'Export' of heritage

A recent incident involving sale of a fasting Buddha statue at the prestigious Christie's fine arts auction house in the UK has brought focus on the illegal artefacts export from Pakistan. As reported by newspapers, a Unesco employee noticed a Christie's advertisement for the sale of this Gandhara relic, believed to be excavated from Pakistan in the early 1980s.

Channelling the power of sports

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the tribal agencies of Fata have become a regular feature of daily news for all the wrong reasons. Crumbling under massive militancy, good news from the region are far and few. With such a gloomy scenario, the announcement that 50 sports academies will be established in Fata and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa by Malik Saad Memorial Sports Trust, in collaboration with the provincial government and USAID, is much welcomed.

More provinces: tread this path carefully

Former Federal Minister Senator Raza Rabbani has urged Pakistan People's Party Co-Chairperson Asif Ali Zardari to be more cautious in his decision to pursue a demand for another province carved out of Punjab. At a time when the debate for new provinces has gained momentum, Rabbani's advice to President Zardari is sound and reflects the senator's decades of political experience.

Dark side of the moon (sighting)

With the start of the holy month of Ramazan merely days away, the perennial controversy regarding moon sighting is again rearing its ugly, embarrassing head. Every year the country goes through the melodrama where Ulema from Peshawar and adjoining areas declare the moon sighted a day or two before rest of the country. It is even more distressing that this situation arises only during two most revered Islamic months, Ramazan and Shawwal for Eid-ul-Fitr.

Fight against polio just got tougher

In counter-terrorism efforts, risking health and security of civilians should be marked as a red line, which must never be crossed. However, according to a report published in the UK-based newspaper The Guardian, some startling allegations were made against the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the US regarding using a vaccine campaign as a front for its covert operation in Abbottabad.

Saving Pakistan’s progeny

Children are the biggest victims of war and conflict in terms of the lost opportunity they represent for the future. This was proven again when the news surfaced of a nine-year-old girl, Sohana Javed, who was abducted from Peshawar and forced into becoming a possible suicide bomber in Lower Dir. Initial reports reveal remarkable presence of mind on Sohana’s part when, seeing an opportunity, she ran away from her captors and sought help from the Frontier Corps personnel at a nearby check-post—the alleged target of her attack. This incident has revealed a possible shift in the strategy of the terrorist groups who, till now, had relied primarily on men and teenage boys to carry out their attacks. It has also highlighted the lengths to which the militants will resort in carrying out their agenda with no regard of the universal and Islamic principle of safeguarding children from acts of war.