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PAKISTANI Minorities' Irreducible Minimum: REPEAL THE BLASPHEMY LAW
The repeal of Blasphemy Law or its amendment has become the Pakistani Minorities’ irreducible minimum. Pakistan owes it to its founding principle i.e. no permanent majority will dominate a permanent minority on sheer numbers alone to repeal this draconian, anti-Jinnah, un-Pakistani, anti-democratic, unIslamic and inhuman law. NA echoes with call for amending blasphemy law ISLAMABAD: At least two members from the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and one from the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Friday called for amendments to the blasphemy law to minimise chances of its misuse. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Pakistan
Constitution of Pakistan and Minorities
By Anjum James Paul writing in the Pakistan Christian Post Article 25 (1) of the Constitution of Pakistan describes” All citizens are equal before law and are entitled to equal protection of law.” Constitution of any state is a sacred book and it is for the entire nation. It is without any bias, prejudice or discrimination against any individual, caste, gender or religion etc. There cannot be discrimination with any citizen on any basis. Unfortunately constitutions in Pakistan have been formulated against the vision of the father of the nation the Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The vision that he presented in the First Constituent Assembly of Pakistan on August 11, 1947.There was no need of to promote the concept of two nation theory that is why he negated it and promoted nationalism … Read entire article »
Filed under: Pakistan
Icons of Power
By Maleeha Lodhi, In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court ruled the November 3, 2007, action as unconstitutional, but has, for now, left other issues for the Parliament to address. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Pakistan
Jaswant's Jinnah
By Karan Thapar There’s a book published tomorrow that deserves to be widely read. It’s Jaswant Singh’s biography of Jinnah. Read on and you’ll discover why. Singh’s view of Jinnah is markedly different to the accepted Indian image. He sees him as a nationalist, even accepting that Jinnah was a great Indian. I’ll even add he admires Jinnah and I’m confident he won’t disagree when I interview him tonight on CNN-IBN. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Pakistan
REPEAL THE BLASPHEMY LAW!!!
Dr. Anwar Syed A group of Muslims, professedly incensed and enraged over the alleged desecration of the Quran, killed seven Christians in Gojra in Punjab. The allegation may not have been valid. It is possible that the victims and their killers had been involved in a local quarrel. It is also possible that the victims were targeted simply because they were non-Muslim. The following presentation is based on this latter premise. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Pakistan
Not The Business Of The State
By Ardeshir Cowasjee It has taken a mere 62 years — a blip in the life of many a nation, many an empire — for those who pass for politicians, both civil and military, to nearly dismantle Pakistan. Those of little genius have managed to do so to the best of their ability. In the large it has been brick by brick, though at times large chunks have been done away with in one fell swoop, and on one occasion, back in 1971, an entire wall was demolished to serve the purposes of power-hungry megalomaniacs. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Pakistan
The Counterinsurgency in Pakistan
This is an insightful review of the current situation in Pakistan. We are posting it here as it needs to be read by all Pakistanis – Raza Rumi The Counterinsurgency in Pakistan (STRATFOR) August 13, 2009 | 2151 GMT Since the start of the U.S.-jihadist war in late 2001, and particularly since the rise of the Taliban rebellion within its own borders in recent years, Pakistan has been seen as a state embroiled in a jihadist insurgency threatening its very survival. Indeed, until late April, it appeared that Pakistan was buckling under the onslaught of a Taliban rebellion that had consumed large chunks of territory in the northwest and was striking at the country’s core. A Shariah-for-peace deal with the Taliban in the Swat region, approved with near unanimity by the parliament, reinforced … Read entire article »
Filed under: Pakistan
Maulana Maududi's Role Against Jinnah's Pakistan
By Yasser Latif Hamdani Let me start by saying - as a disclaimer- that opposing Jinnah, the Muslim League or Pakistan is not an unpardonable crime. Support for Pakistan’s creation is not sine qua non for its citizenship. However an exception must be made in the case of Jamaat-e-Islami given its latter day claims about being the guardians of Pakistan’s ideology. Maulana Maududi claimed and his “Jamaat-e-Islami” still claims to be the guardian of Pakistan’s ideological frontiers as it were. They have been at the forefront of religious bigotry against all minority groups of Pakistan. They abuse those who stand for a peaceful settlement of Kashmir dispute and they hurl abuses at groups like Agha Khanis and Ahmadis- the two of the most actively pro-Pakistan groups during partition- and accuse them of being the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Pakistan
There is a drone above you…
I received this impassioned email from a student who is perturbed by the opposition to the infamous drone attacks in Pakistani territory. At PTH we are not taking sides on drone attacks – this is after all a complex issue – but we do think that Pakistan’s sovereignty should be above all considerations. However, I am posting Sehar’s views as they reflect the anxiety of the younger generation as well as its engagement with the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, FATA, Pakistan, Taliban, Terrorism
Pakistani Literature – Evolution and Trends
By Gilani Kamran The novel in Pakistan The novel in Pakistan emerged with Qurratulain Heider’s Aag ka Darya (The River of Fire, 1957). It has been generally held that the novel is about the problem of self-identity, yet it moves in a wider orbit and traverses the curvature between self identity and the collective identity of the people who were placed in a criticasl situation on the eve of Independence in 1947. Leslie Flemming has regarded this novel as A Tale of Three Cities, where the whole phenomenon of Independence has been witnessed as a feature film’s scenario. Thematically, the novel intends to discover some equation between geography and history, though in a much wider sense the human existence is not more than mutability and transmigration of human forms. The novel had … Read entire article »
Filed under: Arts and Crafts, Books, culture, Identity, Literature, Pakistan, Partition, Urdu, Writers
What is there to celebrate?
Raza Rumi Today was a usual day despite the platitudes churned out by the media and the struggle to ‘celebrate’ something. Naeem Sadiq’s email was instructive as it said many things that I wanted to write today: I decided not to celebrate the 14th August this year, to record my personal grief, shame and solidarity with the innocent citizens of Gojra, who were killed , wounded and burnt, for belonging to the same God, but a different … Read entire article »
Filed under: Pakistan
Britain Lobbying For Musharraf?
This is disturbing news on the eve of our independence day. Why is Britain lobbying for Musharraf in Pakistan? Whether we decide to charge him, imprison him or elect him prime minister is our business. What is Britain’s locus standi in the matter? -YLH Sir Mark Lyall Grant, political director of the Foreign Office and a former High Commissioner in Islamabad, was reported to have visited the former premier Nawaz Sharif and urged him not to press for Mr Musharraf to be extradited to Pakistan to face trial over his imposition of emergency rule in November 2007. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Pakistan
Pakistaniat : The Crisis of Identity
Bradistan Calling What can I give to Pakistan as a present on its 62nd Birthday, What else than an article on its chequered history and identity. Bertrand Russell famously said,” There are three great civilisations in East i.e. India, China and Islam”. Pakistan is blessed to be located at the crossroads of all these great civilisations. In my humble opinion this is the biggest strength of Pakistani identity. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Activism, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, ancient civilisations, Architecture, baluchistan, Citizens, Cricket, culture, dynasties, Environment, Europe, FATA, Heritage, History, human rights, Identity, India, Iran, Islam, Jinnah, Karachi, Kashmir, Languages, Left, Literature, Media, minorities, Music, North-West Frontier Province, Northern Areas, Pakistan, Partition, Peshawar, Politics, Punjabi, quetta, Religion, Rights, Sindh, south asia, Sufism, Taliban, Terrorism, Travel, Urdu, USA, youth
Happy Independence Day: Umeed Sahar
Written by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Sung by Lal [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjaNQFChkCY] … Read entire article »
Filed under: Pakistan
Happy Independence Day: Jinnah the Founding Father of Pakistan
We present to you a series of pictures from Mr. Jinnah’s life: … Read entire article »
Filed under: Pakistan
PTH biweekly Cartoon
Picture of the Week
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Sunrise at the Arabian Sea, Charna Island
24 Dec 2011
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