News Archives:

• The aftermath of Sufi's release
  THE Amir of the Tahrik-i-Nifaz-i-Sharia’at-i-Mohammadi (TNSM), Sufi Mohammad, was released on April 23, 2008 after serving a prison sentence in Dera Ismail Khan jail for quite some time.
• Why the Swat peace moves are critical
  Can Maulana Sufi Mohammad deliver peace to Swat and keep militants in check in Malakand region? That is the question on everyone’s mind now that the aged founder of the banned Islamic group, Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), has been released after more than six years of imprisonment.
• Truth about the PATA Regulation
  WHILE discussing the announcement of the newly elected prime minister in the National Assembly with reference to Fata, an analyst had remarked: “What happened in the provincially administered Malakand region following the Supreme Court verdict [in 1994] declaring the PATA Regulation ultra vires of the constitution is now for all to see.
• Fear, power & people’s voice
  THE trail of events in the Pashtun belt from tribal Waziristan in the south to the Swat valley in northern NWFP has brought a cloud of fear and despair to the region. This has changed the entire sociocultural and ethno-tribal dynamics of society.
• Can Paradise be regained?
  It is 2004. A FM radio station starts in a hamlet called Mamderhai, located just beside Mingora, the main business hub in Swat Valley, along the banks of the River Swat. Maulana Fazlullah initially gives radio sermons about the practice and principles of Islam. Residents, especially women, are instantly attracted and find themselves compelled to listen. After a few months, the maulana starts lecturing against polio vaccinations, television and education for girls. The local administration is alerted and asks the maulana to close down the radio station. The maulana refuses to comply. A traditional jirga intervenes to hammer out an agreement between the administration and the maulana. Meanwhile, the maulana establishes a huge madrassah, apparently with donations from locals. His circle of influence widens, encompassing the neighbouring hamlets on the right bank of the river.
• Aye Pukhtano!!! Pa maa ba sok nang kawee????????????
  
• سوات شدت پسندوں کا فرنٹ لائن کیسے بنا؟
  صوبہ سرحد کی سوئٹزلینڈ کہلوانے والی دلکش وادی سوات بھی بظاہر نظرائی گئی ہے۔ کئی صدیاں پہلے بدھ مت اور یونانی تہذیب نے اس علاقے کو اس کی خوبصورتی اور پرسکون ماحول کی وجہ سے اپنا مکسن بنایا۔ لیکن اب کئی ماہ سے جاری تناؤ اور کشیدگی کی فضاء نے بدترین رخ لیا ہے۔
• ’سوات کو اب میں بھی ٹھیک نہیں کر سکتا‘
  سوات کے آخری ولی عہد اسّی سالہ میاں گل اورنگزیب سے ان کی سابق ریاست میں آج کل کے حالات کے بارے میں دریافت کریں تو وہ غصے میں کہتے ہیں یہ ان سے پوچھیں جنہوں نے یہ حالات خراب کیے ہیں۔
• Reversal in Swat and the residual state
  The militia of Fazlullah, the warlord of Swat, has defeated the paramilitary forces sent in to “bring peace to the people of the valley”. Official spokesmen denied the defeat and the capture of paramilitaries by the militia, but the truth could not be hidden when this time, instead of beheading them, Fazlullah decided to free the 48 captives in Charbagh with Rs 500 notes of “baksheesh” stuck in their hands. The freed men declared they were not willing to fight their fellow-Muslims; some said they would leave their jobs and join the Taliban and fight for Islam instead.
• Swat valley after emergency
  Many believed that General Musharraf would act swiftly against the militants in Swat valley after he imposed emergency in Pakistan on November 3, 2007. There are several reports in the newspapers these days that the militants have captured more installations over the last few days. According to the reports of the local residents, the whole valley from Kanju to Kalam has come under the control of the Taliban over the last few days. Inamullah, a teacher and social worker report: “The Taliban entered our village (Bahrain) the other day with heavy weapons mounted on a cavalcade of vehicles snatched from government officials. They delivered a speech on a megaphone near a police station and ordered the police to surrender and submit their weapons to them. The police had left the building just an hour ago and a group of local people was entrusted to guard the building. A few hours earlier the village elders had decided not to confront the Taliban and persuade them to stay away from the area assuring them there would be no security personnel stationed in and around the village. The local people had decided to be impartial in the fighting between the Taliban and the security forces. It was a historic day and I saw some very interesting scenes. The Taliban moved forward through the valley and halted in Kalam town where local elders negotiated with them. Now they have moved back to their stronghold and we hope our area (the upper hilly area of district Swat) will be safe from any impending military operation against the Taliban. There are also reports that several security personnel thought it safe to flee from the valley.”
• راشه په سوات
  راشه په سوات کښې دا تیارې او دا تورتم وګوره
• 11 security personnel killed, 39 injured in suicide attack in Swat
  As many as eleven security personnel were killed and 39 others injured on Sunday when two suicide bombers and an improvised explosive devise simultaneously struck a military convoy passing through Matta in Swat. 28 of the injured were critical and admitted to hospitals in Peshawar, Mardan and Rawalpindi. The suicide bombers carried out the attack in two blue Suzuki vans.
• Heavy Storm claims 10 lives in Swat
  The high intentsity storm ,hitting the Swat at about 4 pm,smashed sign boards,fell trees.walls and roofs and uprrooted electricity pools in deffrent parts.Nekpikhel in lower swat and Sibojni,Shamezai areas in uper Swat are badly effected.10 people died and 60 wounded in rain and storm related incidents in the district.
• Swat: From tourism to terrorism
  Swat, peaceful beauty, land of color, roses and gushing rivers, rich in history, home to myriads of Buddhist stupas, idyllic spot for glorious Pashtun traditions of love, peace, and hospitality, until recently. Once a paradise on earth — now all is lost.
• Saving the past from obliteration
  NOTHING is safe any longer from the malevolence of those who continue to bring death and destruction in the name of God in this increasingly Islamic republic; not even a harmless rock-carved image of the Buddha dating back to the second century BC and which no one worshipped.