The future of Afghanistan–and with it, global security–is being decided as the results from the 20 August Afghan elections are trickling in, with current president Hamid Karzai taking only a marginal lead over his main contender, Abdullah Abdullah. However, news reports of election fraud, including

After decades of conflict and repressive policies, Turkey appears to be taking crucial steps toward introducing a peace initiative to resolve longstanding unrest among its Kurdish population. But for any plan to succeed, it cannot be simply another state-run, unilateral initiative that fails to take

The Darul Uloom Nadvatul Ulema, Lucknow’s fatwa against iftar parties hosted by political organisations has come as a dampener against the annual wooing of the minority community by the political parties.
The fatwa was issued on August 18, 2009 on a query made by (retired) Colonel MJ Shamsi. In th

Iran is amongst those unfortunate countries of the Middle East where authoritarian regimes frequently use unyielding measures to gag the press in order to prevent free flow of information. Media watchdog Reporters without Borders Press Freedom Index puts Iran at number 152 out of 173 countries. The

On 27 July 2009, about three months after the Obama administration unveiled its new comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan and three weeks before the Afghan presidential election scheduled for 20 August, the Taliban published a book outlining a code of conduct for its members. The book—containing 13

Riots erupted in a village near Gojra in Pakistan’s Punjab province on 31 July when it was alleged that three Christians desecrated pages of the Holy Qur'an at a wedding, claims that the Pakistani police later reported as unfounded. As a result, dozens of houses in an enclave called Christian Town w

Turkey has been plagued with multiple unwieldy coalition governments whose divisiveness has sparked regular military intervention. To understand the dynamics at the heart of Turkey’s current political landscape, and how the Justice and Development Party (AKP) has established itself at the political

A new report released on 29 July 2009 sponsored by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has blamed environmental, political, economic and social problems, together with the Middle East’s vulnerability to external occupation or military intervention, for hindering development in the Arab wor

Article 25 (1) of the Constitution of Pakistan describes” All citizens are equal before law and are entitled to equal protection of law.”
Constitution of any state is a sacred book and it is for the entire nation. It is without any bias, prejudice or discrimination against any individual, caste,

"Media must take up cudgels for victimized children. Sans allegiance to any powerful lobby and simply because they are not a vote bank, these children seem to be on nobody’s priority list. Media must speak for them," urged leading human rights advocate Tulika Srivastava.
She asked the media to st

Jajupur is a village in Sandila Tehsil, P.S. Atrauli, of Hardoi District of UP. 107 dalit landless families were allotted land pattas in 1976 by the Gram Sabha but till today the dalits have not been able to cultivate their fields. The reason is that a politically influential feudal family of the ne

The Gojra Tragedy is another shameful incidence of religious intolerance and violence in Pakistan. This is not the first time that the majority class has physically expressed their aggression against minority groups in this country. The history of Pakistan is replete with incidents of Shia-Sunni cla

Religious pluralism is a major feature of Lebanese society and key to its political system, which requires the distribution of key positions in the state to different religious communities. Although many feel that Lebanon has outgrown this political structure, this system has served the country well

Hamzah Desa, a 42-year-old Thai Muslim, sits cross-legged on the veranda of his one-room wooden house in Kampung Che Bilang in Satun, a Muslim-majority province in southern Thailand.
It's a typical Sunday afternoon in his village. A handful of villagers wearing headscarves are buying papaya salad a

I spent summers as a young boy in Damascus, while my fellow Syrians were flocking to my coastal hometown of Tartous to savour the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Despite the heat of Damascus, my summers there were always special.
The Damascene diversity was riveting. Every Friday morning, my gran