Hamid Mir

Pakistani flags removed from Taliban-held areas in Swat

(Editor's Note: As his colleague and Canada Free Press columnist, the Polish-based journalist David Dastych, Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir is alive and "kicking", reporting from Swat Valley, which is a territory under Taliban control). GOOD NEWS! Hamid Mir is alive and "kicking", reporting from Swat Valley (see below), which is a territory under Taliban control.) MATTA-Swat-The imposition of emergency in Pakistan has not put any pressure on the Taliban in Swat district, who have not only announced the imposition of Shariah but also removed national flags from all the government buildings in the areas under their control.

A new threat to the war against terror

Islamabad-Pakistan: General Pervez Musharraf is planning again to attack the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Judge Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, with the active support of Benazir Bhutto and with the covert support of the USA. High level meetings have been going on in Islamabad for the last two days to chalk out a new strategy against Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who is fast becoming a real threat to the fragile Musharraf-Benazir agreement, by puncturing the highly publicized presidential ordinance through which PPP leadership got amnesty from corruption cases. A top government official claims that the chief justice is also becoming a threat against the war on terror because he provided relief to many pro-al Qaeda and pro-Taliban elements who were in the custody of intelligence agencies without any formal charges.

How Benazir played into Musharraf’s hands

ISLAMABAD: Even before the Supreme Court ruled that the presidential election should go ahead as planned, President Pervez Musharraf had emerged a political winner. Musharraf had successfully taken revenge on Zulfikar Ali Bhutto by destroying the traditional political role of the Pakistan People's Party, founded in 1967 against a military dictator, General Ayub Khan.