Mandate for governance
DEMOCRACY is not all about elections. It is about the mandate given by the people. It is a trust.

The monster unleashed
SINCE the start of the election campaign on April 11, there has hardly been a day without violence and grief. Proscribed militant groups have unleashed a reign of terror in their attempt to sabotage the polls.

Ballot or the bullet?
THE Baloch ‘sub-nation’ finds itself caught between two crucial options at present: intensify the insurgency and disrupt the coming elections through the bullet or cast votes and have their voice heard through the

Counterterrorism strategy
THE military commanders have spoken. The message is loud and clear. The war against terrorism will go on.

Internal security challenges
THE Supreme Court is disillusioned and disappointed at the failure of the federal government as well as the provincial governments of Sindh and Balochistan to maintain law and order by containing sectarian

The sectarian menace
IN the wake of the attacks against the Hazaras in Quetta, accusations have been levelled by a section of civil society, media and human rights organisations that the armed forces and its intelligence agencies have some links with proscribed militant outfits like the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ).

Pakistan’s drug menace
PAKISTAN’S geographic location next to Afghanistan places the country in a vulnerable position with respect to the illicit trafficking of opiates and precursors.

Blueprint for Balochistan
A RECENT interim order of a three-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC) has correctly ruled against the provincial PPP-led Balochistan government, stating that it had lost its constitutional authority to govern the

Threat at our doorstep
AN International Narcotics Control Board Mission, headed by Werner Sipp of Germany, recently undertook an important visit to Pakistan.