Pakistan’s turn-around early this year on Syria and its faltering relations with Iran epitomize the ambivalence that has often accompanied its foreign policy for decades. Geo-political compulsions aside, the foreign policy has either remained frozen or perpetuated on false, duplicitous premises. The policy on Syria offers a classic reflection of this. In response to probing questions about the 1.5 billion dollars worth of Saudi Arabian “donation,” Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs Mr Sartaj Aziz had in several interviews argued that nothing was wrong in getting financial donations from a country where “two million Pakistani workers reside and annually remit about 4 billion dollars.[1] He had also justified the renewed warmth in the Saudi-Pak relation, saying the relations had cooled down during the Zardari government and there was a need to revive it.[2] But interestingly, Sartaj Aziz posed a counter-question to the critics: “Saudi Arabia gave us a lot of help after the nuclear tests in 1998; what did we do for them? Nothing,” Aziz said in a couple of media interviews. “I am really surprised (to hear this) because they will ask why are Pakistanis critical when Saudi Arabia is helping them,” was what he exactly told a foreign radio. Detractors raised objections and expressed reservations about the Saudi-Pak relations to the context of the rumours that Pakistan was being used to recruit fighters for the anti-Assad war in Syria. Reports from within Waziristan suggest that the recruitment began in March 2013, followed by a few batches in October and November, when at least 132 Taliban/Mujahideen commanders reportedly transited through Rawalpindi, Lahore and Karachi on their way to Syria. Some unconfirmed reports speak of clandestine training camps being run by some proscribed Punjabi and Pashtoon groups in Shawaal, Janikhel and Mirali. Locals have also reported arrival of about two dozen foreigners into FATA for several week-long...

TOPIC: “Role of FATA Parliamentarians” Hosts: Mr Imitiaz Gul and Ms Feryal Ali Gauhar Guests: • Dr. Ashraf Ali, FATA Research Centre • Ms. Nighat Orakzai, PPP • Mr. Iqbal Afridi, PTI • Mr. Munir Orakzai Ex MNA Theme:  This show discusses as to why should precious public funds be wasted on FATA parliamentarians if they cannot legislate on issues relating to FATA? Most participants agreed that these parliamentarians are probably an additional burden on the national exchequer because of their inability to introduce legislation on FATA. Most end up much richer at the end of their tenure because they often side with the government in return for certain perks and favors. Please watch the program Hum Bhi Pakistan and share your feedback on 

Justice and Separation of Powers in FATA: Extensive Power of Political Agent, Democracy vs. Draconian Hosts: Mr Imitiaz Gul and Ms Feryal Ali Gauhar Guests: • Mr. Zahir Shah Safi, FATA Lawyer’s Forum • Mr. Ayaz Wazir, Ex Ambassador • Mr. Ajmal Wazeer, PML Q • Ms. Ayesha Hasan, Social Activist Theme: The theme is “Justice and Separation of Powers in FATA: Extensive Power of Political Agent, Democracy vs. Draconian System”. This show discusses as to why not the extensive powers of the executive (Political Agent) given under the FCR be amended? With the help of case studies, the show aims to elaborate on how the powers vested in the Political Agent under the FCR promotes corruption, cronyism, and poor governance without any accountability mechanism and how these powers have impacted adversely on the lives of the people of FATA in many different ways? The show also focuses on implications of the FCR on the Rule of Law in adjacent settled areas, the role of FATA judicial tribunal, and citizen’s access to the appeals process. Extending court jurisdiction to the victims of FCR who are denied justice would also be discussed in the show.

A day of deadly bombings and firefights in Pakistan claimed at least 65 lives, turning Monday( June 09, 2014) in to one of the deadliest days in terrorist violence from the north (Waziristan) to the south (Karachi) and the west (Balochistan). It also underlined the gravity of the massive security challenges that the country faces today. Thirty-six people, including ten terrorists, were killed and over two dozen injured in a terrorist attack on the country’s largest international Karachi Airport (twenty-nine[1] bodies were recovered on Monday while another seven[2] were recovered on Tuesday). The same day, five[3] soldiers were killed in a North Waziristan suicide attack on a security forces’ convoy’s  firing while twenty-four[4]  shia Muslim pilgrims were brutally executed  in Taftan near the Pakistan-Iran border, presumably by radical anti-Shia Sunni terrorists. The outlawed terrorist outfit Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the airport attack. The assault turned out to be the biggest strike in terms of human casualties in over four years and reminded of the massive security challenge that comes from affiliates of Al-Qaeda holed up in the mountainous Pakistan-Afghanistan border terrain. In recent months, the TTP sleeper cells in Karachi have been under attack by the police and the paramilitary Rangers, provoking the terrorist group into focused attacks on security forces and strategic installations across the country. The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) resumed its flight operation after 17 hours Monday afternoon as the security forces swept the airport and eventually declared it safe for resuming flight operations. Military officials said seven terrorists were put down while three blew themselves up when cornered. All of them were reportedly wearing suicide vests, a device that terrorists on termination missions usually wear. By putting down the attackers, the security forces presumably preempted a big hostage-taking too as...

Peter Bergen – a US security expert on drones, militancy and Af-Pak relations – recently revealed that the United States may have finally ended its drone programme in FATA, Pakistan. At least, this is how the media in Pakistan showed its surprise. But Bergen was careful in his words and thus indicated towards a hold in these strikes and how it could, eventually, lead towards a total halt. Bergen, an author and a journalist who also heads the International Security Programme at the New America Foundation, has for long been tracking and reporting on the US drone strikes. Thus, with his experience and background, his revelation could not be taken lightly. But did the US finally cease its strikes in Pakistan for good? Indications and signs surely point towards a drastic decline, if not a complete halt. Professor Brian Glynn Williams, author of Predators: The CIA’s Drone War on Al Qaeda, also believes that the CIA may have ended its drone programme in Pakistan, especially due to fewer HVTs (High Value Targets) left to be killed. Williams also believes that drones are precision tools that targeted and annihilated al Qaeda and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) members, who not only killed on average 3000 Pakistanis per year but also killed a number of innocent Afghans in cross border attacks. The last drone strike in Pakistan took place on December 26, 2013, soon after which the United States shifted its drone focus to Yemen and Somalia. You could argue that lack of HVT’s in Fata could have triggered this move but strikes on a number of unknown TTP and al Qaeda operatives in the past may weigh against this assumption. According to New America Foundation’s drone database, a total of 58 high profile targets have been killed in drone strikes – making up only 2% of the total casualties in 370 drone strikes. This creates a very ambiguous and weak correlation between drones and HVTs. Moreover, on May 14, 2014, a drone strike targeted Taliban fighters near the Pak-Afghan...

Second Program: Saturday June 07, 2014 on Express News TV Channel at 7:05 PM Topic: “Justice and Separation of Powers in FATA: Extensive Power of Political Agent, Democracy vs. Draconian System” Hosts: Mr Imitiaz Gul and Ms Feryal Ali Gauhar Guests: •        Mr. Zahir Shah Safi, FATA Lawyer’s Forum •        Mr. Ayaz Wazir, Ex Ambassador •        Mr. Ajmal Wazeer, PML Q •        Ms. Ayesha Hasan,  Social Activist Theme: The theme is “Justice and Separation of Powers in FATA: Extensive Power of Political Agent, Democracy vs. Draconian System”. This show discusses as to why not the extensive powers of the executive (Political Agent) given under the FCR be amended? With the help of case studies, the show aims to elaborate on how the powers vested in the Political Agent under the FCR promotes corruption, cronyism, and poor governance without any accountability mechanism and how these powers have impacted adversely on the lives of the people of FATA in many different ways? The show also focuses on implications of the FCR on the Rule of Law in adjacent settled areas, the role of FATA judicial tribunal, and citizen’s access to the appeals process. Extending court jurisdiction to the victims of FCR who are denied justice would also be discussed in the show. Please watch the program Hum Bhi and share your feedback on 

On June 4, two Pakistan army soldiers were killed in what officials claimed was an early morning cross-border attack on checkpoints in the troubled tribal region Bajaur Agency  near the frontier with Afghanistan. Officials claimed terrorists from across the border fired on Pakistani border posts at Manozangal and Mukha Tops, according to  Pakistan army officials, the third such incident in less than two weeks. On the same day, a suicide bomber crashed into a double-cabin vehicle of security forces near Rawalpindi killing two military officers and three civilians. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) department identified the two senior officers as Lieutenant Colonel Zahir Shah and Lieutenant Colonel Arshad Shaheed. Previously, on May 31, at least 14 militants were killed when Pakistani border guards had repelled a cross-border attack on a military post in the Warra Mamond tehsil of Bajaur Agency.[1] On May 25, five paramilitary Frontier Corps soldiers were wounded in an attack on a border check post. Security forces had claimed to have killed five militants in the retaliatory action. The paramilitary troops had chased the fleeing militants into Kaga Pass area where a check post was also set up. Most of the attacks have been attributed to the Tehreeke Taliban Pakistan – the banned terrorist outfit – which has recently suffered a major split resulting in the isolation of a faction considered by the state security apparatus as “irreconcilably against the interests of Pakistan.” The recent terrorist strikes (on army and para-military) thus can be as reprisals by the isolated TTP which seems to be gradually turning the heat on Pakistan because of  Context At a traditional tribal Jirga in Miranshah, the administrative headquarters of the embattled North Waziristan,  on May 25th , presumably on the instance of Gul Bahadur, the Haqqanis,  and a scion of the fabled Faqir  of Ippi  of Waziristan namely  Sher Mohammad also attended the unusual gathering. (Faqir of...