VIEW: Of interventions —Gulmina Bilal Ahmad

Courtesy to "Daily Times"

We are not fighting only a military war. It is a war against mindsets and attitudes that are discriminatory and bigoted. It is actually a war against a paranoid mindset

Comedy of errors or a case of what goes around comes around? For years now, human rights activists have highlighted the plight of the ‘missing persons’. From demonstrations to contacting politicians to even approaching the Supreme Court, the familie...

VIEW: Of apologies —Gulmina Bilal Ahmad

Courtesy to "Daily Times"

There is a need for close cooperation not just between the different intelligence agencies and the security forces but, most importantly, between the locals and the agencies. For there is no substitute for local knowledge and information gathering

The army chief has rendered an apology. The apology was made for the loss of 70 lives of Kuki Khel tribe of Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency. The people of the tribe were understanda...

VIEW: Collective sickness —Gulmina Bilal Ahmad

Courtesy to "Daily Times"

When we see the brutal face of alleged Islamic practices of the Taliban that subjugates, insults, terrorises and finally kills, we shake our heads in disbelief. We are collectively as a nation in denial

I have been debating with myself on whether to write about the resurgent controversy on the Swat flogging video or not. Much has been written about it. There are people and groups who passionately advocate that it was f...

VIEW: Trudging on —Gulmina Bilal Ahmad

Courtesy to "Daily Times" 

It is imperative to understand that we need to win the war and not just the battle. While we rightly pat ourselves and the police, military and paramilitary forces for their work, we need to remind ourselves and them that the war is yet to be won

In the wake of the tragic
Lahore blasts, the discussion of the ethnicity of the Taliban and the success of the operations against them has received a new impetus. During the...

VIEW: Rehabilitation of the Taliban —Gulmina Bilal Ahmad

Courtesy to "Daily Times" 

Young children were kidnapped by the Taliban and then made to serve as suicide bombers. These young men, and in the latter part of the battle young women, became cannon fodder for the Taliban’s heinous designs. They did not have the freedom to choose their path

At least 13 people dead in the Lahore blast. On the day that marked the hundredth anniversary of the International Women’s Day, many wom...

VIEW: Going dry —Gulmina Bilal Ahmad

Courtesy to "Daily Times"

We are so consumed with a matter of private faith that we will accept all ills in a head of state but not the fact that s/he is a non-Muslim. What right do we have to say that there is equality before the law in Pakistan when one of our laws bars a Pakistani from a position on the basis of his/her religion?

We are consumed by religion. The Muslims amongst us are consumed by Islam whereas the non-Muslim Pakistanis are consumed ...

VIEW: Pakistani Taliban apologists —Gulmina Bilal Ahmad

Courtesy to "Daily Times"

It is baffling to note how anyone can support and justify the TTP while at the same time proclaim to be champions of democracy, rule of law, equality before the law and most of all justice. Or do they mean justice TTP-style?

One has always believed that
confusion is good as it breeds creativity. This is not merely a position that is propagated by pop psychology quizzes and agony aunts of newspapers. In fact...