Fellows & Editors
Omar Waraich
- Trip:
- Religion Fellows 2013
- Affiliation:
- TIME
- Country:
- Pakistan
- Year:
- 2013
- Find me on:
Omar Waraich is a journalist covering Pakistan for TIME. He has written on politics, the rise in terrorist attacks, Islamist insurgencies, military offensives, Pakistan-U.S. relations, the blasphemy laws, religious minorities, culture, and press freedom. He covered many other events in Pakistan, including the lawyers' movement, the 2007 state of emergency, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the 2008 elections, the 2010 floods, and the death of Osama bin Laden. He also writes for The Independent of London and the Economist Intelligence Unit. He has appeared as a commentator on CNN, NPR, Sky News, BBC World Service and Al-Jazeera English. His work as an IRP Fellow will concentrate on the violence against religious minorities in Pakistan.
Stories
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Mullah Radio: The New Leader of the Pakistani Taliban
The Taliban commander who ordered last year’s attack on now-famous teenage schoolgirl and education advocate Malala Yousafzai has been chosen by the ruling council of the Pakistani Taliban as its...
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‘There Are Thousands of Malalas’: What Pakistan’s Teenage Activist Has Already Won
When the news came that Malala Yousafzai missed out on the Nobel Prize for Peace, there were groans of disappointment across Pakistan. In the lead up to the...
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Pakistan’s Terror Capital: Inside Peshawar, a City Under Siege
{image-1} On Sept. 29, Naveed Qureshi was sitting in his shoe store in Peshawar’s historic Qissa Khawani market when it was shaken by a huge explosion outside. “All we could...
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Pakistan’s Piccadilly Is No. 1 Taliban Target: The Regularity of Terror Attacks in Peshawar
{image-1} The Qissa Khawani bazaar in Peshawar’s old city is known as the “marketplace of storytellers”. Local legend has it that invading armies, merchants passing through and other...
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Dozens Slain in Bombing at Pakistan Church
Pakistan’s beleaguered Christian community suffered its worst ever attack on Sunday after two suicide bombers attacked a landmark 19th century church in Peshawar, killing 75 people and wounding dozens more. ...
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For Pakistan’s Ahmadis, a Depressing Tale of Two Gatherings
A fortnight ago, tens of thousands of members of the Ahmadi Muslim community gathered in the historic English market town of Alton. They were there for an annual conference. This year,...
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What Pakistan’s Release of the Afghan Taliban’s No. 2 Means for Peace
{image-1} Pakistan has said it will release the Afghan Taliban’s former deputy from its custody as the new government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif tries to repair frayed...
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Weary of Violence, Pakistan Opts for Peace Talks With the Taliban
{image-1} Pakistan’s political leaders have decided to pursue negotiations with the Pakistani Taliban and other militants in an attempt to bring a halt to an unrelenting wave of terrorist violence...
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Attacks on Pakistan’s Minorities: January 2012 to June 2013
Last Friday, hundreds of shoppers were gathered in Parachinar’s main bazaar. In this main town of Pakistan’s Kurram tribal agency, located along the Afghan border, the local residents...
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Pakistan’s Malala Problem: Teen Activist’s Global Celebrity Not Matched at Home
{image-1} Last Friday, Malala Yousafzai took to the podium at the U.N. It was her 16th birthday and her first major public appearance since the Taliban’s attempt to assassinate...
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The Abbottabad Commission: What Pakistan Must Learn After the bin Laden Raid Read more: The Abbotta
{image-1} In 1971, Pakistan suffered its worst military defeat to India. The war led to the creation of an independent Bangladesh — what had been East Pakistan, separated from the western wing by...
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Return of Death Penalty in Pakistan Condemned
Pakistan’s new government has ended a ban on the death penalty in a bid to tackle rising crime in the country – a move condemned by rights groups as major...
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Pakistan’s Biggest Challenge Is Not the Taliban; It’s Electricity
{image-1} For Pakistan’s new government, the biggest challenge isn’t taming the many militant groups that mount near daily attacks across the country. “Our No. 1 challenge is...
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After Obama’s Speech on Drones, CIA Allegedly Kills Pakistani Taliban Commander
{image-1} Less than a week after President Barack Obama’s speech marking a policy shift on the use of drones, the CIA broke its weeks-long hiatus with a drone...
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Nawaz Sharif’s Return to Power Brings Pakistan’s Challenges in Focus
{image-1} *This story was updated May 13, 2013 In 1999, Nawaz Sharif was overthrown in a military coup. His vanquisher, General Pervez Musharraf, was broadly welcomed in Pakistan, and later, by the international community....
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Pakistan’s Election Season: When Courting Voters Means Courting Death
In a normal election, Faisal Sabzwari would be busy on the campaign trail, giving speeches at large rallies, glad-handing voters in his constituency and cruising through neighborhoods in a cavalcade of cars...
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Putting Pakistan’s Politicians to a Piety Test: Are You Muslim Enough?
When Pakistan’s politicians filed their nomination papers for the forthcoming elections on May 11, many were startled to find that they were being tested on whether they were pious enough to...
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