Pak Tea House » Archive
How Pakistan Manages to Pull Through
Developed Exclusively for PTH by the GS Team … Read entire article »
Filed under: PTH Biweekly Cartoon
Entry for Pak Tea House
By Mashal S. Ahmad: Of all the faces in Pakistani politics today, one of the most interesting in terms of analysis is Imran Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf. Popular to the point of worship amongst his voters, most of which comprise the urban, educated youth, his meteoric rise over the last few years in terms of television appearances has compelled me to ask the question over and over again; what is it that … Read entire article »
Filed under: Pakistan, Politics, public policy
Hazardous Child Labor
By Mahe Darakhshan: Children are the most beautiful and purest creation of God. Every morning we feel a special kind of joy and happiness, watching them going schools in different colorful uniforms. Unfortunately there are millions of innocent children, who cannot go to schools due to the financial problems, and being forced to kill their dreams and pushed forward to earn living for their families. They belong to that segment of the society who don’t have any … Read entire article »
Filed under: Children, human rights, Labour
Epidemic: Laziness & Impatience
There is a strange paradox in Pakistan. How do we manage to keep an equilibrium in productivity while being so lazy? We need to pick up the slack. People in the West are often amazed at how hard working average people from our parts are. That theory always brings a sheepish smile to my face. Little do they know of the real sons of Pakistan and our reluctance to hard work. Epitome of our generation … Read entire article »
Filed under: People's Pakistan
The Afghanistan Stalemate
By Saad Hafiz: It is getting very difficult after the Bin Laden episode to explain Pakistan’s doublespeak on terrorism and the Taliban to increasingly skeptical Western friends. The ambiguous Pakistani terrorism strategy of running with the hare and hunting with the hounds is now recognized as official State policy. The Islamabad mantra describes “good” or “moderate” Taliban as those that are engaged in a nationalist struggle against coalition forces in Afghanistan. The good Taliban are expected to … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Terrorism
The recent demise of American Physician Dr Jack Kervorkian
By the Satarist: The recent demise of American pathologist Dr Jack Kervorkian, otherwise known as ‘Dr Death’ for his strident advocacy of physician assisted suicide, has once again reignited the fiery debate about euthanasia. Surprisingly, Dr Kervorkian’s beliefs have found a peculiar ally in the form of Islamic extremist groups in Pakistan. Amidst slogans of ‘death to America by Alzheimer sufferers’ a rally was held in the Pakistani capital Islamabad yesterday by the Kastori Boti Taliban calling … Read entire article »
Carry on Minister!
By Ghazala Akbar: One has great sympathy and admiration for the indefatigable Dr.Awan, the honourable minister for information as she exercises her powerful vocal chords in defence of the indefensible or explain the inexplicable to an increasingly querulous Pakistan. The more I see of her, the more I wonder why, in a Parliamentary Democracy, where theoretically every Minister from the Prime Minister downwards, is answerable to Parliament and where, there exists the principle of collective responsibility, why do we need a full-fledged Minister to … Read entire article »
President Obama’s Road Map To Re Election
By: D. Asghar President Obama laid out his plans for troop draw down from Afghanistan. At least he is cognizant of the fact that 2012 re election bid is approaching soon. He will be on the campaign trail soon, behind the podiums, talking to a whole lot of Americans and the rest of the world. It is no surprise, that his approval ratings took a plunge again, right after the OBL episode. The fact remains that generally people are a bit disappointed with the first term. The troop withdrawal was one of his 2008 campaign items and it is wise of him to follow through. The Obama administration can definitely take credit for OBL elimination and some other stalwarts of the Jihadi side, in and around Pakistan. It is true that, Pakistan … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Pakistan, USA
Imran Khan, the Youth and its Yearning for “New” and Untried Faces
By Raza Habib Raja In recent times there has been a surge in the popularity of Imran Khan in the urban and internet savvy youth of the country. In fact if elections were to take place on Facebook, the debonair Khan would be the hands-down winner by a large margin. Whether this Facebook “politics” and “activism” characterized by sharing Khan’s speeches and pressing “Like” button, actually translates into anything material for still struggling PTI remains yet to be seen. Nevertheless it does make an interesting case for further analysis: Why the youth of this country (rather urban youth) are pinning their hopes on Mr. Khan. Moreover the latest Pew Research poll also places Imran as the most popular leader with 68% approval rate. In fact a further breakup reveals that a … Read entire article »
Pakistan: Fixing the civil-military imbalance
By Raza rumi: Sovereignty is the flavour of the month in Pakistan. Since the capture and questionable assassination of Osama Bin Laden, the Pakistani discourse has been dominated by endless references to national sovereignty, honour, defence and pride. This jolt to the Pakistani state of mind has come at a time when media is relatively free, a vibrant boundless Internet flashes news by the second and there is quasi-democracy straddling between opportunism of the political elites and … Read entire article »
Filed under: Civil Service, Pakistan
Is Islam a patriarchical tradition (II): Exegesis or Eisegesis
by Aasem Bakhshi Those who listen to the Word, and follow the best (meaning) in it: those are the ones whom Allah has guided, and those are the ones endued with understanding. (Al Quran 39:18) Every interpreter comes to the text bearing those complex histories of effects we call tradition. There is no more a possibility of escape from tradition than there is a possibility of an escape from history or language. (David Tracy in Plurality and Ambiguity: Hermeneutics, Religion, Hope) Interpretation being a human enterprise primarily means that it would be essentially modulated by inherent subjectivities of the interpreters, about which they might not be fully aware of themselves. This is because we cannot claim objectivity beyond our personal and social construct of reality. This is exactly the kind of subjectivity which … Read entire article »
“Benazir—An unfulfilled Dream”
By Riaz Ali Toori: “I salute the people of Pakistan. Whenever the country is faced with a crisis, they demonstrate discipline and unity. I am confident that whenever their country requires any sacrifices they will not find wanting”. Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto who lived and died for the well-being of Pakistan, restoration of democracy and welfare of the oppressed section of Pakistani society, defines the Pakistani nation in above words. She had great faith and confidence in … Read entire article »
Highlights of the Economic Survey of Pakistan – 2011
Courtesy Shoaib Habib Memon: The Real GDP is estimated to grow at 2.4 percent on the back of strong performance of services sector as against actual growth of 3.8 percent last year and target of 4.5 percent. The growth in the agriculture is estimated at 1.2 percent on the back of 3.7 percent growth in the livestock sector. .. Output in the manufacturing sector has witnessed expansion of 3 percent in 2010-11 as compared to expansion of 5.5 percent last year on the back of strong performance from small and medium manufacturing sector. Large-scale manufacturing grew 1.7 percent in July-March (2010-11) as against 4.9 percent as comparing to last year. The services sector grew by 4.1 percent against the target of 4.7 percent and actual outcome of 2.9 percent. .. Pakistan’s per … Read entire article »
Saving a rocky relationship
By Raza Rumi: The killing of Osama bin Laden is another hurdle to tackle, and we are in a critical moment of another reevaluation of the Pakistan-US relations, just a few months after the close of the Raymond Davis saga. Pakistan-US relations are subject to global scrutiny and elude a definitive assessment due to the nature of a partnership scarred by history, competing interests and unflattering public opinion. Recent surveys such as the BBC World Service Poll … Read entire article »
Is Islam a patriarchical tradition (I): Understanding the hermeneutical gap
By Aasem Bakhshi We have made it a Qur’an in Arabic, that ye may be able to understand. (Al Quran, 43:3) Nothing exists except through language. -Gadamer in Truth and Method Islamic tradition, in many ways, can be described as a tradition of literature and one way to legitimately analyze the above question is to ask whether the core Islamic texts, i.e., Quran and Hadith are necessarily patriarchical [1]. Although it is true that Quran was originally revealed in a primarily patriarchical society and, at least in Islamic tradition’s formative and post-formative periods, interpreted mostly by the subjects of patriarchies, its text equally allows more coherent, less subjective and unauthoritarian interpretations to contest the popular traditionalist (or orthodox) interpretations with a visible patriarchical bent [2]. A … Read entire article »
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