Yasser Latif Hamdani writing in the Daily Times To my article last week on the issue of the Manhattan mosque, many American Muslims and indeed our own holy Pakistani Muslims responded with the refrain that they — the American Muslims — are not the ambassadors of the Muslim world in the US but are equal citizens of the United States of America, with rights and obligations under the constitution of that mighty state. Therefore, if they wish to build a mosque near Ground Zero, why should they be held hostage to how Saudi Arabia treats its minorities. This is a perfectly logical argument and one that must prevail for there to be sanity in this world. … Read entire article »

This article is critical of Imran Khan’s political orientation and tries to introspect middleclass liking for him. It admits Imran’s virtues as a cricketer and philanthropist but argues that his politics is the wrong medicine for the country. It also tries to examine as to why he has not been able to connect with the masses By Raza Habib Raja  In Pakistan we, particularly those belonging to relatively more educated and urbanized middleclass, have developed this psyche to find strange solace in other’s miseries and in some rare patches of better times in our history. So when Sialkot lynching occurred, many of us were appalled and shaken to the core and then tried to draw parallels to similar incidences in other countries to bolster our dwindling self esteem. A war of articles started … Read entire article »

This is an article I read a few days ago in the International Herald Tribune.  I thought it was relevant in many ways to Pakistan, though it is about Israel.  The claim to original secularism in some form by intellectuals of these otherwise confessional states is very similar.  As with Israel,  the demand for Pakistan too was opposed by the religious orthodoxy. Like Israel, Pakistan’s founders also envisaged equal rights for minorities. And like Israel,  in Pakistan too the original idea has been hijacked by a caricature of it.  The main difference is that in Pakistan’s case, the demand was territorially restricted but in Israel’s case it was global. I think this should make for an interesting discussion. -YLH WILL Israel remain a Zionist state? If so, what kind? These are the important questions … Read entire article »

By Raza Habib Raja The selective way of presenting history in Pakistan conveniently ignores the fact that at its creation, there were two large sometimes contrasting and sometimes overlapping movements. The first was primarily centred around Muslim Identity and tried to actually bargain a better position for its bearers. This movement though ended up in carving a separate homeland for the Muslims, nevertheless did not have that strong separatist thrust at least in the beginning.  However, the Islamic identity itself was not the only identity assumed by Muslims as strong ethnic nationalist tendencies existed particularly in the region which later became Pakistan. Thus the ethnic nationalist movements in NWFP and Baluchistan existed even before the partition. Let’s not forget that NWFP and Baluchistan were not totally comfortable when they “opted” for Pakistan. … Read entire article »

From Dawn By I A Rehman The spectre of secularism is haunting the privileged elite of Pakistan, some privileged by birth or status, others by their grading in the realm of belief. Now pollsters have joined the effort to scare the people with reports that a majority of young persons prefer theocracy to secularism. Unfortunately, huge confusion has been caused by presenting Islam and secularism as two mutually antagonistic and irreconcilable philosophies. In many cases this is done by persons who cannot, or do not wish to, analyse both Islam and secularism objectively. … Read entire article »