I am fully aware that cricket is like a second religion in Pakistan.
AB de Villiers
Nation should be rest assured Pakistan is a safe atomic power. No one can cast an evil eye on it.
Abdul Qadeer Khan
Without my services, Pakistan would never have been the first Muslim nuclear nation. We were able to achieve the capability under very tough circumstances, but we did it.
We have a safe and good command-and-control system. Nobody can take away any nuclear weapon from Pakistan.
I see my future with my family, with my grandsons and daughters, and I want to look after some welfare institutions I had set up at different places in the country with the help of expatriate Pakistanis.
When India conducted nuclear tests in 1974, I wrote a letter to then-Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto from Holland and offered my services for Pakistani nuclear programme.
We might think we are very different from Pakistan but we are not; we are the same people, with the same capacity for warmth and passion and intolerance and violence.
Abhijit Banerjee
When Indians have loved and embraced Pakistani artistes, why can't the latter come out in their support when injustice has been meted out to the people? No one wants these artistes to wage a war against their government. People didn't demand that they condemn their own country. They just expected them to say something for the sake of humanity.
Adnan Sami
My father was a diplomat and served as Pakistan's ambassador to 14 countries. I was born in London and grew up there and studied and lived in a hostel throughout in London and became a barrister.
If it is written in my destiny that I will go back to Pakistan, then I will. I won't be scared of going back.
Pakistan never valued Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan saab until English songwriter Peter Gabriel started collaborating with him. After that, the country suddenly realised that they have an amazing talent. This is the story of a lot of artistes there.
Pakistan doesn't value its artistes. I will get trolled for what I have said, but that is the reality. It is unfortunate.
Pakistan is not the torch-bearer of Islam, and if I change my country, it doesn't mean that I have to change my religion.
Playing a prisoner of war trapped in Pakistan for three years was a novelty for me. We made sure that we didn't talk about India versus Pakistan but about the emotions of people on both sides and how terrorism affects us all.
Akshay Kumar
Pakistan's being an ally and helping the United States, we ought to show Pakistan that we are appreciative for the help that's been extended.
Al Green
In a general sense, I think it's bad to bring too much money into climbing, since it takes away a little from the beauty of the mountains. But at the same time, I can't blame the Nepali government - or the Indian, Pakistani or Chinese, depending on where you're climbing - from wanting to capitalize on foreign climbers.
Alex Honnold
I didn't know I had a fan base on the other side of the border. I thought that since actor Ali Zafar is from Pakistan, the fans might have mistaken me for him. Eventually, I realised that they have liked my work, and that feeling sunk in.
Ali Fazal
Maybe one day, I will go to Pakistan and meet these fans who like me and my work. At the end of the day, we are all the same, and meeting my fans there is something that I have on my mind.
I remember I was at a press conference where somebody came up to me with absolute confidence, like he knew me forever, and whispered in my ear, 'You should sing a song now. The Indian audience will enjoy it. Your songs will improve India and Pakistan's relations.' I clarified to him that I wasn't Ali Zafar.
The emergence of Pakistan, a decade ago, was an act of protest against the existence of privilege in the social order of the subcontinent of India.
Aly Khan
My grandfather on my dad's side was the first in our family to settle in the U.K. He came from Pakistan on his own in the '60s and worked in a cotton mill in Bolton, earning enough to bring over the rest of his family. My dad, Shah, was only about eight when he came to this country. Like most immigrants, he has a fierce work ethic.
I did have a chance to box for Pakistan, but I've lived here all my life, gone to school; all my coaches and everyone's here, and I feel English.
We grew up in a nice house in a very middle-class area in Bolton and had a very happy childhood. My mum, Falak, who was also brought over from Pakistan by her parents as a kid, devoted herself to bringing up me and my younger brother and sister, Haroon and Tabinda, and my elder sister Mariyah.
I was seen as a traitor for marrying a Muslim - a Pakistani at that.
Unlike other Taliban groups, the Haqqanis' approach to mayhem was worldly and sophisticated: they recruited Arabs, Pakistanis, even Europeans, and they were influenced by the latest in radical Islamist thought.
In the summer of 2004, Malem Jan was sitting with Sirajuddin Haqqani, the second son of Jalaluddin, in their Pakistani base in the North Waziristan town of Miram Shah when they heard their names on the BBC. The Americans were offering $250,000 and $200,000, respectively, as rewards for information leading to their capture.
I've definitely grown into the job after that difficult first Test against Pakistan. I'd been captain for the Sri Lanka one-dayers, which hadn't gone well, and all the talk was that I only had that one Test as captain.
Sadly, Indians are not very easily accepted in Pakistan, and that has a lot to do with the governments.
My heritage is Pakistani, and I have loads of Pakistani fans on social media who I would love to connect with.
Do you think that the people of South Africa, or anywhere on the continent of Africa, or India, or Pakistan are longing to be kicked around all over again?
All systems in Pakistan appear to be in a haste to achieve something, which can have both positive and negative implications. Let us take a pause and examine the two fundamental questions: One, are we promoting the rule of law and the Constitution? Two, are we strengthening or weakening the institutions?
Any effort which wittingly or unwittingly draws a wedge between the people and Armed Forces of Pakistan undermines the larger national interest.
In the ultimate analysis, all of us would have served Pakistan better if history and our future generations judge us positively.
I went to Pakistan; I engaged in peace. If a hand extended is not shaken, what are you supposed to do?
Sovereignty of Afghanistan must be accepted categorically by Pakistan so that we can move forward.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are not mere neighbours, we are more than that, we are connected by Muslim bond of brotherhood.
Pakistan has assured that it would not allow its territory to be used against India for any acts of terror. India must also reciprocate and address our concerns which are very genuine. Dialogue is the only way forward. Absence of dialogue leads to tension.
Nobody will be allowed to use Pakistan soil for any form of aggression toward any friend or foe.
I have spent seven of the 12 years I have been married a victim of political persecution. I must be the first male spouse being held hostage by a regime. I accept this, as Pakistan has traditional elements who find it hard to reconcile with a man whose wife works and who other men salute perforce of her office.
I am looking forward and I am hoping that I will be the catalyst that makes India and Pakistan live for peace forever.
On the international political landscape, there is better understanding of Pakistan's political economic and strategic issues. We aspire to promote peace and harmony with the region.
Political disagreements have the colour and fragrance that normally is seen and felt in a political bouquet, while remaining united on one issue that democracy is the future of Pakistan.
You must keep in mind that Pakistan has suffered the aftermaths of the Cold War, and that Cold War had left deep imprints on our society. We were the worst sufferers from the ills of the Afghan war.
Everything is a risk in Pakistan: If you defend women, it's a risk. If you defend non-Muslims it's a risk. If you discuss religion, it's a risk. But you can't really sit there like a vegetable in your own society. And I'm committed to that society... and I feel I need to turn around and speak as I should.
In 1986, Pakistan got the blasphemy law. So, while we had just two cases of blasphemy before that year, now we have thousands. It shows that one should be careful while bringing religion into legislation, because the law itself can become an instrument of persecution.
The interaction between human rights campaigners from Pakistan and India was a big taboo in the 1980s. When we started traveling to India to increase people-to-people contact between the two nations, we knew that we would face serious repercussions back home.
There have always been difficult situations for activists in Pakistan. In the 1960s, people fought for linguistic and ethnic rights in relation to the Bangladesh movement and the struggle of the people in the western Balochistan province.
When the Bangladesh war happened, people in Pakistan who did not support it were called unpatriotic. My father was in the jail at that time, and a lot of those who knew my family used to call us children of a traitor.
Religiosity is suffocating in Pakistan. It invariably stokes the fire in driving society to religious extremism.
The Musharraf government has declared martial law to settle scores with lawyers and judges. Hundreds of innocent Pakistanis have been rounded up. Human rights activists, including women and senior citizens, have been beaten by police. Judges have been arrested and lawyers battered in their offices and the streets.
