Where are Pakistan’s Refuseniks and Whistleblowers? Hmm at what level is the writer refrring to, strictly the military? I believe the last high profile resignations from the military was during the 1977 PNA agitation when a few brigadiers refused to fire on civilians.

I also remember the present foreign Minister as being one of the few who openly opposed the Shariah bill Nawaz Sharif wished to introduce. this was despite the fcat that Nawaz was the effective badshah of Pakistan at the time.

Pakistan has become intellectually very sterile, in the end you require a certain level of intelligence, resources and conviction to challenge ones party or institutions wrong policies. You face being labelled a traitor or anti Pakistani as well as the very real threat to you and your families well being. that is a very heavy price to pay and I don`t blame people for prefrring to show their disgust by leaving the country.

To Die For.....the War at Wana Ahmadzai salamoona : Wazirstan jhagaray dayr afsos khabaray dha chay pukhtuna bya markeezhee Amrika dhay laas.

The same arguments against the invasion of Iraq can be used against the Military operation in FATA. I think it`s a matter of great sadness that the Waziris are paying the price for Pakistans ruling establishments misdeeds.

To Die For.....the War at Wana Give a little mention to the poor people being killed in Waziristan..they were told for the last 25 years that those ``terrorists`` were freedom fighters.

Mainstream Textbooks and What They Teach Another issue is the lack of promotion of regional languages...UNESCO studies have shown that children learn faster when taught in their Mother tongue..

Mainstream Textbooks and What They Teach I think our books should reflect more on local history and national history. I think one of the worst acses of education abuse is making Islamiat and Pakistan studies compulsory at hssc and at a bachelors level. It is a ridiculous sight seeing medical students lose the top position in class in their first professional because another student cheated in Pak studies!

A Shameless Polemic Against the Nehru-Gandhi Dynasty I have noticed how anti Congress many middle class Indians are. The old logic of India being divided into pro congresss and anti congress votes now seems to have been replaced with pro BJP and anti BJP votes. The Congress being a personality cult is not surprising, after all isn`t that why people like Sharad Pawar left it in the first place?

I think the Congresses electoral failure is due to something else though, it`s more due to the Congress Party sounding like a BJP lite rather than having any distinctive difference.

Secular Indians need to find their own Howard Dean :)

Auction of New Cellular Licenses In Pakistan good article, one of my cousins lives in Swat and can`t decide whether to get Paktel or Insta connection. I am leaning towards Paktel because it`s going GSM

A few points,

1) There were rumours before Ufone was launched that the other Mobile phone companies were paying high ups to delay the launch of Ufone till their customer base was stronger?

2) Pakistan`s regulatory authorities as a whole are inept, whether it is PTA or PEMRA, they are under resourced under staffed, not accountable, favour government organisations, and have no system of oversight from civilian authorities. This comes tto the greater issue of consumer rights in Pakistan.

3)Fair competition is always good, as the writer may notice Pakistan is riddled with Public and private sector monopolies, the end result is the country has lost out heavily iwhen it could have adopted some of the latest technologies earlier on.

4) Credit where credit it due it`s the present privatisaon commission chief Abdul Hafiz Sheikh who is pushing denationalistaion, I firmly believe if you give him 3 more years you`ll see a very different Pakistani business sector.

5) Lastly isn`t there a;ready a danger of a monopoly with 2 of the 4 companies owned by one group and Orascom considering bidding for PTCL?

Know Your Enemy The famous gang rape cover up at Meerwala in Punjab was exposed by the local Mullah horrifed by the barbarity of what he saw. Similarly members of my family have lost out because they weren`t part of the ``liberal sharabi club``, when I say lost out I mean they missed out on promotions in the civil service...they were deprived of admission into university because fellow sharabis did sifarish for each other. So the evils of nepotism and restriction of speech is not the monopoly of any mullah. Believing in something doesn`t make you a bad person,....anyway nice article as always Shadana.

Omair: Why do we have to have a women`s wing?

History, Culture and the Mullahs Omair may the tehrik be a success ;)..I say invite Ahmadzai and Mantolives..maybe temporal and Fuzair as well..

History, Culture and the Mullahs Omair: Please include myself in this little tehrik ;)

Only $5 Million Arjun whoever said Indians and Indian policy makers weren`t Pakistan centric never chatted with you on chowk.

The Nuclear Noose Around Pakistan’s Neck Arjun another temper tantrum...:)..Rest assured India is under no obligation as well...and I don`t represent the Pakistani government ;)

The Nuclear Noose Around Pakistan’s Neck Hmm Mantolives..who says he didn`t try to get it published in a Pakistani newspaper?

I should point out Pakistan not being a signatory to the NPT has no legal obligation to punish Qadeer Khan. What we do have is a super power gone mad which is looking for a pretext to enter Pakistani territory and make Pakistan give up it`s Nuke programme.

A Waste of National Resource mubarik mantolives on your shadi..we had no idea :)...one reason for my pessimism about Pakistan is everyone I know who has visited Pakistan since 2001 (when I was last there) sez one thing..the increase in poverty is striking and so is the major changes that are going on..

A Waste of National Resource Good article as always, just one point...South Asian state have lost their raison d`etre a long time ago, most if not all have failed in their obligations to the people. The Madrassah system is more closely linked to the 1980`s, and the huge sums of money that were floating around...

Between Musharraf and Mullahs—Who Won? Arjun seems to have lost the plot...