Jeff Bachman, American University School of International Service
On November 24, two weeks before the Senate Intelligence Committee released its “torture report,” Reprieve, a UK-based human rights NGO, published the results of its latest investigation into President…
A scene of devastation after the Taliban attack in Peshawar.
EPA/Bilawal Arbab
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on a school in Peshawar that killed more than 130 children. The militants planned the massacre to take revenge on the Pakistan army. They murdered…
Protest in Faisalabad against the school attack.
EPA/Ilyas Sheikh
It is a little more than two years since the education campaigner – and now Nobel laureate – Malala Yousafzai was almost killed. In Peshawar many more potential Malalas have now died. The people of Pakistan…
Protestors gather in the wake of the attack.
EPA/T Mughal
The shock waves from a brutal terror attack that claimed the lives of more than 130 children in the northern Pakistani city of Peshawar are being felt around the world. The Taliban assault, which began…
Shock and outrage in Pakistan at the Taliban’s school attack.
EPA/Arshad Arbab
The horrendous attack on the army school in Peshawar has once again brought to public attention the pervasiveness of violence in Pakistan. Terrorism in the country is an almost everyday occurrence, but…
Refugees from the Pakistan government’s assault on the Khyber region of Waziristan.
EPA
Shahzeb, a university student in Islamabad, who comes from the mountainous region of Waziristan in Pakistan, designated as a “tribal” area since colonial times, summed up the burden of harassment his fellow…
People celebrate Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai in her home town Mingora in Pakistan’s Swat valley. But history suggests the prize, shared with Kailash Satyarthi of India, is unlikely to reconcile their nations.
EPA/Bilawal Arbab
The awarding of a shared Nobel Peace Prize award to a 17-year-old Pakistani girl, Malala Yousafzai, and a 60-year-old Indian man, Kailash Satyarthi, is historic and aimed at conveying multiple messages…
The Nobel Peace Prize is a major achievement in itself. For it to be awarded – jointly with the Indian anti-child slavery activist Kailash Satyarthi – to a teenager still at secondary school is extraordinary…
With Islamic State’s advance in Iraq and Syria gripping the world’s attention, al-Qaeda has been left on the sidelines. That all changed on September 4, as al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri released a 55-minute…
Pakistani paramilitary soldiers secure the parliament building in Islamabad.
EPA/T. Mughal
The protests that have rocked Islamabad for weeks seem to be soothing somewhat, with opposition leaders Imran Khan and Tahir ul-Qadri reportedly agreeing to begin negotiations for a political solution…
Shortly after Pakistan’s May 2013 elections returned Nawaz Sharif to power, I published an article asking whether, having been twice removed from the office of prime minister with less than half his term…
An Imran Khan supporter in Multan.
EPA/Faisal Kareem
Though they have only just garnered international attention, the current protests on the streets of Islamabad started on Pakistan’s independence day, August 14. Ostensibly fomented by Imran Khan, former…
Cry, the beloved country. Pakistan mourns the victims of Karachi airport attacks.
EPA/Shahzaib Akber
Ashok Sharma, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
Reports that Pakistan has launched an offensive against militants in North Waziristan come after years of pressure from the West for Islamabad to deal with the wild border region which has for many years…
Hopes of the Taliban’s decline, up in smoke.
EPA/Rehan Khan
Only recently, the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) was expected to fall apart: violent rivalries had split the insurgency in two, peace talks with the government had collapsed, and military jets had hit hide-outs…
A Taliban bomb causes massive destruction in Karachi.
EPA/Rehan Khan
The devastating Taliban attack at Karachi’s Jinnah airport this week was shocking not just for the loss of life, but for the sheer brazenness of the assault. Pakistan is no stranger to terrorist attacks…
Drone strikes may be slowing in Pakistan, but the damage has already been done.
EPA/Nadeem Khawer
The US’s program of drone strikes in Pakistan has, according to recent reports, slowed down considerably. But while this will encourage various observers, and while the Obama administration earned some…
A child is vaccinated against polio during a three-day nationwide campaign to eradicate polio, in Karachi, Pakistan, May 2014.
EPA/SHAHZAIB AKBER
The US government has told a group of local health educators that it will no longer use immunisation programs as a cover for espionage. But the damage from previous such programs is difficult to undo…
Narendra Modi in campaign mode.
EPA/Piyal Adhikary
The Indian election has been afforded much publicity in the Western media. A record 814 million eligible voters have been expressing their choices in a poll taking place in nine phases. Voting began on…
Kashmiris protest against the arrest of 67 students for supporting Pakistan at cricket.
Farooq Khan/EPA
Sumantra Bose, London School of Economics and Political Science
The seven million people living in the Kashmir Valley have a distinctive regional identity. Now the Valley’s continuing estrangement from the rest of India has sparked a peculiar incident on the campus…
Can the smiles last? Irfan Siddiqui, special assistant to Pakistan’s prime minister, and Taliban representative Maulana Sami-ul-Haq chat after their meeting.
EPA/T. Mughal
Talks between the government of Pakistan and the Pakistani Taliban, known as the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), were initiated last week in a secret location in the country’s north-west. These talks…