By Anwaar Hussain Everybody loves Raymond, the double slayer. The Pakistani Government ‘loves’ him to the extent that they are willing to bend the rules to grant him diplomatic immunity from prosecution for the twin killings that he committed in Lahore. They ‘love’ him for the large one-time dose of Manna, over and above the [...]

By Anwaar Hussain The US says that Wikileaks disclosures are a crime. Since when has disclosure of a crime become a crime, wasn’t explained. Apart from the fact that the reaction of the United States’ Government borders on the ridiculous, it does remind one of that famous quote from the 1969 movie Butch Cassidy and [...]

By Anwaar Hussain The long awaited report of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry into the facts and circumstances of the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is finally out. Although much of what the report says was already known to informed Pakistanis, it has served two main purposes; 1. President Asif Ali [...]

By Anwaar Hussain Way up on the shadowy ladder in the dark world of spooks comes the name of Mossad. Responsible mainly for intelligence collection and covert operations, including paramilitary activities, it is one of the three institutions in the Israeli Intelligence Community. The other two are known as Aman and Shin Bet  tasked for [...]

By Anwaar Hussain Some have romanticized them, others have idolized them, and yet others have abhorred them. All have feared them, however. Over the years, the Taliban have acquired an image of mysterious allure and danger, until the truth about them now hardly matters. Here is the situation. A leading religious politician, who is also [...]

By Anwaar Hussain After crawling out of the woodwork where they hibernated for decades, the ex-spooks of Inter Services Intelligence are singing like canaries on the national media. In a blizzard of accusations and counter-accusations, ranging from secret funds used to prop up political alliances to brazen smear campaigns against political leaders, they are revealing [...]

By Adil Zareef PAKISTAN‘S interior adviser has announced a crisp new strategy for Swat, the details of which have not been divulged, although it was mentioned that Al Qaeda, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, Tanzeem-i-Islami and the Tora Bora and Qari Mushtaq groups needed to be tackled. Fortunately, it has dawned on the authorities that the militants’ objective [...]