Pak Tea House » Archive
Law and Disorder: Radicalization of the legal community
By Abdul majeed Abid: Greek philosopher Aristotle famously remarked “The law is reason unaffected by desire”. Going by that description, lawyers should be the most logical/reasonable people in a society. In context of Pakistan, lawyers have played an important role in both creation of Pakistan and evolution of society. Founder of Pakistan Mr Muhamad Ali Jinnah and national poet Allama Iqbal were both lawyers. Lawyers are also the most politicised section of the society. Every major party in Pakistan has its legal wings. A disturbing trend of increased religious intolerance has been witnessed in the last few years. One basic reason for this has been the increasd influence of student wings of right-wing parties in law colleges across the country. Even the historic lawyers’ movement was almost hi-jacked by the right wing elements … Read entire article »
Why The Seventh Fleet was sent to the Indian Ocean in 1971…
By Ghazala Akbar: In December 1971, forty years ago, as Indian forces encircled Dacca for the kill, the BBC reported that the US Seventh Fleet had entered the Indian Ocean. A demoralised Nation hoped against hope. Could it just be possible that President Nixon was intervening to save Pakistan from impending disaster? Declassified documents released by the US Government clear the mystery: The Fleet was moving — not to help the beleaguered Pakistan Eastern Command — it was in readiness to aid its former foe, the People’s Republic of China, the USA’s new ‘best’ friend. Hard to believe now, but an internal civil war in East Pakistan, which became a war between India and Pakistan, was on the verge of a wider conflagration involving China, the USA and the USSR! A transcript of … Read entire article »
If Pakistan was an Islamic country
By Dur-e-Aden: All citizens of the state would be equal: God forbids you not, as regards those who have not fought you in religion’s cause, nor expelled you from your habitations, that you should be kindly to them, and deal equitably with them; surely God loves those who are equitable (60:9). Muslims won’t be afraid of being killed by their fellow Muslims: And whoso slays a believer wilfully, his recompense is Gehenna, therein dwelling forever, and God will be wroth with him and will curse him, and prepare for him a mighty chastisement (4:94). Jews and Christians would be treated with utmost respect because they are our Abrahamic brothers: Surely they that believe, and those of Jewry, and the Christians, and those Sabeans, whoso believes in God and the Last Day, and works righteousness—their wage awaits them with … Read entire article »
Waddi Mohtarma Dhazan Dhazan
Everyone and their mom is abuzz with the latest that Veena Malik has been up to. In fact they are so infatuated with the recent memo scandal (and Nixons bugging fiasco that) that everything is christened with a ‘gate’. And Veena’s gate is most definitely open. The latest on the internets is this young man with his innuendo loaded commentary on the whole shebang. For good measure a few Aamir Liaqat memes have also been thrown into the mix. Our hilarious commentator here goes by the name of Osman Khalid Butt and his Youtube Channel, The Living Picture can be found here. Hopefully he will continued to entertain us with his wit and not become a one-hit-wonder. Please watch and ‘like’ this so that he knows we are listening and laughing. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Humor, liberal Pakistan
Zardari: Made of tougher mettle
By Saria Benazir The rumors of an impending coup further perforate into the already adverse political situation in the country, following the memo gate issue. This is another incredible issue, much like the incredible memo-an unsigned paper seemingly no importance to the White House has subjugated the whole country to a farce played out by our very laudable Supreme Court and the establishment. And now this new addition furthers the attack on Pakistani democracy. The likelihood of President Asif Ali Zardari’s resignation, as stated by the American Foreign Policy blog has created a hullabaloo throughout the country, and people seem to have unquestioningly placed their convictions in that blog. The army and ISI already own Pakistan, what about the Head of State? Does the US decide the resignations of Pakistani officials as … Read entire article »
Feedback at two am
Veenagate – my thoughts By Faisal Kapadia A freelance columnist, Faisal Kapadia lives in Karachi, writes on everything and social media and misses the time when we could tell the good guys from the bad by the color of their light sabers. He tweets with the same name and sometimes answers emails at faiskap666@gmail.com ________________________________________________________________ I cant fault veena malik for “what” she has done to her life, If you think about it the only thing she has been … Read entire article »
Filed under: Opinion
Who is the real target of Mansoor Ijaz?
The recent interview of Mansoor Ijaz, the shady character of the memo scandal in Pakistan was interviewed by Fareed Zakaria yesterday. In this interview, Ijaz did not name Husain Haqqani but targetted Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency which is under global spotlight but which many Pakistanis also consider as central to their security architecture. We ask the question then - who is the real target of this Pakistani-American businessman with dubious credentials? We condemn his repeated efforts to attack Pakistan security institutions especially the Army as well as his overt desire to create a political storm in Pakistan. Thus far he has only brought political instability to the country. A memo that is an unsigned document, which was ignored by Admiral Mullen and US administration has become a ‘proof’ of conspiracy. Sad to see … Read entire article »
Filed under: Politics
Get Well Soon Mr. President
By D. Asghar As the details are still sketchy and unknown, but it appears that President Zardari was taken to Dubai. A tweet from a relatively reliable source mentioned, that he may be flying to London soon, for medical reasons. Of course the usual speculations and rumors are rife about the political scene and the innuendos will continue to trickle in. From what can be deduced, it seems to be something critical, and that’s one of the primary reason why the President had to depart immediately. However the on the twitter sphere, there was a rumor that President is getting a safe passage to leave Pakistan. The implication was, there may be “signs that his Presidency will come to an end soon.” Ever since the Zardari led government of PPP has taken control of … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
Are Ahmadis enemies of Pakistan? Look at the historical facts
By Amaar Ahmad: Pakistan’s descent into crises is perhaps because capable and honest citizens are denied the right to contribute towards the country - even when the country desperately needs them. Many a patriotic Pakistanis have been banished and their role in the country’s progress ignored simply due to their religious affiliations. While this wrong has been done to many Hindu, Christian, Parsi and Shia-Muslim Pakistanis as well, but the suppression of the Ahmadi contribution to Pakistan is of incomparably monumental proportions. It is time to put the record straight. If we want to climb out of the present morass, we need to start respecting the people who have given to this country their best even in the face of discrimination. Following is a list of a few of the many sons of the … Read entire article »
Urban Middleclass and Its Biases
Zaeem Zia In my opinion the word extremist has been too narrowly defined. Extremists are not only those who kill but are also those who have a narrow and intolerant mindset. Thus extremism is another term for the intolerance, and it is also the disregard for other’s opinion particularly when you assume others to be naïve and just a bunch of mislead individuals having no democratic rights. In my opinion, it is also extremism if you neglect the public support of a political party and try to construe its support as consisting of dumb people. I am personally of the opinion that our urban middleclass despite the outward pretense of being educated is highly intolerant. A few days ago I was shocked to see a post with the name of “picture pick” … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
Of Tazias, Pirjhas and Chiniot
By Hasan Miraj: In the unleveled streets of Chiniot, the life takes up a sad note with the arrival of Muharram. Though the Shia community constitutes only 28 percent of the entire district but there is much more reverence than the census indicates. Chiniot, is the house of oldest and finest Tazias in Indo Pak subcontinent. A total of nine tazias are produced in different dates of Muharram and eventually they all get assembled at Maidan, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Arts and Crafts
How can Pakistan Army Retreat from Fata?
By Prof Farakh A Khan: The American and Pakistan armies are locked in Afghanistan (2001) and Fata (2004) respectively. Pakistan is a poor country and cannot financially afford its continued presence of 1.5 lac soldiers deployed in Fata and sooner than later the army has to pull out since Pakistan cannot afford a 100-years war. My questions are how can the army pull out of Fata if at all? And when? Pakistani Afghan policy is tied to the American policy in that country. The Americans after 10 years have realised that they are unable to bring peace or their form of democracy to Afghanistan. The American trained Afghan army and police force are corrupt and unreliable despite huge amounts of dollar inflow. At the same time the Americans cannot leave Afghanistan to … Read entire article »
Feeble excuses
By Saria Benazir The month of december has begun with conspiracies that further taint the already disastrous situation society and politics is in. The future of Pakistan is indeed obscure amidst “patriotic” plots. I cannot repress the history that I have known since my childhood. No child in Pakistan is raised up without having the seeds of pro-Jihadist ideas sowed in his mind. If not family, textbooks provide enough propaganda. These ideas are later malformed into radicalism, we instead term it “Islamisation”, or the pathetic “patriotism”, the definitions of which still elude us. A person, who is not thus “Islamic” or “patriotic” is termed as a “liberal”, the most reviled word in the dictionary. Let us take the memo gate scandal as an example of this moral corruption. On December 1 the Chief Justice of Pakistan began a program … Read entire article »
STATE AND RELIGION IN PAKISTAN
By Shahnaz Khan: Will separation of state and religion contradict the spirit of the creation of Pakistan? Does this division threaten Islam? Should the state regulate the religious beliefs and activities of ALL Muslims? These questions are being hotly debated in Pakistan, with the primary focus on either the two nation theory or the vision of Jinnah. It, perhaps, may be more productive to review historical data and some fundamental principles of Islam in resolving these issues. After all this controversy is neither unique to Pakistan or Islam. It will also be helpful to define a secular state: A state which is not hostile to religion but is neutral to the religious preference of its citizens. The early European settlers in North America were deeply religious people—Puritans or Anglicans—victims of religious oppression in Europe, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Reviews
Did Jinnah propose a framework for a secular Islamic Pakistan
By Amaar Ahmad: Pakistan’s course correction requires many fundamental reforms. A great service to Pakistan and to Jinnah’s memory will be to make his 11th August 1947 speech to the Constituent Assembly the Preamble of our Constitution. Why did a secular person like Jinnah vouch for a separate homeland for the Muslims of India? It appears that if two emotions defined the man then one was intense loyalty to his nation and the other one was his natural disposition to fight the case of a wronged minority. If we consider these emotions and his speech we can understand as to why a Secular Pakistan is not mutually exclusive with an Islamic Pakistan. The significance of Jinnah’s speech has been downplayed by elements in both liberal and right wing circles. The right wing … Read entire article »
Filed under: Opinion
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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