Pak Tea House » Archive
Time for the Muslims to take responsibility
By Shueyb Gandapur I have been seeing several status messages on facebook since the recent Oslo attacks about how the Norwegian terrorist, Anders Behring Breivik, who has confessed to the carnage of July 22, is being given more favourable labels by the Western media, because he is not a Muslim. The latest one was this status message which is currently going viral amongst my countrymen on facebook. “If the person who killed 90+ people in Norway was a Muslim, the press would have declared him as terrorist and the act as terrorism. For now, he is just an “assailant “, “attacker” (Reuters), “gunman” (BBC, CNN & Al Jazeera). Looks like “Terrorist” is a name reserved for Muslims??? The US Department of State calls it an “Act of violence” (not an “Act of Terrorism”).” I … Read entire article »
TV gives Ramadan the OTT treatment
By Syed Manzoor Suharwardi OTT: Over the Top (idiomatic) Bold; beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; excessive; outrageous. (so the wiki says) It’s one thing living through a lunar month chockfull of regimentally imposed piety. Being subjected to increasingly absurd displays of piousness on the television is quite something else. This maybe an understatement considering the level of silliness TV programming has reached with this edition of Ramadan. Yesteryears had mobile phone service providers offering scripture themed ringtones, naat/hamd available for download waghera waghera. Other products reached out to capitulate on the uniqueness of the month, hence Ramadan was commodified. No harm there. When erstwhile popstars hum jhankar and harmony laid naats during the month…..that too can be taken as an instance of say popularizing the faith for a younger generation. It is only when you shamelessly try to ape western … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
Pakistani Women In The Twenty- First Century
By Usma Iftikhar According, to a recent survey Indian women are amongst the most stressed women in the world. While it would be unfair to compare, being cognizant of the peculiar paradigms particular to the social setup of the Sub-Continent, it can be safely assumed that Pakistani women rate fairly high relative to their Indian counterparts. Both countries share a similar social structure as is evident by the immense popularity of Indian soaps on this side of the border: The intricacies involved in relationships of our family structure and how despite progress, women on both sides continue to be regarded as second-rate citizens. The culprit is the psychology cultivated over the centuries in our mindsets. In Pakistan, the last decade has seen a soaring in the number of females entering the workforce. … Read entire article »
We are the hope!
It’s 3 p.m. in the noon. 4 siblings are busy, right under the sweltering heat of Multan’s summer afternoons, trying to tie small paper flags to a long, thick thread that has been tied to the boundary-wall east and west. They have small flag-shaped badges pinned to their chests, bearing them as priceless laurels. They are through three rows and are now preparing the fourth one, evenly distributing the flags along the length. Once they are done, they would cut the long threads in half and then hang them on the front-face of the house as the customary decoration for the independence day. The flag, too, needs be hoisted and once they’re done with this arrangement of paper flags, they would attend to that. That’s how I’ve spent countless of my … Read entire article »
Filed under: Pakistan
Another 14th August and our woes
By Danish Khan Here comes another 14th august, a day celebrated by the state of Pakistan has its independence day, but for an average citizen of the country, it is just another day with ever-growing troubles and sorrows. During last 64 years, lots of things have changed but the Independence Day celebrations are still the same, the putrid display of militaristic insanity, fake and oblivious patriotic songs, and to wrap up the things some prayers are offered to please the theocracy of the country. But now an average citizen has been completely fed up of this onslaught which has been thrown upon him for last six decades to cover up the wrong deeds and doings of the ruling elites of the country. Pakistan without any shadow of a doubt is a state … Read entire article »
Filed under: culture
Why a Secular Pakistan is closer to Islam? (Part 2)
A major objection that is raised against a secular Pakistan is that Islam describes a complete way of life covering both the state and the society. Hence all laws of Pakistan must be in accordance only with Sharia. This objection is, however, made without considering what exactly is a secular state and is without regards to the logical consequences of numerous Islamic principles. To reiterate, a secular state is defined as one where each citizen has complete freedom to convert, to preach, to practise or not to practise any religion, and to have equal rights in participating in the affairs of the state. While it can be demonstrated from a careful study of history that a flexible enough political framework can be established in Pakistan which is simultaneously secular and Islamic … Read entire article »
Jinnah’s vision of hope and future
Courtesy Daily Times COMMENT: Where is the dream? —Naeem Tahir In the year 2011, almost 64 years after achieving independence, it appears that we are still short of achieving the kind of state that the Quaid envisaged. Why and how? When researched, these questions unfold many heartbreaking realities … Read entire article »
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Violence and Justice
Meera Ghani Lately I find myself losing hope. It seems as if we all are so caught up in our mundane day to day lives that we’ve stopped caring about what’s going on around us. I much rather believe that it is for this reason that not many decided to come out to condemn the recent illegal use of power and violence by our security forces because the other prospect is much too horrifying. I can’t fathom that our people actually agree with what’s being carried out in the name of justice. I can’t let myself believe that we as a nation endorse state terrorism and do not believe in due process anymore. But that certainly seems to be the case. The culture of violence especially against women is growing in Pakistan and … Read entire article »
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Reclaiming Jinnah’s Pakistan
(Courtesy Jinnah Institute) By Shehrbano Taseer I watched my father Salmaan Taseer break into a smile as Aasia Noreen placed her ink-stained thumb on a mercy petition marked for President Zardari. Pakistan’s founder, secularist Mohammed Ali Jinnah stared down silently from his portrait on the wall. … Read entire article »
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Health Tips for Ramadan
By Said Ashraf Ramdan Mubarak! It’s that time of year again, when we look forward to eating all sorts of junk food for iftaar and excusing ourselves for it simply because our food intake is reduced. Ramadan being in August this year means it is one of the hottest times of the year to be fasting. The heat, humidity, power outages and the daily grind is enough to dehydrate any ordinary person. So here are some tips to keep you robust this August. 1. Fluids: The importance of maintaining electrolyte balance can not be stressed enough. If you are working jobs or attending college, you are constantly on the move and exerting energy. You must set a goal in your mind to drink more fluids than you normally would for sehri and iftaar. … Read entire article »
Filed under: culture
My Birthright
By Ameena Kirmani After having iftar with my mother’s friend, she and I ended up conversing about the state of the country. She told me of the freedom she and my mother experienced when they were my age, she was saddened and angry at the state of this city, this country. Aunty told me of the freedom, the security and I sat there absolutely perplexed. Perplexed because it was their generation who should have stepped up and … Read entire article »
Filed under: Opinion
Are we ready?
By F.K As the world watched with amazed eyes at riots sprouting in London right after the police allegedly killed an African man there, these words resonated in my ears. they are stealing chips and fizzy drinks How is a society reduced to this I wondered. Here they were living in one of the worlds poshest cities and rioting like common criminals from, for the want of a better example mogadishu. Well Darcus Howe, a prominent west indian writer explained the scenario quie aptly. According to … Read entire article »
Filed under: Opinion
Happy Secular Pakistan Day
Every year we at PTH mark the anniversary of the promise by Jinnah of a secular Pakistan. He said on 11 August 1947: I know there are people who do not quite agree with the division of India and the partition of the Punjab and Bengal. Much has been said against it, but now that it has been accepted, it is the duty of everyone of us to loyally abide by it and honourably act according … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
No need to be apologetic about Pakistan
By Yasser Latif Hamdani It is tragic that despite Pakistan’s existence for 64 years, chequered as it may be, people feel that questioning a legal and political reality to which we are bound by law is fair game. The answer to the oft asked question, “was partition a mistake”, is that Pakistan is as big a mistake or success as any other nation state. Of course, this is not what some of our drawing room debaters want to hear. Unfortunately, some want to conflate liberalism with defeatism and self-loathing. Liberalism, in my view, has more to do with individual freedoms, equality and a general attitude to live and let live. If attitude towards partition was to be the standard for liberalism, then one would have to argue that the rabid maulanas … Read entire article »
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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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