POLITICS: Errant Drone Attacks Spur Militants in Pakistan

The U.S. programme of drone aircraft strikes against higher-ranking officials of al Qaeda and allied militant organisations, which has been touted by proponents as having eliminated nine of the 20 top al Qaeda leaders, is actually weakening Pakistan’s defence against the insurgency of the Islamic militants there by killing large numbers of civilians based on faulty intelligence and discrediting the Pakistani military, according to data from the Pakistani government and interviews with senior analysts.

PAKISTAN: A Marriage of Convenience?

Pakistan’s Mukhtaran Mai, who gained global acclaim for daring to take her rapists to court, announced her marriage last month to an already married police constable.

POLITICS-US: New Budget, Not Quite a Fundamental Shift

Secretary of Defence Robert Gates unveiled the U.S.’s much-anticipated new military budget Monday, which aims to reorient the armed forces toward irregular and counterinsurgency warfare while proposing cuts in several major weapons programs.

PAKISTAN: Another Terror Attack For TV Cameras

The brazen armed attack on a police academy near Lahore on Monday underlines the danger that the Pakistani state faces from militancy linked to the ‘war on terror', but with historic roots in the earlier Afghan war of liberation from Soviet occupation, or ‘jihad' against ‘God-less communists'.

PAKISTAN: Under Siege by Taliban

Authorities in Pakistan have vowed to deal sternly with Taliban militants who have this month mounted a series of deadly attacks apparently aimed at weakening this country that has close links with neighbouring Afghanistan.

MEDIA-PAKISTAN: Pondering Risks Covering Conflict, Crime, Corruption

The main issue before the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) meeting over the weekend in the central Punjab city of Faisalabad is the threat faced by journalists in this conflict-ridden South Asian country.

POLITICS-US: Some Strategists Cast Doubt on Afghan War Rationale

The argument for deeper U.S. military commitment to the Afghan War invoked by President Barack Obama in his first major policy statement on Afghanistan and Pakistan Friday - that al Qaeda must be denied a safe haven in Afghanistan - has not been subjected to public debate in Washington.

U.S.: Obama Affirms New Focus on Afghanistan, Pakistan

In what marks a significant escalation in U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and Pakistan, President Barack Obama Friday outlined what he called a "comprehensive, new strategy" for the two countries to fight al Qaeda and its local allies.

RIGHTS-PAKISTAN: Hopes Pinned on Reinstated Justices

As he resumes office as Chief Justice of Pakistan on Tuesday, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry will doubtless mull over the years since Mar. 9, 2007 when he was first unceremoniously sacked by then president Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

RELIGION-PAKISTAN: Bombing Closes Shrine Off For Women

Few women are visiting the mausoleum of the famous 17th century mystic poet Abdul Rehman Baba since suspected Pakistani Taliban bombed it.

POLITICS: Five Days That Changed Pakistan

A late night meeting between Pakistan's army chief, President and Prime Minister led to the dramatic announcement in the wee hours of Monday morning that Iftikhar Mohammed Choudhry would be restored as Chief Justice.

POLITICS: Perils Seen in Obama’s Afghan Strategy

With official announcements about a new strategy for the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan expected in the coming weeks, details of the plan are starting to emerge in press accounts which describe a renewed focus on the war-torn Central Asian country and its volatile neighbour, Pakistan.

POLITICS-PAKISTAN: Long March – A Long View

Barely a year after being elected, the Pakistan government faces a political storm involving a street agitation spearheaded by lawyers and opposition political parties allied with religious parties.

AFGHANISTAN: ‘Jihadis suffocate our voices’

Afghanistan has one of the highest percentages of female lawmakers in the world but their voices are rarely heard. A new political party, National Need, devoted to women's rights, has announced plans to run for the next parliamentary polls. IPS spoke to its head, Fatima Nazari, member of parliament (MP) from Kabul province.

AFGHANISTAN: Women Lawmakers Battle Warlords

Whenever lawmaker Fatima Nazari rose to speak, she says the parliament’s chair snubbed her. Whenever one of her female colleagues made a suggestion, it was brushed aside. Sometimes certain notorious warlords would speak multiple times before a female member of parliament (MP) could speak once.

RIGHTS-INDIA: Moves to Scrap Hated Security Laws in Kashmir

As political parties in Indian Kashmir debate the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in the insurgency-hit state, civil rights activists hope that this will fructify into a withdrawal of the sweeping powers given to armed forces in this state since 1990.

SOUTH ASIA: Terrorists Aim for Destabilisation, Media Attention

South Asia seems to be caught in a vortex of violence as the countries that form this region - from Sri Lanka at the southern-most tip, Bangladesh to the east, Nepal crowning the north, Pakistan along the west and India in the middle - deal with internal nightmares that their governments routinely blame on neighbours.

INDIA/PAKISTAN: Trade, Travel Across Divided Kashmir Stalled

Trade and travel between the Indian and Pakistan parts of Kashmir, as part of confidence building measures (CBMs) between the two rival countries, appear to have become a casualty of the Nov. 26-29 terror attacks on the port city of Mumbai.

POLITICS-PAKISTAN: Court Ruling May Deepen Political Crisis

The political chasm in crisis-riddled Pakistan has deepened after a Supreme Court ruling barred from political office opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and his younger brother Shahbaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab - the country's most populous and powerful province.

PAKISTAN: Time Running Out to Restore Stability – U.S. Report

The United States and its allies must act urgently to prevent Pakistan - the only predominantly Muslim nation with nuclear weapons - from descending into a spiral of economic, security, and political crises, according to a new report released here by an influential think tank.

ENVIRONMENT-PAKISTAN: Warnings From Vanishing Vultures

"The thought of my carcass being pecked at by vultures isn’t at all pleasant," said Bapsi Sidhwa, a leading Pakistani diasporic writer now living in the United States. She was referring to the ancient Parsi funerary rite of 'sky burial'.