Treating Religion like a brand?
By Amaar Ahmad: Just when it seems that the boundary of idiocy cannot be pushed any further, Punjab police has proved us wrong. There are recent reports that an Ahmadi “place of worship” in Sultanpura, Lahore was damaged by policemen to fulfill the demands of local religious clerics. The offense which the Ahmadi “place of worship” had caused was the public display of Kalima in the premise. Apparently, the Islamic creed “There is no God but … Read entire article »
Fallacies that befuddle the ‘educated’ Pakistani mind
by Abdul Majeed Wise people always say, Do not try to present complex matters in black and white terms as it will defeat the purpose. To quote Paul Valery: “That which is simple is always false; that which is not simple is always unusable”. Kala Kawa, a widely read blogger, recently wrote, “Something I Wrote On Pakistan Day”. In that particular blogpost, the blogger expressed his opinion about “confronting your own biases or assumptions” and “middle class … Read entire article »
Filed under: Al Qaeda, Conservation, Islam, Islamism, Pakistan, Politics, Society, Taliban, Terrorism, Women
Hate speech against Ahmadis: An Appeal to Everyone
Meera Ghani I would like to bring everyone’s attention to a recent event that has gotten little or no coverage in Pakistan and the international media so far. A group called All-Pakistan Students Khatm-e-Nubuwat Federation is handing out vile, hate fuelled pamphlets calling for outright murder of the already persecuted Ahmadiya community in the city of Faisalabad. The pamphlet lists Ahmadi industrialists, doctors and prominent businesses calling “to shoot such people is an act of jihad and to kill such people is an act of sawab (blessing).” This is an obvious attempt to incite violence against a minority and cannot be ignored under the guise of freedom of speech. It targets individuals and should be seen as liable in the eyes of the law. Sadly, the Ahmadiya community was declared non-muslim … Read entire article »
Five Myths About Pakistan
We are cross posting this short but insightful post by Anatol Lieven where he discusses the five popular myths about Pakistan. In our view, these myths as much of a must-read for non-Pakistanis as they are for the Pakistani nation. (Editors, PTH) … Read entire article »
Filed under: Islam, Islamism, Pakistan, Religion, state, Taliban
Our silence is audible in their blood
By Kiran Nazish: While I was secretly praying for 31st May to pass without any bad news; the month that broke hell in Pakistan with Osama’s revelation on May 1st and subsequently followed by 8 attacks, most on military and others on US, NATO and Saudi reps and disposals. My wistful thoughts succumbed to a phone call by Anita (Mrs. Saleem Shahzad); complaining he hasn’t returned yet past the given time he was supposed to be … Read entire article »
Interesting: Blasphemy Law, Apa Nisar Fatima and Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam
By YLH Apa Nisar Fatima – the Jamaat e Islami legislator and mother to Ahsan Iqbal – sitting MNA from PML-N moved in 1986 the law that became known as Blasphemy Law. She then went to the Federal Shariat Court and got a judgment which stated that death penalty can be the only punishment for blasphemy. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Islamism
Selective Freedoms
By Yasser Latif Hamdani (First published in the Daily Times) Right across the street from the Lahore High Court, that seat from which justice flows, is a bookseller who is disseminating hate literature against Shias and non-Muslim minorities, including that poor and unfortunate community deprecatingly referred to as Mirzais. Lord Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court, Ijaz Chaudhry, has shown no real indication that he has any soft corner for or concern to allow religious and sectarian minorities in Pakistan to live freely as promised to them repeatedly by Pakistan’s leaders, the Objectives Resolution and all constitutions promulgated in the land. Meanwhile, according to the bookseller — in all earnestness — “those damned Mirzais are not even human, they are actually ‘satanic jinns’”. … Read entire article »
Secularisms and Islams
By AA Khalid Secularism As Saviour, Secularism As The Devil Absolutely yes; in the face of secularism, mundane morality, consumerism, crime, and hedonism, the three monotheistic faiths have great influence in relieving our moral dilemma.[i] Can any Muslim community afford to hesitate in participating in the establishment of a secular democratic system if it is unable to establish an Islamic democratic one? The answer is no. It is the religious duty of Muslims, as individuals and as communities, to contribute to the efforts to establish such a system[ii] The above illustrated quotes reflect the polarization in the Muslim discourses around the world about the topic of secularism. We have scholars and intellectuals decrying secularism as the root of atheism, moral decadence and spiritual crises, on the other hand we have thinkers … Read entire article »
I’m a better Muslim than You
By Meera Ghani In Pakistan being a Muslim isn’t enough anymore. You have to be a certain type of Muslim, constantly having to prove your piety and religiosity to others (by religiosity I mean public religiosity). We seem to have gone so far as a society that senseless violence justified by religion is becoming part of our culture. Once you go down that path it’s very hard to come back. In Pakistan we wear our religion on our sleeves. With people obsessively competing to prove their adherence to “true” Islam, piety seems to be more about making a public show of how religious you are rather than looking at how your deeds affect others. For me religion is a personal matter and should be kept that way. Virtually every major issue in society … Read entire article »
Filed under: Islamism
Burqa ban and liberalism
By Dr. Niaz Murtaza Liberal states aim to maximize personal freedom, restricting it only in cases where personal actions harm self or others. People are generally given greater license to harm themselves than others. In general, liberal states only restrict those actions which result in clear and immediate physical harm to self. So, suicide is banned. Persons who harm themselves physically repeatedly even without causing fatal injuries will likely be institutionalized. However, smoking, which causes clear but not immediate personal physical harm, is only banned in public places where it harms others. Liberal states generally deal with the lower level of self-harm caused by smoking not through bans but through awareness-raising among smokers. On the other hand, all actions that cause clear physical, economic and psychological harm to others or restrict … Read entire article »
Why I oppose Burqah Ban
By Ms Meera Ghani I must start by stating that I’m not pro-burqa but my argument is simple. No one has a right to tell a person how to dress- not their family nor the State. I oppose the law banning the burqa for the same reasons I would oppose being told to wearing one. By making it a State law against something, you impose just one interpretation and deny freedom to all others. In France it started with the 2004 law banning all religious apparel in schools but which in spite appearances mainly targeted the hijab that muslims girls wear. And last year the Parliament voted on banning burqa style Islamic veils. The French have been disingenuous about what their intent is and have banned what they call “covering of the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Islamism
French Burqah Ban and the Secular Dilemma
Raza Habib Raja The recent ban imposed by France on Burqah (Full Veil) is generating a lot of reaction. The orthodox Muslims are expected to oppose it but their opposition is not what interests me. They are one hypocritical bunch of spineless people who are ready to cry foul when something happens in France while being supportive of Taliban oppression in our side of the world. They are more concerned about less than two thousand women who by the way have a choice to leave France and yet hypocritically silent over treatment which Muslim women receive in Muslim countries. A French law is hurting them more and yet far more oppressive and discriminatory laws against women in Muslim countries do not make them move an inch. However at the same time the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Islamism
Mullah between modernity and tradition
Intro: This New York Times article is being reproduced here because in passing it makes two very important points: 1. Deobandis in the subcontinent have always been allies of Gandhi. 2. India’s favorite myth of having more Muslims than Pakistan is a lie. AKKALKUWA, India — On opposite sides of a dusty road, thousands of Muslim students in this remote farming town are preparing for very different futures. On one side, inside a traditional Islamic seminary, teenage boys … Read entire article »
Filed under: Islamism, secularism
Nations within a Nation – The Search for a Pakistani Nation – 2
By Adnan Syed “Indeed, world is ruled by little else but ideas.” — John Maynard Keynes The Two Nation Theory and Inequality in the New State of Pakistan The two nation theory was primarily based on distinctive majority-two-nations within United India. The distinction was cultural as well as religious, where both of these characteristics freely overlapped each other. Given the dominance of religion within the edifice of the Muslim nation, it was inevitable that religion will form a large part in the new nation state that was carved due to the Muslim nation identity. And given a strong tradition of political Islam within the Muslim body, it was inevitable that the very political Islam will find its way through the vague contours of the shifting idea of an Indian Muslim nation … Read entire article »
Filed under: Democracy, Egalitarian Pakistan, History, Identity, Islam, Islamism, Pak Tea House, Pakistan, Religion, Rights, secular Pakistan, secularism
Yielding in Front of Extremism
By Adnan Syed I am attaching two links here that movingly touch upon the state of barbarity that is inflicted upon the nation of Pakistan. Please give thirteen minutes of your precious time to the moving words of Member National Aseembly Mrs. Asia Nasir. These words describe the anguish and pain of the very Pakistanis who are being discriminated by the society, as well as by the institutions of Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Terror reigns supreme in Pakistan. The righteous ones are hunting and killing everyone who calls for absolute equality of every human inside the boundaries of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. And in this environment, this brave lady comes out and unequivocally condemns the barbarity that the religious minorities are facing. She has more guts than the spineless members of parliament … Read entire article »
Filed under: Democracy, Egalitarian Pakistan, Islam, Islamabad, Islamism, Justice, Liberal Democratic Pakistan, minorities, Pak Tea House, Religion, Rights, state, Taliban
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