Articles

From a distance, you wouldn’t think that this is a city under siege. And why should you? Its giant bridges, ancient ruins and ever-flowing rivers are a sign of a well-nurtured civilization. Once you get close to its alleyways, streets and hospitals however, you will be shocked to see a very different reality.

There was poetic justice in the conviction of Benazir Bhutto and her husband Asif Ali Zardari on corruption charges by the Ehtesab Bench of the Lahore High Court on April 15. Each was sentenced to five years in jail and fined US$8.6 million

The NATO summit which took place in Washington from April 23-26 ended with a typically western fudge. After weeks of strong words against Slobodan Milosevic’s government regarding the genocide of Kosova’s Muslims, the Alliance concluded their 50th Anniversary session by authorising Russia to seek a mediated settlement to its war with Yugoslavia.

The Taliban government in Afghanistan has reacted angrily to Russian plans to establish a permanent military base in Tajikistan. The Taliban foreign minister, Mohammed Hasan Akhond, complained about the plans in a letter to UN secretary general Kofi Annan on April 11.

Turkey’s Islamist Fazilat party suffered a disappointing result in the country’s parliamentary elections on April 18. The largest party in the old Parliament, they hoped to increase their largest-single party status by increasing the number of seats they won.

Most people would be hard pressed to tell who the ‘Stranded Pakistanis’ or ‘Bihari Muslims’ in Bangladesh are. That neatly sums up their tragedy, which dates back to the turmoil surrounding the painful birth of Bangladesh in December 1971..

Some Muslims have a tendency to look at events through rose-tinted spectacles. The Nato bombing campaign against Yugoslavia falls under this category. Legitimate concern for the plight of Muslim Kosovars has led to profuse thanking of the US and European governments for acting to ‘save’ the Kosovars.

The war in Bosnia was a defining chapter in the development of the global Muslim Ummah. The sight of Muslims being slaughtered by the thousand for their religion in the heart of Europe moved Muslims to previously unimagined feelings of solidarity and brotherhood.

A new scientific fad, not disimilar to to the current craze about genetically-modified food, has taken hold of Arab dictators. Ailing and ageing and encouraged, if not inspired by the ruthless transfer of power to the late Jordanian monarch’s eldest son, king Abdullah II...

Libya, a international pariah for nearly seven years, received a guarded welcome back into the international community this month. The rehabilitation came after the two Libyan nationals accused by the US and Britain of involvement in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, on December 21, 1988...