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May 12, 2013 Sir, it is an honour to call you a leader. PHOTO: REUTERS A sudden lull is seen on social media as the results trickle in. Shock. Disbelief. Disappointment. After all, we were called the “PTI trolls”. Our enthusiasm and excitement, and often confrontational attitude of taking head-on collisions with the old players of the political field irked the intelligentsia and the liberaati. A truly centrist party, we were attacked by everyone: the left and the right. However, through it all, as a young party, we held each other’s hands and were fueled by hopes of a Tsunami. PML-N is in a clear lead – no question about it – and we are all devastated, me and my fellow PTIians. A bit sheepish about our often naïve enthusiasm which others mistook for arrogance, I hear the youth, our strongest voters, saying: “Nothing in this damned country will ever change.” To all those, I would like to say: “Look around again; it already has. We are already living is a mor...

Shirin Sadeghi Independent TV & Radio Host, ex-BBC & Al Jazeera When the mighty do not fall, they are felled, but Imran Khan is still going strong despite serious injuries this week at a campaign rally. He's come a long way since  I first interviewed him in 2011 : he's the most important person in Pakistan right now and the biggest election in his country's history is all about him. Unlike in the United States, campaigning in Pakistan has time limits and the brief period of campaigning ended Thursday at midnight with a massive Islamabad rally for Khan followed by a smaller rally for his main opponent: Mian Nawaz Sharif, the two-time former Prime Minister and head of the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) party. Sharif, sweating under the grand lights of his stage, with a combover lightly flapping in the night's breeze, and his microphone being held for him by a hand other than his, was -- as his campaign has been -- focused on Khan. Kha...

The European Union has rejected Irans accusations that the Western media helped engineer post-election unrest as protests in Tehran continue.

Israel's military has bombed whatever stands, lives and moves in Gaza, including the UN facilities and aid. No other state in the world has behaved, without facing dire diplomatic consequences, in such a way. The Israeli state which, although located in the Middle East, claims a 'western' civilizational link and heritage has surely fallen short of it. The Israeli government has failed totally in its actions: Hamas is still able to rocket blast South (and possibly North ) Israel, the Israeli military actions have killed 130 'militants' sacrificing about 630 civilians, it has prevented the rescue of the injured, causing the Red Cross to condemn the actions , and has attacked UN convoys (a "deja vu" since the Israeli army has a certain preference for "mistakenly" bombing the UN). Among the disturbing facts of the Israeli Kadima government is that 257 children have been killed and 1,080 wounded . It is a massacre, and one which only one 'de...