Photo source: Guardian By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront The demise of Imran Khan as prime minister was a result of an intra-elite struggle after a no-confidence vote was passed in the parliament in April 2022. It was not based on mass people mobilisation, as seen in the late 1960s, and 1980s, or more recently in 2007-08. As ‘electable leaders’ switched sides in the parliament, his opponents got newer reasons to find flagrant faults in his so-called ‘hybrid regime’, which include enforced disappearances of activists, the vicious restrictions on media freedom, the convictions and harassment of political opponents, and the wide, cordial space given to religious extremists. As per Azeem Ibrahim's article in Foreign Policy, some of Khan's allies even controversially allege that 'the intra-elite struggle' in the parliament was initiated by the Pakistani military, as his government was insufficiently respectful towards China's interests in the country, including au...

Photo source: Dawn By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront In the ending week of October 2019, a notable protest happened against Imran Khan’s government. A caravan of people had descended into Sohrab Goth area of Karachi, and the agitation spilled into a thirteen day sit in Islamabad. It then spread across the country, where protestors blocked major roads and highways. This protest known as Azadi March was the first significant protest against Imran Khan’s PTI led government, more than little a year after his win. The protest at its peak was able to gather 10,000-15,000 people on Islamabad’s Kashmir Highway . This mass rally came after Pakistani businesses observed a nationwide strike against enacted taxes, which the opposition believed were imposed as part of the International Monetary Fund's $6 billion bailout package for Pakistan. It was led by Maulana Fazlur Rehman, head of pro-Taliban Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F). As per statements of secretary information of JUI-F, an estimat...

Photo Source: New Indian Express By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe UpFront W hen a suicide bomber blew himself up near Pulwama, Kashmir in February 2019, in an SUV containing 80 kg high-grade RDX, by ramming into a travelling bus, he caused maximum damage, to his enemy, by killing 40 personnel of the 76 th battalion.  The relations between two feuding neighbours, in the subcontinent, reached a new low. Indian military officials, in their nationalism whims, assured of an answer within 100 hours. An attack on the Indian army, in this manner, reminded us of the highly volatile war zones, such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen, where such retaliatory aggressions are common.  But, in a place, such as Kashmir, suicide bombings, making large causalities, have been largely unheard of, and are uncommon too. Although, there have been some previous episodes of suicide bombings turned up as failed undertakings, in Kashmir valley, especially a failed attempt near the...

Photo Source: Catholic Ireland Written by Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe UpFront Aasia Noreen Bibi, commonly known as Aasia Bibi, had been kept in solitary confinement in a Lahore jail, a space without windows and with an open sewer, for around eight years. In the prison, she struggled with malnutrition, unattended illness, beatings and psychological abuse.  I n one of the most disturbing incidents she recounts how she had her neck put in a brace that was tightened with a key. It was then  pulled about on a chain by guards.  Bibi was accused of blasphemy in a Muslim country because in her village, twenty-five miles, north-west of Lahore, several Muslim women, poor and uneducated like her, disagreed that she should draw water from the community well, as she was a Christian. Wife of Ashiq Masih, a brick maker, one of the few jobs available to Christians in her village in rural Pakistan, she also made a living for the family, as making money was hard. The disc...

Photo Source: The Sunday Times By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe UpFront Imran Khan, the cricketer, who won the 1992 World Cup for Pakistan, has surprised a few after becoming the new prime minister of Pakistan in the 2018 election. For the ardent followers of Imran Khan in Pakistan, and in the diaspora, this might be the happiest day of their lives. It is because he has come a long way, from being one of the finest all-around players in Pakistan’s cricketing history, to Pakistan’s 22nd Prime Minister. Imran Khan's historic win has happened because Pakistanis were brimming for a change. He, in many ways, was an embodiment of a change, in the minds of many Pakistanis, with his strong, strategic, catch all politics. By believing that corruption is a national malaise, his cause, it seems, was helped through, by the people. Before the election, there was a threat of around ten suicide attacks, but a transition in the electoral process happened smoothly. If Imran Khan sticks around ...

Photo source: Arab News By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront It has been a while since Pakhtuns have been lamenting about discriminatory policies by Punjabi-dominated politicians in Pakistan. It seems a kind of grassroots movement has been emerging because Punjabi-dominated Pakistani politics is accusing the community of being terrorist sympathisers. But, in reality, the Pakhtuns are fed up with the war and want a better world for themselves. The area of Pakhtuns is known by other Pakistanis, as ‘Illaqa e Ghair’, or ‘no man’s land’, in English. Believing Pakistani ISI as a troublemaker in the region, Pashtuns think that the nationalist leaders are willing to keep the political chaos relentless in Afghanistan, just because they could keep the American dollars flowing into Pakistan.  ‘Free Karachi Campaign’ spokesperson Nadeem Nusrat believes that ISI is mobilising Taliban as counterinsurgents (renegades), to subdue the aspirations in the region. According to PTM itself, ther...

By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront B alochistan has been notoriously nicknamed as ‘Pakistan’s Killing Field’.  After four insurgencies in 1948, 1953, 1978 and 2004 (which continues till this date), it has largely been a known fact that political and socio-cultural alienation is the heart of the matter in the largest province of Pakistan. When Pervez Musharraf, former President of Pakistan, launched military offensives inside tribal administered areas including Balochistan, the strategy had been quite inconsistent, unlike strategy of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, who made cordial political relations with Balochi leaders like Nawab Akbar Bugti in events like the grand ceremony of Sibi Durbar. Jinnah had visited Balochistan and made pacts with Balochis in his last years of life. Also, he had made some inevitable promises including their decision to join Pakistan through a referendum and also safeguarding their interests through ensuring aut...