American who killed two in Pakistan was CIA spy

In Karachi, scores of demonstrators call for the execution of Raymond Davis, the US consulate employee who has been jailed in Lahore for killing two Pakistanis Link to this video The American who shot dead two men in Lahore, triggering a diplomatic crisis between Pakistan and the US, is a CIA agent who was on assignment at the time. Raymond Davis has been the subject of widespread speculation since he opened fire with a semi-automatic Glock pistol on the two men who had pulled up in front of his car at a red light on...

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Cultural plunder

By Peter Thonemann ARE you keen to help finance the activities of warlords and insurgents across Afghanistan? As I write, eBay is inviting bids on no fewer than 128 ancient Bactrian and Indo-Greek silver and bronze coins, from sellers in Pakistan, Singapore, Thailand and the United States. Probably every one of them is the product of looting over the past 20 years. With luck, you might even pick up one of the tens of thousands of items plundered from the collections of the old National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul between 1992 and 2001. For...

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The speech he needs to make-Pakistan

Mr Qureshi has not spoken about the alternative to dependence on the US.   By Syed Talat Hussain LAST week, former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi displayed a fine response to the call of his conscience. Speaking one’s mind is a rarity in a system that thrives on secrecy and subservience.Since then Mr Qureshi has reaped a rich harvest of public praise of the sort he was denied when he was in charge of the country’s foreign affairs. Then, despite having a massive PR machinery at his disposal and the ability to command the...

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Anti-Americanism-Pakistan

“SHOCKING, unjustified anti-Americanism will not resolve [Pakistan’s] prob- lems,” said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in New York on Friday. The fact is, however, that antiAmericanism in Pakistan is not at all shocking, and much of it is not unjustified. Ms Clinton’s remarks came as two Pakistanis were gunned down in broad daylight in Lahore traffic by an American whose work here remains a mystery. A third man was run over in the ensuing chaos when he was caught in the path of a speeding American consulate vehicle. That driver has disappeared,...

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For greater transparency-Pakistan

In the old days, one could have expected a quiet behind-the-scenes deal between Islamabad and Washington to secure Davis’s release. Today, the context is altogether different.   By Moeed Yusuf-Dawn News IN previous columns on Pakistan-US relations, I have often stressed the need for greater transparency in the partnership. Since 9/11, ties have been characterised by an active government-to-government relationship; very little of what happens behind closed doors is willingly brought out in the public domain. The Raymond Davis episode...

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Obama Administration Supports Israeli Crimes in Occupied Territories

Obama’s First UN Veto: US to Stop Security Council Calling Israeli Settlements ‘Illegal’Jason Ditz,February 16, 2011Antiwar Forum The Obama Administration is threatening to use its first ever UN Security Council veto this week when the Palestinian Authority moves forward with a non-binding resolution referring to the settlement construction in the Occupied Territories as “illegal.” The case for the illegality of conquering territory, depopulating it, and building government subsidized, religiously exclusive cities over the ruins does...

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