On the morning of April 4, 1979, the military dictatorship of General Ziaul Haq hanged to death Pakistan’s first popularly elected Prime Minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Note how the newsreader also says that Bhutto’s widow, Nusrat Bhutto, attended his funeral. This was a lie because not only was she denied the right to attend the funeral, she, along with her daughter, Benazir Bhutto, was forced into house arrest and then shifted to jail. …

Since its peace treaty with Egypt, Israeli dependence on outsiders was limited. Israel could act on issues like settlements, for example, regardless of American views. That period is coming to an end, and with it the period in which Israel could afford to deviate from its patron. People frequently discuss any U.S.-Israeli rift in terms of personal relations between U.S. President and Israeli Prime Minister, but this is mistaken. It is uncertainty in Egypt and Syria and the emergence of Iran that have created a new strategic reality for Israel. …

I had gotten to know Barghouti before his five life sentences for involvement in killing Israelis. His call for nonviolent resistance is noteworthy and the latest in a series of appeals to and by Palestinians — coming from all over — to summon their own “Arab Awakening,” but do it nonviolently, with civil disobedience or boycotts of Israel, Israeli settlements or Israeli products. …

Over the past two decades, the orthodox Deobandi Islam has spread through an extensive network of madrasas, followed by the Wahhabi Islam propagated by the Jamiat Ahle Hadith (JAH). Together, they have gone a long way in reshaping the Valley’s religious landscape. The JAH owns around 700 mosques, 150 schools and claims a membership of 15 Lakh people, which has made it an influential entity….

Jinnah's own life does not conform to the two nation theory as it is taught to the children of Pakistan. Most of Jinnah's professional adult life was spent amongst Hindus and Parsis and it was in these communities he had his closest friends and colleagues such as Gokhale, Tilak, Sir Ferozeshah Mehta, Kanji Dwarkadas, Durga Das, Diwan Chaman Lal, and Dalmiya etc. The unkindest cut he was to receive at the hands of his great rival Gandhi was that Gandhi called him "Jinnah the representative of the Mohammadan community". …

I’m sure some of you must be squirming and itching to ridicule me, but remember it was I who first suggested that the CIA was using fake polio vaccination campaigns in FATA to gather intelligence in the area, that Husain Haqqani was working against the interest of Pakistan and that man never walked on the moon. It was an elaborate hoax. …

The new al Qaeda chief, Ayman al-Zawahiri in his new video statement has urged the people of Pakistan to overthrow the “corrupt” government in Islamabad. Interestingly, he has also asked the people to rise against the Pakistan Army, which has been fighting a battle against some extremist groups in the North West of the country. …

Today Balochistan is a virtual prison. With thousands of check-posts dotting the province, the Baloch are a society under siege. This land of despair, death, and violence in numerous forms, had largely been peaceful before Musharraf…. His knowledge of Balochistan’s geography, tribes, regions, and languages only reveals the extent of his ignorance. There are more police stations than vocational training centres and more check-posts than girls’ schools. ….

Every time I see an anti-US banner put up by the Jamat Islami, it instantly reminds me of a rather ironic episode many years ago. It is this attitude and history of the Jamat which makes it a case of ideological bankruptcy that is so well encapsulated by their ‘Go America Go’ banners and rhetoric now. “I am almost sure that the Jamat guy who made this banner, already has his passport sent to the US embassy for a visa.” …

In March 2010 animated conspiracy theorist, TV personality and poster-boy for stylised sofa-warming-jihad, Zaid Hamid finally met his nemesis at the Peshawar University. … was chased away by large sections of the audience that turned up to listen to him speak…. They accused the university administration for allowing a ‘fitna’ (provocateur) and ‘agent of military establishment’ to speak at the university…..

So while the clerics have the right to incite violence against Ahmadis, by publicly calling them ‘worthy of death’ and Madrasa students have the right to wall chalk phrases like, ‘hang them all’, schools have the right to expel Ahmadi students and lawyers have the right to ban Shezan - Ahmadis, on the other hand, have the right to remain silent!...

Bangla was derided by Pakistani rulers as a language ‘contaminated’ by non-Muslim influences; today the Baloch people are regularly and insultingly referred to as ‘Balochi’. The Bengali people have now long since moved on, even though the horrific memories live on. The Baloch people, on the other hand, are formally still part of the complex mosaic we call Pakistan….

The writing on the wall is clear. Both mainstream parties have come to the conclusion that any further destabilization of the government will only serve the interests of the military establishment while portraying them both in a bad light in comparison with the PTI. There is, of course, one creeping issue that threatens to scuttle such carefully laid plans. …

“Let us strangle the last king with the guts of the last priest,” the philosopher Denis Diderot said. The same phrase is now widely repeated across Arabia — or Saudi Arabia, as it is currently named under the dynastic autocracy. It is only a matter of time before the revolutions that have swept the Arab world reach the Saudi kingdom. …

Unlike many of the regional governments currently facing unrest, the kingdom has a strong record of fiscal responsibility. Although there are some cultural similarities between Saudi Arabia and some of the states that are currently experiencing unrest, the dissimilarities are more important. … the Saudi monarchy is very likely to continue for many more decades….