Ashfaq Yusufzai

Ashfaq Yusufzai writes for Inter Press Service.

Drone Killings Show Numbers, Not Bodies

More than 300 U.S. drone attacks have killed 2,160 militants and 67 civilians in Pakistan since 2008, according to Pakistani defense ministry data. But people living in the affected areas are now questioning these figures, asking why they never get to know the names of the militants or see the bodies. Residents of Pakistan’s Federally … Continue reading “Drone Killings Show Numbers, Not Bodies”

Pakistan Tribes Turn Against Army

“We demand an immediate end to the military operation in Khyber Agency because it has not brought any results during the past three years,” says Iqbal Afridi from the Pakistan Tehreek Insaf party. “The military operations are killing the local population while the militants remained unharmed.” Afridi from the Khyber Agency unit of the party … Continue reading “Pakistan Tribes Turn Against Army”

Journalists Caught Between the Army and the Taliban

PESHAWAR — Journalists covering the United States–led “war-on-terror” in Pakistan’s turbulent Northwest are not sure who wants them out of the way more — the Taliban or the Pakistan army. So, when Hazrat Khan Mohmand, who works with the AVT Khyber TV Channel, was brutally beaten up by masked men on Aug. 22 near the … Continue reading “Journalists Caught Between the Army and the Taliban”

Taliban Backs Off From Attacking Civilians

PESHAWAR — A series of Taliban attacks selectively targeting Pakistani security forces is being seen as an attempt to shore up the flagging popularity of the fundamentalist Islamic scholars. “As long as the Taliban targeted security forces alone, the local people supported them as they believed it to be part of the jihad against the … Continue reading “Taliban Backs Off From Attacking Civilians”

Execution Videos Strike Terror in Pakistan

PESHAWAR — A video showing a group of 16 Pakistani policemen, hands tied behind their backs, being executed by Taliban gunmen in the Dir district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is only the latest in a series showing brutal acts designed to strike terror in the areas bordering Afghanistan. In the video, released on Monday, an unknown … Continue reading “Execution Videos Strike Terror in Pakistan”

Afghans Find Their Welcome Running Out in Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – The number of Afghan refugees in Pakistan who will return to their homeland this year is expected to be double the 2009 figure, but it’s not only a longing for their native soil that is fueling the Afghans’ departure. Many of the refugees say Pakistanis – officials and local folk alike – … Continue reading “Afghans Find Their Welcome Running Out in Pakistan”

Attacks Bring Pakistan Aid Work to Virtual Halt

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Bomb attacks and threats to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have brought development work to a virtual halt in the lawless, volatile environment that is the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), located near Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan. The latest in the series of attacks on the offices of NGOs occurred on Mar. 10, when … Continue reading “Attacks Bring Pakistan Aid Work to Virtual Halt”

Swat Residents Try to Make Life as Normal as Possible 

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Amid news of the Pakistani government’s arrest of another Taliban leader and a suicide attack in the volatile Swat district this month, residents here are bent on making the most out of a life that has been returning to as close to normal as possible. Since the Pakistani military reclaimed control of … Continue reading “Swat Residents Try to Make Life as Normal as Possible “

Pakistan: Vestiges of War, Hopes for Peace

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – "We aren’t going to be browbeaten by acts of cowardice and [will] continue exposing Taliban and [other] militants," said an angry Shamim Shahid, president of the Peshawar Press Club (PPC). The spate of media killings in Pakistan in the year just past – and the likelihood that it could continue unabated this … Continue reading “Pakistan: Vestiges of War, Hopes for Peace”

Swat Refugees Scared, but Terrible Camp Life Forces Them Home

PESHAWAR — Civilians who fled the Malakand region in northwest Pakistan after the army launched operations against the Taliban, are starting to trickle home. On Wednesday, the government said 2,885 families have returned to Swat and Buner. "Yes, we are going back to our home because life in the camp is miserable," says a schoolteacher … Continue reading “Swat Refugees Scared, but Terrible Camp Life Forces Them Home”