By Ahmar Mustikhan
[Translated from Urdu]

KARACHI: The main icon of the independence struggle in Balochistan has said the Baloch people have been pushed to the wall and there is no way out for them but to fight back against the Pakistani occupation of their homeland. Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri, 81 – a legend in his lifetime for resolutely calling for independence of Texas-sized Balochistan for almost four decades now – in a wide ranging interview said the Baloch have been left with no choice but to pick up arms in self defense.

Pakistan has been a state since 1947, but is still not a nation. More precisely, Pakistan is the name of a land and a people inside a certain geographical boundary that is still lacking the crucial components needed for nationhood: a strong common identity, mental make-up, a shared sense of history and common goals.

LAHORE: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has blocked Facebook over a competition encouraging its users to post caricatures of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) on the social networking site. Earlier in the day, the LHC ordered authorities to block Facebook until May 31.. The depiction of any prophet is strictly prohibited in Islam as blasphemous and Muslims across the world staged angry protests over the publication of satirical cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in European newspapers in 2006.

The recent issue of changing the name of the North West Frontier Province seems to have conflagrated into a political maelstrom. Though the issue has been a significant stumbling block stuck in all our respective political throats for the past 60 odd years, it was only logical that a province of the national federation not be known as a set of geographical parameters relevant only to the British Empire.

CONSTITUTIONAL changes dilute presidential powers but leave minorities in the cold.

Democratic politics is often unpredictable. In Pakistan, it tends to be a rollercoaster, regardless of whether an elected government is in power. Despite these tendencies, not to mention a universally loathed President, unabated war against the Taliban, a stagnant economy and severe energy shortages, a broad coalition of Pakistani politicians has, to rephrase Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, just made the "impossible" possible.

Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf may sue members of the UN commission that probed the assassination of ex-premier Benazir Bhutto for holding him responsible for her killing, one of his aides has said. "In the report, Musharraf has not been accused personally but it has been mentioned that his government failed to protect Benazir Bhutto," Chaudhry Fawad, a lawyer for Musharraf, told 'The News' daily.

According to the Iranian foreign minister, quoted by Press TV, this week’s visit by Afghan President Hamid Karzai to Islamabad was related to plans for a trilateral summit between Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The relationship between the three countries and potential influence on Afghanistan gets a lot less attention than the strained ties between India and Pakistan.

The residents of SITE area have been moving courts to put a stop to illegal dumping of toxic waste for a number of years, without much hope. They formed the Society for Safe and Healthy Environment (SSHE) in 2007 after the tragic death of 9 year old Iftikhar due to severe burns from hazardous material in March 2006.

WASHINGTON: The Obama administration is seriously worried about the fast weakening grip of President Asif Zardari in Pakistan and on Monday two top US newspapers predicted, in powerful reports by seven leading writers and correspondents, that the Zardari regime seemed to be near collapse.

ZHOB (APP) - Security forces have arrested six Iranian Kurds, who were traveling to Lahore via D I Khan without legal documents, at a checkpoint in district Sherani, Friday.  According to the local administration, the Iranian nationals, who were identified as Abdul Basit, Abdullah, Muhammad Hanif, Abdul Rehman, Abdul Aziz and Saeed were arrested during routine checking of the local buses at Manni Khwa checkpoint.