Pakistan

Commentary India-Pakistan relations and SAARC

It is an ‘unusual’ occasion in the history of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) that a summit is following by some positive developments in India-Pakistan relations. SAARC has long suffered from bilateral rivalry between India and Pakistan slowing its progress on a range of issues, particularly free trade in South Asia. Read more >>>

From the field Lyari, Karachi’s ‘no-go area’

Pakistan’s volatile border areas receive much international attention. But conflicts of a different nature are playing out in other parts of the country. One such place is Lyari, a part of Pakistan’s financial capital Karachi. This article is a reflection of my visit to Lyari, right before fighting between rival gangs paralysed the whole area in July 2011. Read more >>>

Interview Pakistan: Bargad – youth development and peace

Perhaps the only youth development organisation founded entirely by students, Bargad is a leading peace organisation in Pakistan. Bargad was formed in 1997 by a group of enthusiastic students from Lahore in Pakistan. Its mission is to promote peace, justice and cooperation among young people in Pakistan. To find out more about Bargad and how the group has been promoting peace through youth-focused projects, I interviewed Sabiha Shaheen, Executive Director of Bargad. Read more >>>

Interview Bacha Khan: Lessons from the past

Ali Gohar, founder of Just Peace International in Peshawar, Pakistan, recently shared with us one of the inspirations for his work – the life story of Bacha Khan. A pacifist Pashtun leader from the early 20th century who strove to transform not just his own Pashtun society but the whole of India. He used rigorous nonviolence and drew hundreds of thousands of followers into his movement despite harrassment, assault and torture from the British colonial regime, and against the backdrop of being in a country ruled by a foreign regime. Read more >>>

From the field Terrorism and Pakistan’s security dilemma

Local Correspondent Zahid Shahab Ahmed travels in Pakistan, and reflects on how terrorism is affecting the lives of ordinary people in the country. What are the causes of the terrorism, and what can be done to reduce the levels of terrorism in the future? Read more >>>

Interview Pakistan: Youth promoting peace

For an in-depth case study on the work of Peace Education and Development (PEAD) Foundation, Insight on Conflict’s local correspondent in Pakistan, interviewed the executive director of PEAD Foundation, Ms Sameena Imtiaz. Read more >>>

From the field Pakistan: more questions than answers

The job of peacebuilders in Pakistan has become very complicated, because of indoctrination of society by extremism. The symbolic Osama has been killed, but in the souls of many young people he still lives. There is an urgent need to moderate Pakistani society. Read more >>>

From the field Pakistan: likely to follow the Arab spring?

What is the likelihood of a mass-level movement in Pakistan, of the kind we have seen in Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain and Libya? I would have said ‘very little’, if in the near past there wasn’t the notable example of the lawyers’ movement for the restoration of judiciary and democracy. Even then, there are many who would reject the possibility of another movement in the near future, because they think that the situation of Pakistan is entirely different from states that have either recently experienced a people’s revolution or are still going through that. Read more >>>

From the field Celebrating “Mohali Magic”: India-Pakistan should ‘pad up’ for peace and prosperity

The following is a press release from ‘Partners in Victory – Flags for Peace’ a campaign developed jointly be peace organisations in Pakistan and India. Read more >>>

From the field Sports for Peace in Swat

Swat Youth Front (SYF) is a non-profit youth organisation which has worked in for peace in the  Malakand Region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, since 1997. SYF was established by a group of highly motivated and civic minded young people. Mainly, the work of SYF has focused on sustaining peace in the post-conflict valley of Swat, which was home to militancy and violence from 2007 to 2009.  SYF aims to bring, with the help of the locals, changes in policy that can lead them towards a prosperous and peaceful society, particularly by promoting volunteerism among young people. Because of the uniqueness of the work of SYF, and their relevance to the situation in Swat Valley, I arranged an exclusive interview of Amjad Ali, Program Manager of SYF to find out more. Read more >>>