Syed Saleem Shazad, Lyari, Zafar Hilaly, Asif Ezdi, Mosharraf Zaidi, Anjum Niaz and Ansar Abbasi

Quote: The enemy is within us. The enemy at the end of the barrell is also us. ~t

In many ways, Lyari is a microcosm of the world of militancy. Neither the Americans nor the Pakistan has the wherewithal to block the militants' arteries; thanks to Pakistan's socio-political infrastructure, the militants have made space for themselves with "natural arrangements" all over the country. From these areas they can strike anywhere, at any time, in the country or in the region. General McChrystal has a real fight ahead by the taking his battle to Pakistan. Where Pakistan's militants go to ground

The mullah, at one time seen only at weddings and deaths, is now everywhere, including television spewing for the most part his dirge of hate and intolerance. Zafar Hilaly

And you, dear Yousuf Raza Gilani, can take the lead by announcing that you will be voting against the ordinance. You have often been saying that you wanted to make history. Now is your chance. Asif Ezdi

Quoting Pew Mosharraf Zaidi writes:

* Seventy-nine per cent of Pakistanis are concerned about extremism in Pakistan,
* Nine per cent of Pakistanis have favourable views of the Taliban,
* Ten per cent have favourable views of Al Qaeda,
* Seventy-three per cent of Pakistanis say that the Taliban pose a threat to their country,
* Eighty-seven per cent of Pakistani Muslims feel that suicide bombing is never justifiable (that by the way, is the highest rate rejection of suicide bombings out of several countries, including Israel, Indonesia, Egypt, Turkey and Jordan).

The IRI survey confirms these findings, and reports that:
* Ninety per cent of Pakistanis feel that "religious extremism is a serious problem in Pakistan";
* Eighty-six per cent of Pakistanis feel that "the Taliban and Al Qaeda operating in Pakistan is a serious problem";
* Sixty-nine per cent of Pakistanis support the army's operation to clear terrorists from Malakand.

And the apparent irony...and this without the help of any "survey" is:

* 95% of Pakistanis want to remain aloof and uninvolved

* 4% are government servants and have to pay lip service or act inadvertently

* 1% have vested interest and if they lose this fight they would have to leave for greener pastures. ~t

The special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan has been purposely kept away from crucial discussions with Pakistani and Afghan leaders because of his rude rebukes to Karzai and the Pakistani media. Instead the 67-year-old Holbrooke is currently garaged in Washington DC. Good for him. Unless he learns how to treat people with respect, he needs to remain submerged at Foggy Bottom, the metonym for Department of State. Anjum Niaz

President Zardari is in dire need of political support to consolidate his position but the PML-N is not prepared to trust him any more unless he immediately moves to get the 17th Amendment undone. Promises, commitments and assurances would not work this time, a party source said, adding “We would not let him (President Zardari) use us yet again”. Ansar Abbasi

The issue is a bit more complex than Ansari alludes to here. PML (Z)'s Nawaz Sharif has two choices ... and only two...to either reconcile with Asif of the hand-written will or to resign to the Faujis. First one will prolong the civil-democratic experiment and the second one will usher in more of the previous...~t