Media watch: Reopening the border
Local media talks about Pakistan's decision of reopening the Torkham route and its potential aftermath.
Media watch is a daily round-up of key articles featured on news websites, hand-picked by The Express Tribune web staff.
Time to wake up to reality
Now that the Pakistani government and military authorities have shown to the Pakistani people their ‘concern’ for the country’s sovereignty, a word of caution: one should not get carried away with euphoria at having cornered a superpower. The US has a long and begrudging memory, one that does not allow it to easily forgive and forget when it has been backed into a tight spot. (dailytimes.com.pk)
A whimpering surrender
The limited apology should not have been accepted in the first place since NATO had not apologised for their military intrusions into Pakistan and the killing of Pakistani civilians – they had only regretted the killing of the three FC personnel. So effectively NATO has not altered its hot pursuit policy nor has it guaranteed that it will not kill Pakistani civilians. Equally critical, no demand for an end to drone attacks from Pakistan has been evident. (nation.com.pk)
Torkham reopens
At the end of the day, it is difficult to ask Pakistan to try and help smash the Haqqani network before inviting it to the negotiating table so that an exit plan for the Americans can be fashioned. Meanwhile, Pakistan needs to decide on its relationship with the US. If India is indeed ‘Enemy No 1’ then Pakistan does not have the capacity to deal with it alone. (dawn.com)
White jihadis
White Jihadis are drawn from what is an increasing pool of disaffected young Muslims in a range of primarily (but not exclusively) European countries or America. For extremist recruiters in the West such a plenitude of disaffected youth is much to their advantage. Many of these young people are self-radicalising and need little persuasion to move from supporting the jihad online in the privacy of their own homes, to joining the jihad for real. (thenews.com.pk)
Time to wake up to reality
Now that the Pakistani government and military authorities have shown to the Pakistani people their ‘concern’ for the country’s sovereignty, a word of caution: one should not get carried away with euphoria at having cornered a superpower. The US has a long and begrudging memory, one that does not allow it to easily forgive and forget when it has been backed into a tight spot. (dailytimes.com.pk)
A whimpering surrender
The limited apology should not have been accepted in the first place since NATO had not apologised for their military intrusions into Pakistan and the killing of Pakistani civilians – they had only regretted the killing of the three FC personnel. So effectively NATO has not altered its hot pursuit policy nor has it guaranteed that it will not kill Pakistani civilians. Equally critical, no demand for an end to drone attacks from Pakistan has been evident. (nation.com.pk)
Torkham reopens
At the end of the day, it is difficult to ask Pakistan to try and help smash the Haqqani network before inviting it to the negotiating table so that an exit plan for the Americans can be fashioned. Meanwhile, Pakistan needs to decide on its relationship with the US. If India is indeed ‘Enemy No 1’ then Pakistan does not have the capacity to deal with it alone. (dawn.com)
White jihadis
White Jihadis are drawn from what is an increasing pool of disaffected young Muslims in a range of primarily (but not exclusively) European countries or America. For extremist recruiters in the West such a plenitude of disaffected youth is much to their advantage. Many of these young people are self-radicalising and need little persuasion to move from supporting the jihad online in the privacy of their own homes, to joining the jihad for real. (thenews.com.pk)