Afrah Jamal

Published in Daily Times (Pakistan) / 23 Feb 2013 Author: Uzma Aslam Khan Reviewed by: Afrah Jamal Uzma Aslam Khan is the author of critically acclaimed, award winning books like Trespassing and Geometry of God . Her new novel, ' Thinner than Skin' goes off the beaten track for inspiration. A realm built upon incomprehensible layers of intrigue, violence, fairytales and legends provides the stage. People foraging for a lifeline become the props. And the inevitable soundtrack of radicalism now coursing through every fibre sets Pakistan’s modern heart to an ancient beat. It is these paradoxes that bring its US-based protagonist, Nadir, along with a German-Pakistani girl, Farhana, on a trek from northern California to the Kaghan Valley. Wesley — the American in the background — is drawn to the mating glacier ritual, which is an actual thing. And their trusty ally/guide Irfan charts the course to their path of self-discovery past majestic mountains and ice encrusted l...

First Published by Daily Times / Oct 06, 2012 Authors: Mark Owen & Kevin Maurer Reviewed by: Afrah Jamal Published under the Title: Signed, SEAL(ed) and Delivered The men who paid Pakistan a hurried visit in the dead of the night typically do not leave calling cards. Or talk shop with strangers. And they are expected to shun the limelight. One broke the commandment recently. As a member of the SEAL Team 6 — Naval Special Warfare Development Group or DEVGRU, Mark Owen (not his real name) had been in the downed ‘helo’ (helicopter) — the one Pakistanis discovered lying in their backyard. His book provides a valuable timeline of events leading up to ‘Operation Neptune Spear’ in Abbottabad (or ‘Abababa’ as they insist on calling it), cutting through the official haze. With 13 consecutive combat deployments to his credit, the author paints a group portrait of America’s finest that had been handpicked for the job in an attempt to overturn the media-created hype. He calmly re...

Thank you Peter Taylor for the email..& the kind words..you made my day (28 Jan 2012) Peter Sent a Signed Copy ...(26 March 2012).. Published in Daily Times / Saturday, January 28, 2012 Reviewed by: Afrah Jamal When Peter Taylor, BBC’s acclaimed investigative journalist, hunts down ‘terrorists’, he just wants to talk . Churchill’s philosophy of ‘ Jaw-jaw instead of war-war ’ appealed to the audience in one episode of the 2007 BBC Doha debates titled ‘Talking to al Qaeda’. A former ISI chief present on the occasion admitted that they had already established secret channels of communication. But as the host pointedly asked, to what end given the American National Intelligence report that the enemy regenerated key elements of its Homeland attack capability regardless. Since then this region has watched hastily made peace deals crumble and efforts at diplomacy fail. Five years down the line however, the Taliban are toying with the idea of opening a liaison office in Qatar....

Thanks to Liberty Books for the review copy Published in Daily Times / Saturday, June 18, 2011 Reviewed by Afrah Jamal Published under the title: 17 Reasons to Hope “History will be what we make it. If we go on as we are, history will have its revenge and retribution” — from the movie, ‘Good Night, & Good Luck’ A region known for most “terrorist sightings”, a place feared for harbouring medieval mindsets next to progressive thinkers and a nation shunned for having an affinity for nuclear toys. By turns a cautionary tale, an indispensable ally and an international pariah, Pakistan does not fit into any mould — for long. But its name crops up whenever things go awry. Pakistan: Beyond the ‘Crisis State’ is a compilation of articles put together by Maleeha Lodhi that countermands the grim prognosis. When Ms Lodhi, who has served as Pakistan’s ambassador to the US and UK, acknowledges that “resilience has been part of Pakistan’s story from its inception, obscured by the s...

By Afrah Jamal Published in Daily Times / Saturday, April 30, 2011 The visiting media (excavation) team who rifled through Faisal Shahzad’s past had hit a brick wall last year. Because he is a naturalised American citizen and the son of a senior Pakistani air force officer, the foreign press must have been just as baffled as their Pakistani counterparts. And since they found little of value in these archaeological expeditions, they gave their terrorist a back story to go with the popular narrative. Putting up the failed Times Square bomber’s upbringing on trial alongside his present probably made it easier to explain this anomaly. If the world they fabricated out of fantasy and myth appeared alien to Pakistanis back home, it is probably because it was. Faisal, who went through the system without triggering red flags, was depicted as a zombie being drilled in violent Islam and fed anti-western lies as a child, getting in and out of fancy cars followed by a trail of nannies, raise...

Thanks to Liberty Books for the review copy Published in Daily Times /January 15, 2011 Reviewed By Afrah Jamal Author : Zahid Hussain The realisation that something had gone terribly wrong dawned on Zahid Hussain in the summer of 2007. To him, the siege of the Red Mosque in the heart of Islamabad demonstrated how much Pakistan had been knocked out of alignment since pledging allegiance to the US’s new war. The ensuing showdown, which he terms as the “deadliest battle with militants since President Musharraf joined the US led fight”, raised a giant red flag impossible to miss. Extremism had come knocking on the capital’s door. He ended up making the noxious fumes sweeping across the land (and its carriers) the subject of his next book. The Scorpion’s Tail — The Relentless Rise of Islamic Militants in Pakistan and How it Threatens the World confines itself to the insurgency part of the equation. It sifts through mounds of data in an attempt to pinpoint the core weaknesses ...

PRINTED IN THE POST SEP 21, 2008 One of the mandates of our recently elected government was to annihilate Taliban sanctuaries; allowing NATO boots on the ground was also somewhere down the agenda . It has not escaped notice that the ‘Boots’ have come on the heels of the new presidency. Their presence, confirms that Washington has given the green light to a controversial new strategy their media has been hinting at for months. A strategy that promises more action within Pakistani territory and a planned surge in Afghanistan makes their intentions perfectly clear. The war on terror has taken a crucial turn and there will be more where that came from. And though Pakistani leadership has been slow to react, statements from Pakistan’s military brass indicate that they not happy with this arrangement. The Pak-Afghan border has been declared a new frontline by Washington, proving that perhaps authorisation or approval is no longer considered central to the partnership. While the new gov...

PUBLISHED IN THE POST JAN 24, 2008? The good news; terrorists are on the run in Swat . The bad news? See the good news . Does achieving the military objective signal an end of terrorism? Or just imply a break in a long winded terror campaign . The latter seems more probable, considering 2 suicide attacks which were only 3 days apart in Swat and Lahore in the first 10 days of 2008 and terror that struck Karachi 5 days afterwards. Which is why reports of successful operations in Swat meant to foster long term stability, at least in that particular region, fail to raise hopes about the short term security in the rest of Pakistan. Especially when certain cities have once again been placed on high alert after intelligence indicated the entry of more potential bombers. The January 17, 2008 attack on Peshawar demonstrates the accuracy of this intelligence without altering our growing susceptibility to terror. Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz wants citizens to cooperate with police ...

By Afrah Jamal PUBLISHED IN THE POST OCT 27, 07 It is no longer a toss up between ‘will they?’ or ‘won’t they?’ Not when it comes to terrorist strikes in 2007. Analysts are more likely to have turned, albeit grimly, to pinpointing the ‘where’, ‘when’ and speculate about the ‘who’. The recent bombing in Karachi confirms that ‘where’ is not that difficult to ascertain as it gradually dawns on people that the attack in the early hours of 19 Oct 2007 is merely a snippet of a prolonged terror campaign. Therefore, it is futile to pretend that these are isolated incidents of violence, easily pre-empted or averted. Foreign Correspondent, Greg Palkot covered Ms. Bhutto’s return for FOX News Channel and made a valid point in his blog - Dispatches from the Terror Front: Can Terrorism Be Tamed in Pakistan? that, “ In the terror analysis business, hindsight is always 20/20” . However, concerns of the citizens in the days leading up to 18 October 2007 were worth paying attention to. Their cr...

Published in Muslim World Today Nov 09 Not too long ago a bomb went off in Peshawar. The next day fool proof security sprung into action in Lahore. It was around the time Hillary Clinton’s entourage was spotted in town; life had come to a crippling halt and death stalked the student community. Pakistan remains vulnerable but for a brief while the city of Lahore was reminiscent of the green zone, the kind in Baghdad, supposedly an oasis of calm in the midst of chaos, enabling our guests to visit historic monuments and lecture at universities. Pakistanis know better than to take days with zero body count as an indication of success or the exceptional security arrangements in place for visitors as the norm. They also consider guided tours to be peace time luxuries. Ms. Clinton’s rare experience (flawless security) has not been replicated since. Deadly bombings followed by some excellent rhetoric about manning up, on the other hand have continued. Terrorism has a very steep learning ...