The Londoner

By Sikander Hayat It is definitely worthwhile to have a debate on this issue. It is difficult to achieve but smaller provinces are key to the success in a future Pakistan. The idea should not be rejected out of hand. Carving out new provinces to prove difficult | Newspaper | DAWN.COM

By Sikander Hayat  I am voting against Alternative Vote (AV) system because I believe that British National Party will be the biggest beneficiary of this system. With current anti immigration climate and very bad economy, BNP will become a party of choice for at least 10% of the population.  With that kind of vote in the bad, this party and its followers can do a lot of damage. 

By Sikander Hayat Shehbaz Bhatti ( Federal minister for minority affairs) was gunned down outside his mother's home in Islamabad this morning. This is another blow to the freedom of speech in Pakistan where governor of Punjab Salman Taseer was murdered by his own body guard for speaking his mind. Nobody knows where we are headed and what each coming day will bring for Pakistanis. But one thing is for sure and that is the continuation of senseless violence and mindless incitement to hatred by so called mullahs of questionable credentials.I an looking forward to the day when someone like Mustafa Kemal will shut down these incubators of violence & intolerance.

By Sikander Hayat Apparently there have been successful revolutions in Tunisia & Egypt and people are in power. What I see is nothing but the continuation of military rule in both these countries. What actually has happened is not people in power but the ruling elites replacing the top figure with military junta but keeping the old regimes alive. Hosni Mubarak & Ben Ali have been replaced by General Tantawi & General Amaar respectively. Both have been part of the power structure in their countries for ages and have been part of the problem rather than solution. How a replacement of a unelected despote with another unelected military man can be classed as regime change is beyond me.  I leave it you to decide if this is democracy & revolution? Related Posts: 1.  Land, language and Lieberman - Israel’s identity crisis 2.  Iranian Revolution – How Iran’s Revolution Is the Biggest Barrier To Regional Cooperation Between Iran, Turkey & Pakistan? 3.  Syria's A

By Sikander Hayat A very sad day for freedom of speech in Pakistan. Salman Taseer should not have paid with his life for what he did or did not say.   “You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.” Friedrich Nietzsche

By Sikander Hayat Someone managed to hack into the top secret US government files and took hold of 3 million odd pages of information. Those documents were then transferred to wiki leaks to be published, making them available to anyone with a computer. Smart work America. It is very rich hearing from you about this country not safe and that country not safe but what about you? Where is your top notch CIA? Who is protecting your nuclear secrets? Last time I checked two of your own scientists passed those to USSR to make their own nuclear bomb. Was that not an act of nuclear proliferation by some of your own scientists who went rogue. This is becoming your habit now to lose your top secret files. First the Afghanistan files, then the Iraq war files & now all the data sent to Washington by your diplomats ( or shall I say spies in the disguise of diplomats). What is next? Codes to your submarines for a possible nuclear missile attack. May be or may be not. But until America puts i

By Sikander Hayat It is now becoming clear that NATO will leave Afghanistan in 2014. The exit strategy was devised in Lisbon over the last week and the main pillar of this strategy is to train a large Afghan army and put it on the streets of Afghanistan while a large American force will stay in the country but won't leave the bases after 2015. To me it looks as if America will stay in Afghanistan for a long time to come albeit in a South Korea/Japan mould . There are many voices in the region who believe that prolonged presence of the foreign troops will only prolong the conflict in Afghanistan by making making recruitment of fighters for Taliban easier. I tend to agree with this view as I see only the immediate neighbours of Afghanistan can stabilise Afghanistan with the help of United States. Among these neighbours, Iran & Pakistan will have to play a major role and America has to recognise this role. Also Iran & Pakistan will have to put aside their differences to