Special Reports

The founding father of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah had envisioned a country, though based on Islam, to be pluralistic in its ethos accepting believers of other religions such as Christians, Hindus, Parsis and Sikhs. Undeniably, the white patch in the Pakistani flag symbolizes the nation’s religious minority communities. 1 Jinnah, on the occasion of his first speech before the members of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan in 1947 had clearly declared that non-Muslims would be equal citizens in the new country and that every person living in the country was an equal citizen irrespective of his or her community, caste,

Recent media reports indicate that Sudan, the strategically located oil rich African nation is facing one of its worst economic crises. The country is apparently under a debt burden worth about 20 Billion dollars to China. Though many economists differ on the exact figure and debt estimates, the Chinese direct and indirect investment in Sudan is alleged to be nothing less than 29 Billion dollars. As is known, China has provided numerous interest free loans and grants to the Sudanese government for diverse projects including construction of oil pipelines, bridges in Hantoop, Singa, on the Nile River along with building

Most political analysts opine that abrogation of Article 370 & 35A of the Constitution of India was merely a BJP election manifesto promise, which it ultimately fulfilled in furtherance of its Hindutva agenda, which otherwise was not desired by the people of former state of Jammu & Kashmir. Things are however complicated. While most of the people of Kashmir valley can be said to be in favour of the continuation of Article 370, but not all Kashmiris or people living in Kashmir were necessarily in favour of continuation of Article 370. The half a million community of Kashmiri Pundits, Sikhs

Some scholars tend to be persistent in producing new evidence of their work. Adrian Zenz is one such researcher who comes up with new information and analysis which clearly shows that China has not only persecuted the Uyghur people in Xinjiang but also introduced through forced birth-control measures, which is likely to cut between 2.6 and 4.5 million minority births. Significantly, this is the first peer-reviewed academic publication on the longterm population impact of China’s crackdown on the Uyghur and other minority groups in Xinjiang. In the Central Asian Survey, Zenz presents (10 June 2021) comprehensive new evidence based on

Soon after the European Union Parliament (EUP) adopted a resolution on Sri Lanka recently, citing that it has flouted all the conditions it committed to the EU and the UNHRC, such as, to ratify and effectively implement 27 international conventions on human rights, labour conditions, protection of the environment and good governance and warned of revoking the GPS Plus facility that generated  €2083mn in 2020, China immediately exploited the situation and announced they would buy Sri Lanka’s fish from July 1, 2021. Sri Lanka’s fish export to China stood at USD 6.53mn in 2020 and the overall exports to China

China has recently witnessed something unusual for the country since the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Thousands of students held protests in China over education reforms, sparking the feelings of nostalgia about the 1989 incident that remains a taboo topic of discussion in mainland China even today. Students from five independent colleges in the Jiangsu Province expressed their opposition to the transfer of undergraduate colleges to ‘vocational’ institutions as a part of education reforms.1 They held agitations openly, without fear of police action, that took the country by surprise. This did not go down well with the Communist Party leaders, not

In a startling revelation on his YouTube channel, Sedat Peker, 49, a drug lord originally from Turkey but now living in exile in Dubai, exposed the well entrenched nexus between Turkish politicians and the mafia, both within and outside the country. His YouTube channel has so far released eight videos accusing the country’s former and current Interior Ministers and other big shots in the Turkish government of having links in grave crimes including murder plots, rape, arms and drug trafficking. He has mentioned that four more videos will be released shortly in the coming weeks, highlighting the ‘deep state’ collusion

There are many aspects that characterize global politics today – from suffering a pandemic allegedly generated by a deadly virus that artificially emerged in a lab, an ambitious military rivalry in the Indo-Pacific region to grab natural resources and convert atolls into military bases, to expansionist policies leading to hotly contested territorial disputes, illegal supply of nuclear arsenals by sidelining established norms, unsustainable debt-aid policies, to an unprecedented global economic depression that is festering poverty each day. But in all of this there is one thing in common, an aggressive China driven by policies of the Chinese Communist Party led

Since few months now, there is peace across the LOC as the guns have fallen silent from both sides of the divide. It is reprieve time for those unfortunate ones who live within a radius of few kilometres from LOC on both the sides as they no longer need fear for their lives and properties. How short/ long lived will this scenario be? Why did Pakistan go in for ceasefire? What can be expected of Pakistan in near and distant future, given its past misdemeanours? If an answer is to be sought for the stated questions then one needs to

In what seems like a series of missed opportunities to disband radical groups, Pakistan at every step of its evolution, let the Islamic outfit Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan(TLP), founded by Khadim Hussain Rizvi grow in scope and exercise clout on all matters of religious and even political significance. Over a period of time, it isn’t surprising to see extreme views being expressed and action being sought by the group such as expulsion of the French Envoy and a coy submission and acceptance of their demands by a weak establishment. The TLP Protests and Thereafter After weeklong protests orchestrated by the outfit Tehreek-e-Labbaik

Bangladesh is celebrating 50 glorious years of its independence and the month of March is significant in the valiant struggle that then people of East Pakistan waged against the Pakistani Army.   March 25 holds special significance being commemorated as the Genocide Day as on this day 50 years back Pakistan Army launched ‘Operation Searchlight’ resulting in the worst genocide in human history over a period of nine months till the Army was defeated.     The Liberation War in erstwhile East Pakistan marked by the horrific genocide committed by the Pakistani Army and razakars, or collaborators, is not acknowledged widely even

China’s widespread propaganda, continuous persecution of minorities and return to the cult of personality represent an echo of Mao’s rule. Technological advancements allow for mass surveillance and extreme censorship, which have resulted in a dystopian police state where blind allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and leader Xi Jinping are demanded and enforced. This is especially prevalent among ethnic and religious minorities, whose religious and cultural identities are viewed as obstacles to state loyalty. Religious statues have been destroyed, temples are required to showcase portraits of Xi in order to avoid demolition, and Catholic priests are chosen by the state and

Sixty-two years after the uprising against Chinese power (10th March 1959) and the subsequent massacre, commemorated today, the Roof of the World is slowly dying, in a growing international indifference.  Dependency towards China, the hyper-exporter, is obligatory and impunity of Communist totalitarianism persists…. Every year the Tibetan government in exile commemorates the « Day of Tibetan Uprising”, that occurred on 10th March 1959, when the Tibetan separatists rebelled against the power of Mao Tsé Doung. The Chinese Communist parties of Mao, who rose to power in 1949, stated in their rather stilted Marxian language that their people “demand freedom from

As yet another FATF deadline approaches in the last week of February, Pakistan is once again making a show of tightening its AML/CFT regimes to comply with the requirements of the financial watch-dog. At the same time, a propaganda effort is underway to convince the FATF to not only not push Pakistan into the ‘black list’ but to also take Pakistan out of the ‘grey list’. The facts on ground, however, merit Pakistan being ‘black-listed’ for failing to deliver on its high-level political commitments to FATF. Worse, Pakistan has been deceiving the Task Force by pretending to take action against internationally designated terrorist groups and their financial networks but only on paper. In practice, these terror groups continue to function openly and are collecting funds publicly.

Faced with the EU’s growing frustration and Biden’s more hostile administration, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has softened his tone, renewed his promises for greater cooperation and has ceased all exploration activities in the Eastern Mediterranean. However, Erdogan’s superficial attempts to appease the West in order to avoid further sanctions will not result in a permanent change in his aggressive foreign policy. His recent involvements in Nagorno-Karabakh, Syria, Somalia, Iraq, Libya and Yemen represent a deep desire to disrupt the current world order and revive the glory of the Ottoman Empire. Despite the deadline to withdraw all forces in Libya,

The upcoming talks regarding the tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean, that are due to take place on January 25, should not disillusion us from the dangers of Turkey’s unilateral aggression on all fronts. Erdogan has made no real efforts to improve ties with the EU, except for the occasional vain promise of turning over a new leaf. Since October, he has urged the Muslim world to boycott French products, continued gas exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean, blatantly ignored the arms embargo in Libya and has aided Azerbaijan in committing war crimes in Nagorno-Karabakh. Despite the numerous warnings issued by the

France and the rest of Europe face a serious threat from Islamist terrorism. This has become more apparent after the brutal beheading of schoolteacher Samuel Paty, the terrorist attacks in Nice and Vienna, and the disgust and contempt most Muslim countries have expressed toward French values. French President Emmanuel Macron’s battle against Islamist separatism fights the radicalization and socioeconomic marginalization of Muslims in France. Some of the measures include a ban on virginity tests, restrictions on home schooling and stricter oversight of foreign funding of mosques. Macron’s plan allows for the integration of Muslims and protects those who reject a

The failure of the Saudi-led coalition, coupled with the UN’s habitual ineptitude, has plunged Yemen into another quagmire, with the US and UK blindly following Saudi Arabia. What was suppose to be a short intervention to restore a supposedly legitimate government against a radical islamist Iranian proxy has quickly turned into a five year civil war, rendering Yemen into the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. The spread of coronavirus will only deteriorate an already dire situation. We attribute the main source of conflict to stem from the Houthi rebellion but in reality Yemen was already in a fragile political

Following the terrorist attacks in Paris, ISIL has now officially become the main global enemy. But the fight against Muslim fundamentalism isn’t a question of military superiority but ideology. To fight fundamentalism, we must first acknowledge that these fundamentalist groups, such as ISIL, are in fact Islamic.  Currently we seem to be to be torn between political correctness and Islamophobia. Some continue to insist that Islam is a religion of peace and equality whereas others seem to believe that every Muslim embodies the radical values ISIL holds.  It does seem that part of our society has become too afraid to