SPY EYES ANALYSIS

BY SARAH ELEAZAR Recently the Parliamentary Committee on National Security decided to take Pakistan’s foreign policy to the floor of representatives and argue and debate relatively au courant terms of engagement with USA. While the opposition did sneer at the fact that these recommendations are not binding,non-state actors aka DPC,JI and Al- Zawahiri warned against re-opening NATO supply routes and announced that they won’t shirk from ‘spilling blood’ if the Parliament does give in to US pressure,the fact that for the first time national security and foreign policy was going to be debated and discussed instead of dictated was laudable,with millions of dollars riding on the big question of how far we are willing to go. Yet the big question was relegated to the back burner at the fourth sitting of the joint session. While questions riddling the common man may not be big enough for our high handed politicians to address,recent developments in the country marked by an escalati...

By Maleeha Riaz Pakistan is struggling. Struggling to keep afloat in a sea of political, economic and social issues. It suffers internally from inflation, power shortages and fear of losing our jobs, homes and families. Its people are divided along ethnic, racial and religious lines. Injustice and corruption rule the night and the day. All this is being reined by leaders who purport to represent the people but fail to mention who exactly is included in “the people”. While the county’s political scenario has been interpreted as productive or destructive, depending on which house you belong to, its economic productivity is relatively easy to determine. Measures like the balance of payments, imports and exports, taxes and revenue can give a good picture of where the economy stands. The current picture is, unfortunately, quite miserable. Every economy needs raw materials to propel its industry but be it water for crops or fuel for factories, Pakistan is witnessing the worst form...

NOTES FROM A SOCIAL SCIENTIST "Nations living on borrowed ideologies have no foundations; Allah has gifted us with the best where lies the salvation for mankind. Lets study and implement Political Islam if we want to live with respect, honour and dignity." Raja Mujtaba By Haider Mehdi “No emancipation (is possible) without that of (the entire) society.”                                                 Theodor Adorno (1903-1969) German Sociologist and Philosopher                                                  ...

S. M. Hali Under the garb of expanding its embassy premises, according to media reports, the US Diplomatic Mission in Islamabad has raised the hackles of the city’s fathers by raising the elevation of its complex. The minders of Pakistan’s security have observed that using the height of its diplomatic building, the US will be able to keep an eye on all important buildings in its vicinity in the federal capital. These include the Presidency, The Prime Minister’s Secretariat and Residence, the Houses of Parliament and even the headquarters of Pakistan’s premier security agency, the Inter Services Intelligence Agency (ISI). The concerned quarters have reportedly raised the matter with the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to ask the US Diplomatic Mission in Islamabad to limit the elevation of the US Embassy complex to four storeys instead of seven. Although a vigilant watch is being maintained over Islamabad by interested quarters through satellite and other aerial platforms but ...

In a piece I had done for a newspaper, I looked at a growing unease within the privileged segment of society caused by the increasing convergence of interests of the military and a more expressive middle class. Two aspects stand out. One, the level of concern on such a convergence apprehends a growing pool of common sentiment; and two, the latent capacity that exists within such a group that might just challenge the existing status quo. Speaking plainly, the concern is the military-middle class-Imran Khan (MMI) nexus that is  perceived as threatening the hold of more traditional centres of power . Our issue, though, is to address the state-society divide — the more lethal brew endangering the nation-state formulation — that subsumes all other subsets and fissures. Traditionally, power in Pakistan along the timeline of its existence has lain with politicians, bureaucrats, military among the formal pillars, while some others have emerged in recent decades. The latter include...

Recently some desperate auto rickshaw drivers climbed high tension pylons to protest the brutal and unreasonable behavior of traffic wardens and police. They were fed up of being mistreated and obviously no one was prepared to help them. Their feat did make it into the media but had zero impact. More recently people protesting severe energy shortages besieged a power grid station and beat up the staff. In Faisalabad there were violent street protests against unemployment, the cost of living and power cuts. A government official’s car was smashed and police and private security guards were badly beaten---again some media coverage but no real concern. In Karachi where political parties battle for turf there have been protests against extortion, kidnappings and street crime. Not much has been done except for a well publicized ‘crack-down’---all the criminals had to do was leave before the operation started and return once it ended. While the ethnic, sectarian and political divides in...

Every day we hear news about strategies for defeating terrorism with latest weapons and new technologies. The foresight of highly trained knights will overcome the evil forces. Global leaders and intelligence agencies attest that their “well thought out” techniques will render maximum fulfillment of goals and soon the conflict will be resolved and everyone will be able to live happily ever after Unfortunately these tall claims are nothing more than bedtime fairy tales! The wars currently taking place in the world are not so simplistic. The weapons are stronger, armies are bigger and the stakes are higher. War conditions are unlike anything that can be put in words and the line dividing good from evil is blurred. Battles nowadays are more threatening than they were  say  twenty years ago.  All this talk about how the new world is resorting to non-violent but effective means of coercion like sanctions is nothing but a lie. Have a look at the statistics of War on T...

Defence and Diplomacy By Raja G Mujtaba (This paper is based on S M Hali’s weekly TV program Defence and Diplomacy where on the panel he had two eminent personalities who are considered to be authority in their fields of expertise. The video clipping is at the end of the article.) “The challenge of securing safe and plentiful water for all is one of the most daunting challenges faced by the world today.”  Ban Ki-moon “Oil has always been thought of as the traditional cause of conflict in the Middle East past and present. Since the first Gulf oil well gushed in Bahrain in 1932, countries have squabbled over borders in the hope that ownership of a patch of desert or a sand bank might give them access to new riches. No longer. Now, most borders have been set, oil fields mapped and reserves accurately estimated – unlike the water resources, which are still often unknown. WATER is taking over from oil as the likeliest cause of conflict in the Middle East.”  Adel Darwis...

A question that every American must ask that why America should burn for israel. By Raja G Mujtaba On Wednesday, last week, Jeff Rense hosted the author to very interesting but very sensitive issues that were discussed in his program that only covered Iran but also other countries like Pakistan, Syria etc. in the region. Based on that radio talk, this paper has been written for the benefit of the listeners and readers. The technologies that is available to America like EMP (electromagnetic pulse) that can be exploded from 50,000 feet or above can virtually knock out every computer or computer assisted system thus rendering Iran very vulnerable and helpless before America. This is a wrong attitude and a wrong approach; it’s based on arrogance and ego. In such a scenario, free flight weapons would remain quite effective. However as time moves on, war clouds are looming large over Iran; the main threats are coming from Washington but equally strong if not more are from Tel Av...