch by Stitch
The illuminated seat of Buddhist learning and the traditional centre of governance, Saidu Sharif is a small town in the Swat Valley of North Western Pakistan.
View ArticleIn A State Of Denial Regarding Pakistan's 'Punjabi Taliban'
While pro-Taliban militant groups are largely united by their terror agenda, Pakistan's political leadership has failed to define a shared vision and develop a unified strategy to defeat militancy and...
View ArticlePakistan's Pashtuns React To Bin Laden's Death
Pashtun nationalist leaders in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan regions are reacting positively to the news that Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden has been killed.
View ArticlePeshawar: A City Alive In The Shadow Of Death
Peshawar, capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province and once a central city of the ancient Kingdom of Gandhara, is becoming known as one of the world's most dangerous cities.Bombings, targeted killings,...
View ArticleBritish Royal Couple Invited to Witness ''King of Games''
To promote soft image of the militancy hit north western region of Pakistan and ‘’to put it in the news internationally for something heartwarming and positive””, Amir Haidar Khan Hoti, chief minister...
View ArticleOrphans Of War: The Innocent Victims Of Pakistan's Swat Offensive
MINGORA, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan -- The worn-out burqa covering her from head to toe fails to conceal Rekhmina's sense of loss and uncertainty. The mother of four has come to the Khpal...
View ArticlePakistan-Voices of Dissent Silenced
Pakistan—a country with more than 170 million people and a deteriorating economy—has been in the eye of the storm since its inception in 1947.
View ArticleSwat's Female Dancers Struggle With Taliban's Legacy - Radio Free Europe /...
The Swat Valley was once the only place in Pakistan's Pashtun regions where women could pursue careers as singers and dancers. Then Taliban extremists banned all music after taking over in 2007.
View ArticleWhat is the Plan for Re-building Swat Valley?
After three years of bloodshed and destruction by Taliban militants in Swat Valley, the Pakistan Army, understanding that more than force was needed to defeat extremists, held a conference on...
View ArticleDancing Girls of the Swat Valley | World Policy Institute
Both the Taliban and radicalized Pakistani society consider performers to be sinners. In Pashtun areas, a singer or dancer is known as damor beghairat (a person without a sense of honor). “We don’t...
View ArticlePeace in AF-PAK Region: Talk to the People
In the wake of strained US-Pakistan relations, each side is blaming each other for not taking action against militant commanders who have taken refuge in the mountainous areas along the...
View ArticlePakistan's Swat Valley: Taliban Gone But Peace Remains Elusive
An idyllic valley rich in natural resources and heritage located in northwestern Pakistan, the Swat is bit by bit recovering from the trauma of conflict between pro Al-Qaeda Taliban militants and...
View ArticlePashtun Poets Challenge Religious Fundamentalism
Since their rise in the late 1990s, the Taliban and like-minded groups in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region have launched an aggressive campaign against liberal ways of life, bombing music shops,...
View ArticleWhat War and Militancy Left Behind: Swat Valley Struggles Back To Its Feet
While Pakistan's tribal region and adjoining settled areas are still in the grip of violence with Taliban militants targeting security forces, peace activists and public gatherings , and military...
View ArticlePAKISTAN: Tribesmen Question Efficacy of Military Offensive
While Pakistan’s parliament is scheduled to debate restoration of Pak-US relations this week, a new military offensive has been launched in Khyber Agency- one of the seven tribal districts of Pakistan...
View ArticleAs Peshawar's Bookstores Close, Isolation Grows
By Shaheen Buneri & Charles Recknagel For more than 55 years, the Maktaba-e Sarhad bookstore has been a cultural monument in the heart of Peshawar. But now, the store is closing. "Those who love...
View ArticlePakistan: Tribesmen seek Justice
Carrying the blood soaked bodies of their dear ones on their shoulders, chanting "we want justice", on January 16, Tribesmen from Pakistan’s Khyber Agency crossed barricades in the heavily guarded...
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