Is al-Qaeda present in Pakistan? The debate was initiated by Lieutenant General Dan McNeill, commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan making an affirmative statement, which was denied by Moinuddin Haider, the Interior Minister of Pakistan and Aziz Ahmed Khan, Foreign Office Spokesman (‘Govt refutes US claims about al-Qaeda presence,’ The News, 20 August 2002).
The News, in its editorial (‘Beyond al-Qaeda,’ 20 August 2002) criticized the “American obsession with al-Qaeda and Taliban  as “going on for too long and it is time to snap out of it… How long will the United States continue to cry hoarse over Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda? How can it eliminate each and every one of the al-Qaeda members, whom it calculates in profusion?  The editorial advised Washington that “instead of seeing al-Qaeda behind every incident, (the US) should now focus on issues which give rise to such organisations. The call for going solo against Iraq, its pro-Israel policy and the tirade against Saudi Arabia are some of the reasons behind the widespread hatred for the United States.  Daily Times, in its editorial on the same issue commented (‘Guessing about Al Qaeda’, 22 August 2002) “Out of the three parties â€  Afghanistan, Pakistan, India â€  that America and its allies want to act in a certain way to deal with the menace of Al Qaeda, Pakistan may be acting closest to the guidelines. Washington constantly reminds the world of this, to the dismay of New Delhi which wants to use the current situation to punish Pakistan. But if General Musharraf is not earning any kudos for this at home, the world must realise that he has done much more to round up Al Qaeda than anyone else in the region. 
President Musharraf, however in an interview to AFP on 20 August 2002, when asked about the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar, stated, “I can't rule it out or say that there's an absolute zero possibility of his coming to this side. He could,  (Dawn, 21 August 2002). In the same interview, being asked about the militants moving across the Line of Control (LoC), he replied, "Militants going across? Yes, sympathizers. A possibility of individual small groups going across is there, because when 700, 000 troops of Indians can't block the borders, how can they expect us to block the borders?"
Irrespective of the movement of militants across the LoC, Pakistan will not abandon its Kashmir policy, argued Inayatullah in The News. According to him (‘The changing Kashmir scenario’, The News, 20 August 2002), “nothing less than the exercise of the right of self-determination by the Kashmiris will be acceptable to Pakistan. This, indeed, is the joint stand of the Kashmiris and Pakistan. Islamabad needs to maximise its efforts to bring the international community to this point of view. And it is within this broad framework that various approaches and options might be considered when negotiations begin. 
There were two interesting news reports on the proliferation of small arms inside Pakistan. Dawn noted (War on terror brings modern arms to tribal markets, 21 August 2002), “The war on terrorism in Afghanistan has brought a state-of-art to the foreign-made lethal weapons in Pakistan's arms markets in the tribal areas and other parts of the country.  According to the report, “The market price of a US-made M-16 carbine is Rs 180,000 in Dara. The price of Bulgarian made Kalakov ranges between Rs 20,000 to Rs 35,000, Zche-made Kalakov costs between Rs 20,000 to Rs 23,000, US-manufactured pistol prices Rs 80,000, while the Israeli-made rapid-fire pistol is available at Rs 130,000 in the market. The market price of Wah factory manufactured MP-5 assault rifle is Rs 60,000 per piece . The News, in its report (‘Pakistan faces uphill struggle in war on 'Kalashnikov culture', 21 August 2002) quoted one of the local craftsman saying, "I can make single bullet pen-guns, pump-action shotguns, even anti-aircraft machineguns and rocket launchers. I can make any weapon you want". According to this report, “depending on quality, a replica Kalashnikov (AK-47) goes for between RS 5,000 and RS 10,000 (about $80 to $160) while a semi-automatic handgun can be bought for as little as Rs 2,000 ($35).’’
Roedad Khan, in a stimulating article on the independence of the judiciary in Pakistan, traced the history of its functioning in different political atmospheres. His conclusion was (‘The myth of judicial independence’, Dawn, 19 August 2002) “that from the country's first decade, our (Pakistani ) judges tried to suit their constitutional ideals and legal language to the exigencies of current politics. It is our misfortune that the judiciary has often functioned at the behest of authority and has been used to further its interests against the citizens. Their judgments have often supported the government of the day…When the history of our benighted times comes to be written, it will be noted that the superior judiciary failed the country in its hour of greatest need. 
Besides these reports, editorials and opinion published in the English media, a remarkable research study was published by Liberal Forum Pakistan entitled “Struggling for Survival: The State of Political Parties in Pakistan.  The report, prepared by Zafaralluah Khan and a group of researchers focuses on various issues. On the issue of funding of parties, it notes, “by and large political parties keep their lips zipped on the subject. It was only in 1994 that a former director general of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) confessed that the agency distributed over 140 million rupees among favorite politicians during the election 1990. Apart from this covert support from the state it is an open secret that many interest groups do invest on various political parties.  The report also recommends that there is a “need to check the flow of covert money both by the interest groups and the secret agencies… There is a dire need of full disclosure of all funding. The details submitted to the audit authorities or the Election Commission should be made public.  Everyone who is studying Pakistani politics should read this well researched report.
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