Muhammad Amir Rana

Pakistan’s peace talks with TTP: Prospective outcome and implications

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By Muhammad Amir Rana 1. Background The outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) agreed to an indefinite ceasefire with the government of Pakistan on May 29, 2022.[1] The announcement was not much of a surprise as the secret talk process had already been revealed by the media. However, the terms of the ceasefire caused an uproar in … Read more

Militant Landscape of Balochistan

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Balochistan has been experiencing terrorist violence from multiple shades of militant groups including Baloch nationalist insurgent groups, so-called religiously inspired local and international militant groups such as Pakistani Taliban and ISIS-affiliates, and violent Sunni and Shia sectarian groups. Some religious-nationalist groups have also been active along the province’s border with Iran mainly Iranian Jundullah and … Read more

Omar Saeed Sheikh’s acquittal in Daniel Pearl case and implications

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By Muhammad Amir Rana In a surprise verdict, the Sindh High Court (SHC) has overturned the murder conviction of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was found guilty of the kidnapping and murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002, and has sentenced him to seven years in jail for the lesser charge of kidnapping. As … Read more

The rule of law: concept and practices in Pakistan

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By Muhammad Amir Rana Although Pakistan has a comprehensive constitutional framework and accompanying legal procedures, the rule of law, in practice, is still confined to conventional concepts of internal security and law enforcement. The common perception amongst policymakers and practitioners defines rule of law as being about the control and elimination of crimes, and conventional … Read more

Pakistan-based militant groups & prospects of their integration: a structural analysis

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Abstract Different militant streams operating in Pakistan are characterized respectively by conventional jihadist groups – established to safeguard the state’s strategic interests in the region; independent militant groups – formed by the militants who grew in the folds of or parallel to conventional groups but gradually formed their separate groups such as tribal Taliban militant … Read more

A review of National Internal Security Policy (2013-18)

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Pakistan’ s federal government announced the internal security policy 2013-18 on February 24, 2014. This was the first time that a political government announced its vision of internal security. The federal interior ministry had been assigned the task of formulating the new policy and came up with the first draft which was presented to the … Read more