SPY EYES ANALYSIS

A week back steamy headlines made it to the front pages and Security News Alerts: Iran may act as negotiator with Assad, Syrian President. It is no secret that Rouhani’s government has been deemed friendly, forward looking, and less fanatical than its predecessors. So must Iran with a freshly signed nuclear deal, our new member on the bandwagon for global peace, play a role in convincing Syria’s Assad to hop aboard too? Possibly yes. But will the Arab League, Turkey and Washington’s other allies allow for such bold acceptance of the pariah state? While Putin was able to pen his  plea for caution  in ‘The’ New York Times; and Wikileaks, Bradley Manning, and the latest NSA spying scandal courtesy Edward Snowden had raised question marks in blindly trusting audience; the Syrian imbroglio remains perturbed and unchecked. Ticking like a time bomb, with dozens killed on a weekly basis, the state of war in Syria needs to be addressed. Then who must step in? So far the Iran...

Growth is robust and prospects look bright for the Islamic banking industry. In the past two decades of its less than forty-year existence, remarkable development has taken the USD 150 billion peripheral industry to one surpassing the USD 1.5 trillion level. Though the challenge to validate expectations is colossal, the trend represents a paradigm shift in the form of a quiet revolution- one that is likely to persist in the near future.  That a nascent, fringe industry should serve as a topic of debate in international media reflects its burgeoning clout. The idea of  ethical banking,  interwoven into the fabric of the ideal Islamic system led many to examine and even pursue it as an area of study in the wake of the global financial crisis. At least in theory, it exuded an overall sense of shared responsibility and destiny through partnership and investment in real, productive assets. Dubbed the fastest growing sector of the international financial system, mak...

New revelations at Guantánamo show the walls have ears, and justice is being made a mockery. BY LAURA PITTER Just when you think it couldn't get much worse in the military commissions at Guantánamo, something happens to prove you wrong. It all began in late January when, during pretrial hearings in the case against five men accused in the 9/11 attacks, the audio feed -- which runs on a 40-second delay to prevent leaks of classified information -- was abruptly cut off. The media and observers, who sit behind a soundproof glass wall at the back of the court, noted the silence. But the cut surprised even the military judge, who believed he was the only one with authority to press the button and who did not consider the information being discussed at that moment classified. The audio cutoff was initiated "not by me," the judge, Army Col. James Pohl, said angrily at the time, and "I'm curious as to why." He added, "If some external body is...

 Report published as shown on www.pu.edu.pk

By Ayaz Amir The Soviet pullout from Afghanistan in 1989 was a triumph for our military establishment. The ISI and the Zia regime, while not solely responsible for that outcome, had helped bring it about. But the American pullout from Afghanistan, now underway and to be completed in about a year’s time, far from being any kind of triumph looks set to be a disaster...one for which we are wholly unprepared.   Afghanistan in 1989 was a simpler proposition, the highs and lows of it etched in black and white. Afghanistan in 2013 is a place infinitely more complicated and dangerous...not just for itself but for us as well.   This is because of one vital difference. Afghanistan then was a country contained within its borders. Afghanistan now, to our misfortune, is stretched across the Durand Line. Ask yourself two simple questions: (1) Are the Taliban based in Fata more loyal to Mullah Omar or to the state of Pakistan? (2) Is Nor...

The hanging of Afzal Guru is a stain on India’s democracy Indian police bring Afzal Guru to court in Delhi in 2002. Photograph: Aman Sharma/AP Despite gaping holes in the case against Afzal Guru, all India’s institutions played a part in putting a Kashmiri ‘terrorist’ to death By Arundhati Roy Spring announced itself in Delhi on Saturday. The sun was out, and the law took its course. Just before breakfast, the government of India secretly  hanged Afzal Guru , prime accused in the  attack on parliament  in December 2001, and interred his body in Delhi’s Tihar jail where he had been in solitary confinement for 12 years. Guru’s wife and son were not informed. “The authorities intimated the family through speed post and registered post,” the home secretary told the press, “the director general of the Jammu and Kashmir [J&K] police has been told to check whether they got it or not”. No big deal, they’re only the family of yet another Kashmiri terrorist. ...