The election fervour in the tribal areas, now merged into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa without proper arrangements to replace the old colonial system, was...
The conferences and seminars on Fata, that I have attended so far, have one thing in common: analysts from Fata are invariably outnumbered by...
After the tragic incident in Lahore DHA, the police not only arrested people who looked like Pakhtuns, but reportedly also didn’t stop the...
The long awaited Fata reforms have been made controversial. They were neither handled with due care nor in accordance with the well-established...
The schism among tribespeople on the integration of Fata with KP came to the fore during a seminar arranged at the Pearl Continental Hotel in...
Why Fata has remained the ‘Federally Administered Tribal Areas’ for so many decades is not difficult to understand if one looks in...
The writer is a former ambassador. The five-member committee on Fata reforms has presented its recommendations to the prime minister; they are now...
In a recently held press conference the military spokesman enumerated success stories of Operation Zarb-e-Azb, claiming that Fata has been cleansed...
The Quetta blast deprived Balochistan of the cream of its educated people, many of whom had the intention and the potential of playing important...
When Dr Ashraf Ghani took over as president of Afghanistan he was perceived as the man to do business with since, unlike all others on the political...
What the Viceroy of British India, Lord Curzon could not do in Waziristan we have now done with considerable ease. We did not opt for a patchwork...
The writer is a former ambassador. A lot has been written in the print and electronic media about mainstreaming Fata but nothing concrete has...
The death of Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour who was killed in a drone strike in Balochistan near the border with Afghanistan has raised more...
The tragic incident in Kabul on April 19, in which 64 persons lost their lives and 347 were wounded, not only derailed the process of reconciliation...
The writer is a former ambassador. Whether to make Fata a province or merge it with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – these are the two options being...
The tribal areas of Pakistan originally consisted of five agencies: South Waziristan, North Waziristan, Kurram, Khyber and Malakand. But Malakand...
The Quadrilateral Coordination Group , comprising representatives from Afghanistan, China, Pakistan and the United States, held its fourth meeting...
Why has Fata literally remained the ‘Federally Administered Tribal Areas’ for so long? What has prevented the government from...
Dr Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai made a hat trick by meeting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif three times in two
"Fata has no voice" - this is what Governor Mehtab Ahmed Khan said at the time of taking oath as th
Dr Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, the president of Afghanistan, will be paying his first visit to Pakistan i
Fata, which was once a part of Afghanistan, is still affected by developments in that country; whate
Turmoil-ridden Afghanistan entered a new phase of its political life on September 29, 2014 with Dr A
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was shown on TV on Eid day, touring the flood affected areas in Punjab a
Although unfair and untrue Fata has been and still is considered a place where the government has no
The recently held elections in Afghanistan, conducted in a comparatively peaceful atmosphere, were i
The best way the war could have been won, without much damage, was to have empowered the people but
Part - IWaziristan was divided into two units by the British for purely colonial purposes – to c
Three interesting but important news items have appeared in the press in the last few days with rega
It was unthinkable to believe that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his political government would go
Fata has yet to see and experience governance of the area by the residents themselves. The area is a
Eliminating militants and militancy does not mean conquering Fata again and again. This has been the
Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan, the new governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, visited Kurram Agency in Fata imme
The governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan, who had been chief minister and a sitt
The government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif presented the Protection of Pakistan Ordinance t
Afghanistan will be entering a new phase today when elections are held to find a replacement for Pre
Part - IIWe need to see how matters stood on the ground before 9/11. There was no army in Fata.
Part - IWhile listening to arguments on TV talk shows or reading articles of those favouring mil
For the last seven months the nation was kept on tenterhooks by the government; being told that it w
Talk of peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan is not a new phenomenon; it has been there in one sh
December 19, 2013 will always be remembered as the darkest day in the history of North Waziristan. O
The chief of army staff made brief stopovers at Wana, Miramshan in south and north Waziristan
The moment many believe Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was waiting for has finally arrived with the cha
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his political party, the PML-N, won the May 11 elections on the prom
The manner in which matters are being conducted in the country in general and Fata in particular, wi
I do not recall any topic having been discussed so thoroughly in the media over the last few years a
The third all-parties conference convened by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took place in Islamabad on
A lot has been said and written in the media in Pakistan about the recent visit of President Karzai
The struggle for democracy has been going on since the creation of Pakistan but gets derailed for on
The Pak-US relationship has seen many ups and downs over the years, but not to the extent that was w
