Malik Ishaq meets his maker. Finally.

One of India and Pakistan’s most wanted terrorists, Malik Ishaq was killed in a police ‘encounter’.

Have to hand it to the police – they accomplished what a decade of military rule couldn’t do under Musharraf, or even when Nawaz essentially gave the Army carte blanch to take on terrorists. For someone who regularly boasted of killing Pakistani’s left right and center, it’s amazing how much support Malik Ishaq kept getting from the Sharif brothers.

Malik Ishaq was going to meet a foul end sooner or later, it’s tragic that despite having him in and out of custody for so many years the Pakistan govt. never thought to hand him over to India. Now that would have been a diplomatic ice breaker extraordinaire.

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Hashwani’s book “Truth Always Prevails: A Memoir”

There is a severe shortage of books by the movers and shakers of Pakistan. Yes, there are some books out there now, but many are fiction, or hagiographies like Musharraf’s masterpiece of ego stroking or Fatima Bhutto’s rosy retelling of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (both men which feature in Hashwani’s life). Hashwani’s book is a breath … Read moreHashwani’s book “Truth Always Prevails: A Memoir”

Five years of Zardari

A milestone came and went past this year, bigger than most – an elected government in Pakistan completed its full term. The PPP government wasn’t thrown out by the army mid way, though it sure looks like the Army had a few half hearted attempts along the way. Even the Supreme Court got into the game of chucking the government out but only managed to get rid of the Prime Minister, who as everyone knows is just a little toady to the main man, Asif Zardari.

The puzzling thing about five years of the PPP government is how little of a main man Zardari was. That he survived five years is testament to his cunning, scheming, politicking and the many little duplicitous tricks he used to stay in power, but there is nothing else there. No signs of courage, of trying to do right by anyone not related to him, of honour, of attempts to change – nothing.

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Imran Khan wrote a book in 2011: Pakistan: A Personal History

Imran Khan is a figure writ large into Pakistan, and now with fifteen years of being out in the political wilderness behind him, Imran Khan is once again the talk of the country. I’d never imagined I’d ever be reading a book by Imran Khan, and that too a personal history of Pakistan, but here it is.

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The VICE guide to Karachi

Added without comment, to be watched later. A scene report from the VICE dudes on the ground. It’s in five parts, all up on youtube and embedded below:

VICE Guide to Karachi: Pakistan’s Most Violent City (Part 1/5)

Vice, true to their name, sticks to all the vices of wherever they go, forgoing everything else, but that said, Karachi is changing from a city with a seamy underbelly to a seamy underbelly with huge slums and a urban jungle of a city hanging on for dear life.

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Bangladesh finally starts up war crime tribunals for 1971

A blast from the past, from the 1971 past that is, where another Pakistan Army, which has moved on to raping entire governments not just it’s own women, did this: “Bangladesh says Pakistani soldiers, aided by local collaborators, killed an estimated 3 million people, raped about 200,000 women and forced millions to flee their homes. … Read moreBangladesh finally starts up war crime tribunals for 1971

Senator Rehman Malik on wives, girlfriends and killings

“According to my personal experience in Karachi, if, let’s say, it is said that 100 people have died in target killings, when I did the investigation, I found that there were only 30 target killings,” Malik said. “Seventy per cent were those people who wanted to be rid of their wives and girlfriends or girlfriends … Read moreSenator Rehman Malik on wives, girlfriends and killings

Internet slowdowns, it’s not just your bad connection

I have noticed something fishy while using Google+ in Pakistan, over three different ISP’s in both Karachi and Lahore – that web browsing slows down a lot sometimes, and google+ especially crawls in fits and starts. I suspect it’s something to do with Pakistani routers as turning on a VPN everything is blazing fast again. … Read moreInternet slowdowns, it’s not just your bad connection