The Londoner

By Sikander Hayat 1. Afghan insurgents are part of the fabric of Afghan society, can never be defeated just by force and there is a need for a political settlement. 2. West will have to talk directly to Mullah Omar and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar as they are the two major stakeholders in the talks. 3. It has to be accepted that Pakistan is the main force that can help resolve the issue of Afghanistan. Pakistan has said categorically that it is talking with all levels of Taliban leadership to bring a lasting peace to Afghanistan. Afghan & Pakistani presidents met in Turkey before the London conference to discuss ways of dealing with Taliban. Real decisions are going to be made among Afghanistan & Pakistan, not the nearly 70 countries who met in London today. 4. India & Pakistan cannot coexist in Afghanistan. To get Pakistan’s help, the current occupiers of Afghanistan will have to ask India to leave that country. For last 9 years, India has tried to side-line Pakistan in Afghanist...

By Sikander Hayat Pakistan has lost one it’s most senior and trust journalist, columnist & opinion maker Irshad Ahmad Haqqani has died. His career spaned more than half a century and saw many upheavals in the history of Pakistan. He was a great thinker and the senior editor of The Daily Jang newspaper. He was also associated with Mir Khalil-ur-Rehman Society as Patron and was one among the founders of Jang newspaper Lahore besides, his columns Hurf-e-Tammana remained well acclaimed among different schools of thoughts including scholars, politicians and thinkers. According to knowledgeable sources, he had been ailing of heart problems for some days and had quitted writing columns for newspapers. It may be mentioned he offered his services as federal information minister during tenure of interim government in 1993.Earlier in the beginning of his career; the deceased remained annexed with Jamaat-e-Islami and also offered his services as principal Islamia College Qusoor. He has bereav...

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By Sikander Hayat India has beaten Bangladesh in the first cricket test. Mushfiqur Rahim made a well played hundred in the 2nd innings and gave the crowd something to cheer about. It has to be said that Bangladeshi batsmen threw away the advantage that their blowers gave them in the first innings by bowling India out for 243. If they had taken a good lead on a pitch which played quite well, they could have put India under pressure but their batsmen played some ordinary shots and got out cheaply. It has to be said that India played below par as well; at least in the first innings but Bangladesh never pushed India too much and never came close to winning this match. Bangladesh cricket team has still a long way to go before they can be taken seriously in a test match or in any form of the game for that matter. Related Posts: 1. England Cricket Team Involved In Ball Tempering In Cape Town 2. Writing Is On The Wall For Pakistan Cricket Team In Hobart Test 3. Shane Bond Retires From Int...

By Sikander Hayat There are those who say that Obama’s health care plan will be dead if Democrats lose Massachusetts senate seat left vacant due to the death of Senator Edward Kennedy. In my view, it will be a massive blow to Obama’s reputation and he will begin to have second thoughts about America’s views about his agenda but he will still be able to have some sort of health care reform by not sending it to senate and asking the house democrats to pass it in its previous version. From the dizzy heights of post-election success to the present day where Obama is in mid 50s in his approval ratings, his dream of “change” has come crashing down to earth. Massachusetts has been a Democratic bastion for many years due to the Kennedy name and losing it to the republicans will be a massive downer for a president who hopes to spread the appeal of Democratic Party to the “red” states of Middle America. At the time of writing, the race is neck & neck but let’s see what happens by the end of...

By Sikander Hayat I am not saying that it is the start of the Tet offensive but this is major indeed. Militants striking at the heart of Kabul at about 100 yards from the presidential palace, where Hamid Karzai was going to take oaths from the new ministers, is an attack to send message to the United States that Afghan Taliban are still strong and able to mount headline grabbing attacks. This also signals towards a worrying development and that is the presence of Taliban sympathisers in Kabul. Nearly 20 men stayed in Kabul for days if not weeks planning this attack. They were fed, housed and armed by the people from within the city. This is worrying indeed for the NATO & US forces as this attack came just after the attack which killed 7 CIA operatives in Khost. Add this attack to the fact that there almost daily deaths among the coalition soldiers and the picture becomes even more disquieting. This attack also shows that Afghanistan is not ready to be left alone to its own device...

RELATED POSTS: 1. Can United States Change Its Course & The Way It Treats The World 2. Is It Possible To Resolve Conflict Between Pakistan & Afghanistan 3. End Game In Afghanistan - Possible Implication For Pakistan In Case Of An American Withdrawal .

By Sikander Hayat Viktor F. Yanukovich was the loser 5 years ago in the “Orange Revolution” and now he is looking likely to win according to the polls in advance of a presidential election and drawing large crowds in all parts of Ukraine. He has talked about a lifeless economy and the Western friendly Orange leaders who are fighting each other. Five years ago these leaders were put in power by a massive campaign funded by the West. He has asked Ukrainians whether the Ukraine is in a better shape than it was 5 years ago. Corruption is still there, mismanagement and bad governance have taken roots. People are disillusioned with the current set up. In recent weeks, polls have shown Yanukovich leading by 10 or 15 percentage points but due to ethnic differences in the Russian and Ukrainian speaking parts of Ukraine, it is not possible to predict the outcome completely. But the mere fact that the same man who was demonized as a Russian stooge is making a huge comeback is a defeat for the pe...

By Sikander Hayat Muhammad Aamer dropped not only a catch but with it a match as well. Muhammad Aamer dropped Ricky Ponting at the start of his innings and he went on to score a double hundred. I said earlier as well that Pakistan can never be a good test team or for that matter a good cricket team until it holds all of its catches. A bad piece of ground fielding here and there is forgivable but not a dropped catch. When Aamer dropped the catch, Muhammad Asif the bowler was a sight to behold. Dropped shoulders, dejected and devoid of any positive body language. Pakistan lost the match there and then. Related Posts: 1. Is T20 Cricket Really Killing Pakistan Cricket?

By Sikander Hayat There are unconfirmed reports that Hakimullah Mehsud, who is the leader of the Pakistani Taliban and got the leadership after the death of Baitullah Mehsud, has been killed in a drone attack. His organisation has denied these reports but there are strong indications that he is actually dead. US have been hunting actively after the attack on CIA base in Afghanistan in which a Jordanian Al Qaida operative killed 7 CIA men in a suicide attack. Few days later Hakimullah Mehsud appeared in a video with the alleged bomber and took responsibility for the attack. From that day it was a matter of time before Americans would kill him and today they might have achieved their purpose. Reports are still unconfirmed but if they are confirmed then there will be a need for a new TTP (Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan) leader. It will be interesting to see how Pakistani Taliban responds to this strike at their heart. RELATED POSTS 1. Baitullah Mehsud Is An Indian Agent 2. Distinction Betwee...

By Sikander Hayat Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajid is on a 4 day visit to India and on this occasion I would like to discuss briefly India Bangladesh relations. For that we have to look at a little bit of history as well. At the time of separation of Bangladesh from Pakistan, India was the biggest friend of this country. But when General Zia took over in Bangladesh after the murder of Sheikh Mujeeb, relations between India and Bangladesh got a bit soured. Even today there are two camps in Bangladesh; these two camps are based around the descendants of Zia Ur Rehman & Mujeeb Ur Rehman. The former is known to be nationalist and want to keep Bangladesh away from India while the later feels it to be indebted to India for its help in separation from Pakistan and want to bring Bangladesh ever closer to India. During the last few years India and Bangladesh have been blaming each other for all kinds of stuff. For example Bangladesh is blamed for sheltering all kinds of anti...

By Sikander Hayat UK government has banned the outfit run by Anjum Chaudhry . The name of this outfit was “Islam for UK” and was connected with Al-Muhajiru n which is an umbrella organisation for these so called defenders of Muslim faith . These guys were planning to hold a march in Wootton Bassett (this is where bodies of fallen British soldiers are brought to pay respect), against the British army for their participation in Iraq & Afghanistan wars . Now personally I don’t think that Iraq ware was a just war but still a soldier who dies fighting for his country must not be disrespected be it British or Iraqi . What Anjum Chaudhry was trying to do was despicable because he has no sympathy for Muslims anywhere but he is a cheap & vulgar popularity seeker who wants to defame Islam, make life miserable for British Muslims and jeopardise community relations just for his own evil plans. If he was doing all this in a Muslim majority country , by now he would have been hanged...

By Sikander Hayat I am writing the following lines to refute the biggest fallacy associated with Pakistan Army that it is actually a Punjabi Army which takes care of the interests of the Punjab and does not take care of the other federating units. It is outright false and wrong to say such a thing because from the time of Pakistani independence 14 Generals have commanded Pakistan Army. Out of these 14 Generals 2 were British , 4 were Pakhtun, 1 was Hazara, 1 was Baloch, 1 was a Rajput, 3 were Mohajir and 2 were Punjabi. In 64 years after independence, Pakistan has been ruled by 4 Generals for 32 years. These Generals are General Ayub Khan (9 years), General Yahya Khan (3 years), General Zia Ul Haq (11 years) and General Pervez Musharaf (9 years). Not a single one of these Generals was a Punjabi. So much for the myth of a Punjabi dominated army. Here is the list of all the Generals who have lead the Pakistan Army: 1. General Sir Frank Walter Messervy was born in 1893 in ...

By Sikander Hayat Lyari is considered one of the most dangerous places in Karachi due to ubiquitous gang activity and a thriving narcotics industry; certain areas of the town are literally controlled by gangs and municipal authorities have no power. Hence, the town has also been the site of many police operations. The two biggest gang leaders in Lyari were Rehman Dakait and Arshad Pappu, who were the most-wanted criminals in Karachi. Rehman Dakait died in a police operation and allegations about that police encounter are still flying around. Lyari is considered as the most backward area. Few schools, no proper hospitals, poor water system, not much facilities, broken roads are a feature of this area and made it the most dangerous place in Karachi.Last few days have seen the level of violence in Lyari go up to previously unseen levels. There has been so much bloodshed in Lyari because of a dangerous mix of politics, gangland activity, narcotic trade and ethnic animosity between the Bal...

By Sikander Hayat Multan is my city and my favourite place in the world. It is situated in the Punjab Province of Pakistan. It is located in the southern part of the province. Multan District has a population of over 3.8 million and the city itself is the sixth largest within the boundaries of Pakistan. It is situated on the east bank of the Chenab River, more or less in the geographic centre of the country and about 966 km (600 mi) from Karachi. There is a strong desire in the people of Multan to be declared a separate province of Pakistan as it is the heartland of the Saraiki speaking people. The new Multan province will have all of South Punjab included in it with the city of Multan declared the capital of South Punjab. Majority of Punjabi & Urdu speakers in Multan also support the demand for new province as well. Multan is known as the City of Sufis due to the large number of shrines and Sufi saints from the city. The city is full of bazaars, mosques, shrines and ornate tombs. ...

By Sikander Hayat There are reports that two men have been detained in a plane bound for Dubai. These men made verbal threats and were reported by fellow passengers to the staff. Armed Police than entered the plane with dogs and removed the men in question. It is not yet clear what was said and the number of people involved in the security incident. I hope it was nothing serious, otherwise there will be further media witch hunt against the innocent and law abiding Muslim citizens of Europe. Right wing publications like daily mail will have a hay day of spreading further hate.

By Sikander Hayat England bowlers have been found to be involved in tampering the ball during the test at Cape Town. ICC have decided not to take any action despite the fact that the television cameras clearly show Stuart Broad & Jimmy Anderson doing ball tampering to make the ball reverse swing. My only question is that if this was Pakistan, the whole world media, the ICC and everyone else would have been crying at the top of their lung capacity to say Pakistanis were cheats but in case of England, there are no voices to be heard from the “esteemed” British media and the rest of the world. Why are there double standards when it comes to Pakistan? Why England crickets are not called cheats when clearly they were involved in cheating. When Pakistan had a great bowling attack in the form of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis & Shoaib Akhtar, who could bowl reverse swing at 100 miles per hour, it was called cheating but when England bowlers bowl reverse swing, it becomes art. You decide. ...