Category: Pakistan

The Fractious Path: Pakistan’s Democratic Transition

     

  Since its creation in 1947, Pakistan has oscillated between weak democratic governments and military dictatorships. In 2013, for the first time, there was a peaceful transfer of power from… Read more »

Islamists threaten ‘fractious path’ of Pakistan’s democratic transition

     

Weeks of scathing criticism has apparently prompted a provincial government in Pakistan to review a grant of $3 million it has recently allocated for a controversial Islamic seminary, which some… Read more »

Reform military assistance to advance democratic values

     

U.S. military assistance could be a major asset in advancing democratic values and institutions, says a prominent analyst. Yet the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program, which provides U.S…. Read more »

Pakistan must investigate killing of activist, says rights group

     

Pakistani authorities should conduct a prompt and impartial investigation into the killing of human rights activist Khurram Zaki, who had been publicly critical of extremist cleric Abdul Aziz (above) and militant sectarian… Read more »

Mapping Pakistan’s Internal Dynamics

     

Pakistan poses one of the world’s most significant and vexing geopolitical challenges, as its geographic position at the nexus of the Middle East and Asia, nuclear stockpile, and domestic extremist… Read more »

Can civil society tame Pakistan’s violent extremism?

     

Tackling extremism is a political minefield in Pakistan where politicians openly consort with leaders of banned militant groups and sympathy exists within the security forces and civil administration for perpetrators… Read more »

Islamists corrosive to Pakistan’s fragile democracy

     

On Easter Sunday, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban (TTP), killed over 72 people and wounded hundreds in an attack on a Lahore park, demonstrating that the… Read more »

Aware Girls confront deadly double standard

     

In this week’s Global Thinkers podcast, “India’s Daughter” director Leslee Udwin joins human rights activist Gulalai Ismail (left, with Malala Yousafzai) to share personal stories of discrimination and discuss the challenges in convincing women… Read more »

Legal Restrictions on Thought & Expression: Pakistan, Egypt, Thailand, Bahrain – and Turkey

     

  Turkey’s “strongman” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is going the extra mile in his trajectory of authoritarianism by challenging a Constitutional Court ruling, effectively conflating freedom of expression with espionage,… Read more »

Pakistan ‘resolved to reverse tide of extremism’

     

The authorities in Pakistan were bracing for the possibility of violence and escalating protests on Monday after the execution of the man who killed Salmaan Taseer, a governor who had campaigned for… Read more »