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By   Baqir Sajjad Syed Updated   a day ago PM Nawaz Sharif is faced with the difficult choice of picking a new ISI chief — AFP photo/ File ISLAMABAD: Barely in his second year in office, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is faced with the difficult choice of picking a new Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief — a decision that could have far-reaching consequences for the already strained civil-military relations. Director General of ISI Lt Gen Zaheerul Islam, who was appointed as the spy chief in March 2012, is set to retire on Oct 1. And for many reasons, the sit-ins and the floods have not stopped politicians, journalists and analysts from speculating on who will replace Gen Islam in this key post. Know more:  New ISI chief to be named soon: report An extension for Gen Islam is highly unlikely; while the government is not too keen on the idea. It is also evident that the military is in no mood to ask for it. No wonder then that speculation i...

By:   Arshad Sharif , Uploaded: 2nd July 2013 ISLAMABAD: In the first hundred days of his third stint as the Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif has to take an important decision of making three new four star appointments, including  those of the Army Chief, Naval Chief and Chairman Joints Chief of staff Committee. Holding the additional portfolio of defence minister, PM Nawaz Sharif will also be considering approving a major reshuffle in army top brass in the first week of October as CJCSC, General Khalid Shamim Wyne, and two Corp Commanders, Lt General Khalid Nawaz Khan and Lt General Muhammad Alam Khattak prepare to call farewell to arms. This will set in a major reshuffle in the top military brass and lead to promotions for the posts of CJCSC and atleast five Corps Commanders before the retirement of General Kayani. In a couple of detailed background meetings with journalists, General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani has ruled out taking any more extensions when his six year te...

Rejecting the detailed NATO probe on last month’s border attack, Pakistan Army has questioned the validity of the findings supervised by a military man who held command of allied forces in Afghanistan. The military has expressed serious reservations over the US Air Force Brigadier General Stephen Clark’s leading the Mohmand attack probe while refusing to show any compliance for the launch of a fresh investigation. The development reportedly followed an exchange of written communication between the Pentagon and Pakistan’s military headquarters (GHQ) amid the reports that the latter has raised serious questions over the authenticity of the NATO report under the supervision of Brigadier General Clark. According to informed officials, the Pakistan military holds Clark as one of the commanders responsible for the November 26 deadly attack on two Pakistani military pickets - Volcano and Boulder - that killed 24 soldiers. As head of Air Force Special Operations Forces (AFSOF), Clark rema...

They have announced their arrival with a bang. The police checkpost in Mianwali, a border town near restive NWFP, is a grim reminder that Pakistani society is facing the worst scenario of civil unrest that it has seen for decades. The two story building was reduced to rubble when the militants destroyed it with powerful explosives. They attacked the post around 3 am, killed the constables on guard and then killed 6 police personnel inside before blowing up the building. Militants have come to Punjab with an attitude. So how is it different this time around? I mean, suicide attacks have taken place before in Lahore and Rawalpindi. Yes indeed Punjab has been struck with tragedy of suicide bombings on various occasions but this attack on post signals the fact that militants will now increase their sphere of influence outside the frontier province and tribal belt. Swat is already under Taliban's control, Peshawar is closed from 3 sides, Dir - hitherto untouched- is falling to their con...

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Every night around 8 o'clock, the terrified residents of Swat, a lush and picturesque valley a hundred miles from three of Pakistan's most important cities, crowd around their radios. They know that failure to listen and learn might lead to a lashing — or a beheading. Hundreds gathered Jan. 11 in Swat to watch drug dealers punished. The Taliban also have made it a crime to shave a beard. Using a portable radio transmitter, a local Taliban leader, Shah Doran, on most nights outlines newly proscribed "un-Islamic" activities in Swat, like selling DVDs, watching cable television, singing and dancing, criticizing the Taliban, shaving beards and allowing girls to attend school. He also reveals names of people the Taliban have recently killed for violating their decrees — and those they plan to kill. "They control everything through the radio," said one Swat resident, who declined to give his name for fear the Taliban might kill him. ...