Pakistan
ForesightNews world briefing: upcoming events 30 January – 5 February
A weekly round up of world events from Monday, 30 January to Sunday, 5 February from Foresight News By Nicole Hunt European leaders gather in Brussels on Monday for an informal meeting of the European Council, during which discussions are set to focus on jobs and the new fiscal stabilisation treaty agreed at their controversial […]
American Muslim: Freedom, Faith and Fear
By Alan Selby A lot has changed in the years since 9/11. The date itself has become emblematic of a change in attitudes towards Islam, perhaps most notably in the country which bore witness to the infamous attacks that day. Popular opinion has shifted, and the land of the free has become an increasingly […]
Kashmir: South Asia’s Palestine?
View in iTunes Watch the even here. By Marise Jeyarajah The club hosted an animated discussion last night on the controversial issues surrounding the future of Kashmir. Chaired by author and broadcaster Victoria Schofield. Kashmiri born Mirza Waheed, BBC Urdu journalist and author of The Collaborator, opened the event by giving his account of the ‘turning point’ events […]
Kashmir: South Asia’s Palestine?
The former Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir, is seen by many as South Asia’s Palestinian counterpart. Bordered by Pakistan, India, China and Afghanistan, each country has laid claim to the territory that lies in the foothills of the Himalayas. It has been caught between continuous contestation of borders and autonomy since the partition of British India.
Join us at the Frontline Club with an expert panel to discuss where Kashmir stands in its fight for freedom and the options that lay before it.
ForesightNews world briefing: upcoming events 31 October – 6 November
A weekly round up of world events from Monday, 31 October to Sunday, 6 November from ForesightNews By Nicole Hunt The week starts off with a bang as humankind hits a big milestone on Monday – the UN is marking the day as the moment the world’s population surpasses seven billion people. A deadline set by […]
Shedding light in darkness: Kate Brooks and capturing the Middle East
Last night’s Frontline Club event – In the Picture: Kate Brooks: A decade on the front line – shed some light on the motives behind Brooks’ incredible life: beautiful photography, capturing every shade of human emotion, from hope and happiness, to despair, and everything in between.
ForesightNews world briefing: upcoming events 8-14 August
A weekly round up of world events from Monday, 8 August to Sunday, 14 August from ForesightNews Former Israeli President Moshe Katsav is back in court in Jerusalem on Monday, appealing his April conviction and seven year sentence for indecent assault and sexual harassment of two female employees. In Dharamsala, Lobsang Sangay is sworn in as the […]
ForesightNews world briefing: upcoming events 25-31 July
A weekly round up of world events from Monday, 25 July to Sunday, 31 July from ForesightNews The week starts off with two high-profile court hearings on Monday. Former Egyptian Interior Minister Habib al Adly is scheduled to go on trial in Cairo on charges of ordering the deaths of protesters, but the hearing has been […]
Defusing Human Bombs
The shouts and laughter of boys playing games fills up the hidden away in a remote valley near Swat Pakistan. With their green and red school uniforms, these boys and seem like any other school children. But there is no other school quite like this in the world, where most of its pupils were expected […]
Saleem Shahzad’s death and Pakistani journalists living dangerously
By Fifi Haroon Even in the face of daily suicide bombings and a recurrent crisis of governance Pakistanis tend to get prickly when the troubled country is tagged by the western media as the most dangerous place on earth. There is even a motley crew of turgid television anchors and sundry media commentators loosely termed […]
A Q&A with Julian Assange (part II): on Lockerbie, copycat leaks sites, and protecting whistleblowers
Yesterday WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange was awarded the Sydney Peace Prize gold medal for Peace with Justice at the Frontline Club. You can read our report of events here. After Assange gave his acceptance speech, there was time for a question and answer session. He spoke in depth in reponse to many questions, giving insight […]
Osama bin Laden’s death: What difference will it make?
Watch the full event here. By Patrick Smith On the day after al Qaeda’s “leader” Osama bin Laden was killed by US forces in a daring raid on a nondescript compound outside Jalalabad, BBC Urdu sent out reporters into four cities across Afghanistan and Pakistan. Not to ask questions, but to observe. To sit at […]
FULLY BOOKED A safer world? What does Osama bin Laden’s death mean for Pakistan, Afghanistan and the West?
View in iTunes After the tracking down and killing of Osama bin Laden by a U.S. special operations team the questions have come thick and fast. At our May First Wednesday we are hoping to throw light on some of them: What impact will the death of Osama bin Laden have on Al Qaeda and […]
Guido’s Pakistan Road Trip and Afghan ‘Outdoor Look’
Journalists accompanying Germany’s Foreign Minister, Guido Westerwelle, on his trip to Pakistan and Afghanistan this week had a few surprises. Thick fog prevented Mr Westerwelle’s plane from landing in Islamabad, forcing Germany’s top diplomat and journalists in tow to land 400 km away in Lahore. To keep to schedule, Plan B was to pile everyone […]
Life in the Red Zones: Islamabad
How many of you have to go through eight security barracks on your way to work every day and back? How would you feel if you have to go through at least four security check posts, have special security vehicle permission and special entry pass, every time you want to enter in the premises of […]
Pakistan under the spotlight: Is the money getting to where it needs to go?
Pakistan is still reeling from the devastating floods that have seen one fifth of the country become submerged. More than $800 million has been pledged through international donations. But allegations abound that some of the money pledged is not reaching the problem areas, through corruption and mismanagement – a thorny subject tackled at Frontline Club […]
First Wednesday: Why Pakistan matters
This Wednesday we turn our attention again to the crisis unfolding in Pakistan. With more than 14 million people displaced by relentless floods and disease spreading through the country, our First Wednesday event for September with chair Paddy O’Connell will look at the disaster with a wide lens and ask what the prospects are for […]
Footage from Pakistan plane crash site posted to YouTube
Earlier today a plane crashed in Pakistan killing all 152 people that were on board. The Airblue aircraft came down in hills north of the capital, Islamabad. Footage from the scene of the aftermath was posted to YouTube and highlighted by the CitizenTube blog. In June, CitizenTube said it would increase its focus on finding […]
Taking on the Taliban
THE SLIT in the rock wall is not much to look at: A two-foot wide gap that disappears into blackness. But passing through the nondescript entrance opens up a network of caves and a small insight into the world of the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Pakistan’s tribal areas. This was once a subterranean hideout. The […]
Fatima Bhutto speaks out against Pakistan’s digital liberty crackdown
By Gouri Sharma Fatima Bhutto has criticised authorities in Pakistan for cutting off access to Facebook earlier this month. Bhutto used her appearance at the Frontline Club on Wednesday to highlight wh she things th the government was wrong to ban access to social networking sites for containing what it has called "blasphemous" content. If […]
FULLY BOOKED Insight with Fatima Bhutto
Fatima Bhutto, writer, political commentator and outspoken critic of Pakistan’s current regime will be at the Frontline Club in conversation with Owen Bennett-Jones, BBC Pakistan correspondent between 1998 and 2001 and author of Pakistan: Eye Of The Storm, to talk about her new book Songs of Blood and Sword and her vision for the future of Pakistan.
My Pakistan Reading List
I move to Islamabad on Wednesday to become The Telegraph’s Pakistan correspondent. Here is my current reading list: In the Line of Fire by Pervez Musharraf – currently still sitting in a warehouse somewhere, and I fear this won’t arrive in time A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif – novels tend to have […]
Afghan and US commanders considering Kandahar & Quetta to be next big stops in insurgency fight
In recent recommendations by the top American commander in Afghanistan Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, is exerting pressure to add another 40,000 troops on top of the 68,000 Americans already deployed there. The report by Gen McChrystal, last week got leaked to the media, in which he have assessed three main Taliban groups. The report identifies […]
Beards no longer a personal choice in Swat
wearing white Shalwar kameez and black shades over his eyes, sitting at reception area. “He has an appointment with you, he has come from Swat” my assistant informed me. I was confused; I had a meeting scheduled with Sarmad Behzaad, one of my dedicated news sources from the Swat region. “Send him in”, I asked […]
Rising Confusion in Pakistan
The news rang on the cell phone of a beat reporter – Security agencies had notified police headquarters that more than one hundred buildings in Lahore were under security threat. A friend, who also works as the bureau chief for another news channel, and I were both sipping our evening chai at a cozy lounge […]
Live tonight – Pakistan turmoil
Tonight we discuss the roots of turmoil in Pakistan at the Frontline Club. As usual we start at 7pm GMT/11am PST. If you can’t make it to the Club in person, please join us online on the Frontline Club live channel, on this blog or on the Club events page. Feel free to embed the […]
Account of shootout in Police Training School, Lahore.
Munawan, Lahore: After 3/3, 30/3 was another event, filled with tragedy infused with confusion and terror. Lahore isn’t too used to taking all this. 7:30AM – 30/3: Another Terrorist attack—After Sri Lankan team, this time on Police Training school in Munawa, some 14 KM from Lahore, more towards Wagha Border between India and Pakistan. Flew […]
Account of shootout in Police Training School, Lahore.
Munawan, Lahore: After 3/3, 30/3 was another event, filled with tragedy infused with confusion and terror. Lahore isn’t too used to taking all this. 7:30AM – 30/3: Another Terrorist attack—After Sri Lankan team, this time on Police Training school in Munawa, some 14 KM from Lahore, more towards Wagha Border between India and Pakistan. Flew […]
Beverly Giesbrecht ransom offer rejected
A ransom offered to the Taliban kidnappers of Beverly Giesbrecht has reportedly been rejected according to a report on the Globe & Mail newspaper. Giesbrecht, a Canadian freelance journalist who also goes by the name of Khadija Abdul Qahaar, was kidnapped four months ago in the border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The kidnappers […]
Journalist shot dead in Rawalpindi
Raja Asad Hameed, a senior reporter with the English Language daily The Nation in Pakistan, was shot dead last night in Rawalpindi, Unidentified armed men on Thursday night killed Raja Asad Hameed, senior reporter of a local English daily. The incident took place at 10pm, when the armed men came to Hameed’s house and rang […]