To Hell With Suicide Bombers, Not Heaven

Suicide bombers act in the name of Islam – but clerics deny them even last rites over such killing of others and themselves that they see as un-Islamic.

Taliban Face the Music in Pakistan

Not so long ago, Gul Pana’s pursuit of a career as a professional singer in Khyber Pakthunkhwa (KP) province would have invited certain death at the hands of the Taliban.

Pakistan’s Hospitals That Come Home

With no money to see a doctor, Gul Lakhta,50, had resigned himself to blindness when a ‘mobile hospital’ drove into his village in the Bajaur Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), on Pakistan’s rugged border with Afghanistan.

Hospitals That Come Home

With no money to see a doctor, Gul Lakhta,50, had resigned himself to blindness when a ‘mobile hospital’ drove into his village in the Bajaur Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), on Pakistan’s rugged border with Afghanistan.

Afghan Refugees Hounded in Pakistan

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government recently launched a harsh crackdown on illegal Afghan immigrants who have been pouring across the border into Pakistan, going so far as to request federal government permission to deal with the situation, which has deep social and economic implications for the host country.

Afghan Refugees Hounded in Pakistan

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government recently launched a harsh crackdown on illegal Afghan immigrants who have been pouring across the border into Pakistan, going so far as to request federal government permission to deal with the situation, which has deep social and economic implications for the host country.

Finding a Joint Front Against Polio

The world’s two worst polio-affected countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan, have exhausted themselves in failed attempts to wipe out the crippling ailment.

PAKISTAN: New Rehab Plan Brings Hope for War-Disabled

The prolonged United States-led war against terrorism has left a large number of people disabled in Pakistan, compelling the government to institute a rehabilitation plan that will include imparting vocational skills.

PAKISTAN: Taliban Bombs Get Deadlier

In their efforts to kill and injure more people as part of a terror campaign in northern Pakistan, the Taliban militia have resorted to lacing bombs with toxic chemicals that leave survivors with complicated wounds.

PAKISTAN: Forests Fall Victim to the Taliban

The forests of northwestern Pakistan have become the latest victim of the Taliban’s increasingly desperate quest for resources to sustain and fund its military programme.

PAKISTAN: Girls Defuse This Taliban Bomb

Suicide bombing is down, bomb attacks are fewer, but the Taliban are keeping up attacks on girls’ schools. In retaliation, a growing number of girls are going for school education – without school buildings.

PAKISTAN: In Arms Against Saints

The Taliban have destroyed schools, bombed music shops and carried out gruesome executions in Pakistan’s territories bordering Afghanistan. But what they may never be forgiven for is the destruction of ancient shrines where revered Sufi mystics are interred.

PAKISTAN: Soldiers’ Families Demand Revenge Against U.S.

As Islamabad and Washington wrangle over responsibility for the Nov. 26 cross-border airstrike that killed 24 Pakistani troops, families of the dead soldiers are demanding revenge on the United States.

Taliban Slide ‘From Hero to Zero’

Religious and political forces in Northern Pakistan, which hitherto drew strength from their association with the Taliban have begun to distance themselves from the militants, as the latter’s legitimacy plummets in the border regions.

PAKISTAN: DNA Lab Comes to Track Terrorists

A much-needed DNA laboratory is to be set up at the Forensic Science Department of the Khyber Medical College in Peshawar, capital of the violence- battered Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region in Pakistan.

PAKISTAN: Anger Soars Over Attack

"Enough is enough. Pakistan should respond aggressively to these unprovoked and unwarranted NATO air strikes," says local shopkeeper Muhammad Omar. Public anger is boiling over as the Pakistani government takes tough action to cut supplies and other support to NATO forces in Afghanistan.

PAKISTAN: Beating the Taliban on the Playing Fields

An outbreak of sports fever has gripped the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Northern Pakistan, as increasing numbers of civilians and government officials latch on to team sports as their only armour against creeping militancy in the border region.

PAKISTAN: Pilgrims Pray for Deliverance From Taliban

Pakistani pilgrims travelling to Mecca for the current Haj season have one prayer on their lips – to be delivered from the terror that the Taliban have unleashed on their country.

PAKISTAN: Singing Against the Taliban

"In the last few years, I have sung more than a dozen songs against the Taliban," award-wining singer Khyal Muhammad tells IPS. "I got threatening messages on the mobile phone. But I will continue to sing because it gives me strength."

Q&A: ‘With More Political Space, Women Can Do More as Peacemakers’

As a political activist and president of the women's wing of the Awami National Party (ANP), Zahira Khattak has been working relentlessly for the empowerment of women in the war-torn North West Frontier Province (NWFP) in Pakistan. She believes that by empowering them, they can contribute more to the peace efforts in the region.

Q&A: Law and Order May Not Improve in 2010

For women in Pakistan's North Western Frontier Province (NWFP), 2009 has been particularly hard.