The Londoner

BUNER: Taliban militants from Swat took control of Buner on Tuesday and started patrolling bazaars, villages and towns in the district. The militants, who had sneaked into Gokand valley of Buner on April 4, were reported to have been on a looting spree for the past five days. They have robbed government and NGO offices of vehicles, computers, printers, generators, edible oil containers, and food and nutrition packets. Sources said that leading political figures, businessmen, NGO officials and Khawaneen, who had played a role in setting up a Lashkar to stop the Taliban from entering Buner, had been forced to move to other areas. The Taliban have extended their control to almost all tehsils of the district and law-enforcement personnel remained confined to police stations and camps. The Taliban, equipped with advanced weapons, were reported to be advancing towards border areas of Swabi, Malakand and Mardan, the hometown of NWFP Chief Minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti. Read the whole story h

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan has demanded the dissolution of the Balochistan Assembly and hold fresh polls so that Balochi people could elect their genuine representatives. Talking to the media at the reception of new members of the party on Friday, he condemned the murder of three Baloch nationalist leaders, saying the present assembly had failed to come up to the expectations of Balochis and lost its mandate. Supporting the Swat peace deal, he said the deal was indispensable because it was the long standing demand of the local people. Besides, he added, there was no option to restore peace as all the government agencies had failed to control situation. He condemned the critics of Swat deal, particularly MQM which was undermining the peace agreement only to serve the interests of the US and the UK. He alleged that MQM itself was a terrorist organization active in Karachi and urban areas of Sindh. He announced that he would visit Karachi on May 3 at every cost. R

By Sikander Hayat A few weeks back, I wrote an article about the necessity for more provinces in Pakistan and in response to that I received a lot of emails from you that it is not the issue of more provinces that will resolve the problems of Pakistan but making Pakistan a true federation will cure the ills of our country. I see this as a viable alternative solution and lately I have heard many notable politicians especially from Pakistan Muslim League (N) like Shahbaz Sharif and Khwaja Asif talking about the need for a new social contract in Pakistan where all six federal components namely Punjab, Sindh, Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Azad Kashmir & Northern Areas be given equal representation in Parliament and Senate and each provincial assembly have sweeping powers in terms of tax collection, spending and other issues. Federal government must only have its jurisdiction in Defence, Foreign affairs, Currency and Communications ( air, sea and land ports should be under federal jurisdict

By Aakar Patel There are three serious candidates for the post of prime minister of India, for which they must get 272 votes in the Lok Sabha. The first is Congress's Manmohan Singh, whose alliance is predicted to get 220. The second is the BJP's Advani, whose alliance is predicted to get 180. The third is Mayawati, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. Her party is not expected to get more than 50 seats on its own. But she is more likely to become PM than Advani. This is because India's national politics is oriented around opposition to the BJP, which is seen, correctly, as dangerous by most parties. But it is also because the Indian is emotional and believes in symbolism, in the grand moment. And the Untouchables of India, whom Mayawati represents, are owed this moment by India. The world and India will receive news of prime minister Mayawati with warmth. Not everybody, of course. India's middle class, which is upper caste, hates Mayawati because of the way she looks, and

‘A situation has been created in the province to destabilise Pakistan in what appears to be a conspiracy to seize and destroy the nation’s assets,’ he said while participating in a debate triggered by a number of motions moved by all parliamentary groups on the issue, including an adjournment motion seeking on the recent killing of three Baloch nationalist leaders. The chair clubbed together all the motions containing various demands and suggestions for resolving the issue. Acting Chairman Jan Mohammad Jamali said the matter was very important and needed extensive deliberations. Some lawmakers said they saw an international conspiracy behind the present law and order situation in Balochistan and called for ‘complete autonomy’ for the province. They rejected a committee headed by the Balochistan IG to investigate the murder of the Baloch politicians and demanded a commission under a Supreme Court judge to look into the circumstances leading to the crime and fix responsibility. The prime

Pakistan has been stripped of hosting any matches in the 2011 World Cup because of the uncertain security situation in the south Asian country. International Cricket Council president David Morgan said: "It is a regrettable decision but our priority is to deliver a safe, secure, successful event." Pakistan were due to co-host the event with India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Seven of Sri Lanka's top cricketers and an assistant coach were injured in an attack by gunmen in Lahore on 3 March. The other three countries hosting the tournament will share the 16 matches that would have been held in Pakistan. The news came during the first day of the ICC board meeting in Dubai. Ijaz Butt, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, said: "It's a disappointing decision but it can't be helped. Nobody wants to play in Pakistan following the attacks in Lahore." The co-ordinated attack by around 12 gunmen - armed with grenade and rocket launchers - targeted the Sri Lanka

Thursday, April 16, 2009 By Ikram Sehgal The Asia Society was pessimistic in asking this rhetorical question in a commendable comprehensive review aimed at "Stabilising Afghanistan and Pakistan." The report has a basic flaw, India successfully arm-twisted the Obama administration into ignoring the major reason for the present instability in the region, Kashmir was repeatedly so stated by candidate Obama during his Presidential campaign. This core question can only be avoided at dire peril to policy initiatives aimed at successfully confronting terrorism. Constructive engagement with moderate elements among the Taliban is necessary, political initiatives to isolate Al-Qaeda by bringing moderates back from the cold, giving them political space presently dominated either by the Northern Alliance or non-representative Pashtuns of their choice. These include: (1) The US acting neutral in the emergence of a truly credible leadership through holding of representative jirgas. (2) Bui