Constitutional amendments (Courtesy Dawn.com) By I.A. Rehman Thursday, 17 Jun, 2010 Only a couple of these amendments advanced the cause of democracy or public good and these included the increase in women’s seats in the legislatures and making the creation of local government institutions mandatory. – Photo on file The democratic credentials of a government are judged not only by its ability to function within the constitutional framework but also, and more importantly, by the importance it attaches to public interest legislation as against initiatives aimed at strengthening the state apparatus, especially its coercive powers. The criterion is applicable to constitutional amendments too. … Read entire article »

  By Mohammed Hanif BBC News, Karachi   More than 80 Ahmadis were killed last months in two atacks in Lahore When a Pakistani Muslim applies for a passport or national ID card, they are asked to sign an oath that no Muslim anywhere in the world is asked to sign. The oath goes like this: “I consider Mirza Ghulam Ahmad an impostor prophet. And also consider his followers, whether belonging to the Lahori or Qadiani group, to be non-Muslims.” Like millions … Read entire article »

By George Fulton (Courtesy Express Tribune) Jinnah was like you and me. He was drawn from the professional classes. He received his higher education from abroad. His views were fairly liberal and progressive for a man of his time and his Urdu was horrendous. He also indulged in some distinctly haram vices. In other words, he was a fully paid up member of the English speaking elite. As I say, just like you and me. (Apologies to my readers who don’t consider themselves a part of the English elite. But this paper couldn’t exude more of an elitist demeanour if it wore an OGS [Old Grammarians Society] uniform whilst pontificating on Jean Paul Sartre and smoking a cigarette in Espresso.) However, that’s where the similarity ends. … Read entire article »

By Fasi Zaka (Courtesy Express Tribune) I have never really been vocal about rights for Ahmadis, even privately, but my compassion trigger is easily pulled if there are atrocities against Pakistani Hindus and Christians. Part of this can be ascribed to my belief in the prejudice that the Ahmadis are a relatively well-off community, making the Christians and Hindus of Pakistan uniquely guilty of a double crime, first for not being Muslims and second for being poor. These two communities seem especially vulnerable. … Read entire article »

I was pleasantly surprised yesterday to find in my inbox the following email from the great C M Naim of University of Chicago: Dear Mr Hamdani, I have read your two columns and must congratulate you. Reading other columns in today’s DT made it clear how necessary it is to make these arguments.  I copy below something I wrote a long time back (1978), and though the original book and the latter collection were published in Pakistan, neither might have reached your attention. all the best, c m naim I was excited because about ten years ago,  I read with great interest a book edited by him on a seminar on Iqbal and Jinnah.  His essay, that he refers to in his article,  had a formative impact for the large part on my thinking vis … Read entire article »

By Ayesha Ijaz Khan (Courtesy Express Tribune) The brazen attack on innocent Ahmadis in Lahore late last month is not just another terrible terrorist atrocity.  It is more significant because there is speculation that the attack by extremist exclusivist forces targeted Ahmadis in order to bolster their own diminishing popularity among the population at large. The argument is that we have among us people who harbour such bizarre views of righteousness that to them eliminating those who may have slightly different beliefs is justifiable and praiseworthy. The fact that such disturbing thought exists within us as a community is not false. There were after all banners on Lahore’s Mall Road, in the lead up to this heinous attack, vilifying Ahmadis and other religions. We have also witnessed religious programmes on television … Read entire article »

The idea of Pakistan —Ammar Ali Qureshi (Courtesy Daily Times) Pakistan as an idea in the 1940s appealed to all sections of Muslim society in India. It would be wrong to assume that sects such as the Ahmedis or Shias took a collective decision Professor Ishtiaq Ahmed, in his article “The demand for Pakistan and Islam” (Daily Times, June 8, 2010), has raised a number of contradictory and controversial points that demand clarification and refutation. His … Read entire article »

This is in response to Ishtiaq Ahmed sb’s article published in Daily Times. I also encourage everyone to read my article “Heretic, Communist, Muslim Leaguer” in DT today of which I shall produce a detailed version later. -YLH Ishtiaq Ahmed’s distortions about Pakistan Movement By Yasser Latif Hamdani Dr. Ishtiaq Ahmed in his article has once again faithfully reproduced his arguments from an earlier article which was in my view historically inaccurate and wrong. I do not dare question Dr. Ishtiaq Ahmed’s motives in distorting history – though it is sadly second nature to him but I do question the wisdom of Dr. Ahmed’s deliberate targetting of Shias and Ahmadis in his articles. Consider:  He writes that the demand for Islamic state in the League came from Raja of Mahmudabad- a Shia and one … Read entire article »

—Ahmad Ali Khalid The surrender of religious interpretation to reactionary clerics has opened a vacuum for conservatives and violent extremists to thrive. There are few clerics in Pakistan who have made any authoritative study into human rights theory and philosophy and translated this successfully to the public sphere at large The exchange and competition of ideas happens through mediums, they do not appear in a social vacuum and literature is one of the most important mediums for the propagation of ideas. It is clear that the major genre of literature in Pakistan is of a religious nature. Pakistani liberals cannot shy away from the fact that religion defines the consciousness of the people. The radicalisation of Pakistani society by religious groups producing, on a mass scale, literature about politics and civic values such … Read entire article »