Making Too Much Of PM’s Fate
By D. Asghar In the next 24 hours or so, the apex court will render a decision, which is again being watched and monitored very closely. The haters and the anti government crowd, is desperately waiting for the Court to send the PM packing. Thank God for people like Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, who tend to make sense, based on logic and sound arguments. Listening to him on a Talk Show, one was left with the understanding and the veracity of the whole matter. The legal question in front of the apex court is, whether the PM has committed a contempt of court by not writing to the Swiss Authorities to re open a case against the sitting President? Mr. Ahsan gave reasonable arguments and felt confident that Supreme Court will find … Read entire article »
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The Jew is Not My Enemy-by Tarek Fatah (Excerpt)
Anti-Semitism (hatred for Jewish people) is not a new or unique phenomenon for us Pakistanis. We love to hate the Jews and to blame all our ills on the ugly, hideous, nefarious designs of the Zionist Jews. After all, Jews control the world and it is only because of them that we Muslims are so far behind the rest of the world. It’s all a big conspiracy. Journalist and Political advocate Tarek Fatah described and analyzed … Read entire article »
Filed under: Books, Europe, Great game, History, Iran, Iraq, Islam, Law, Religion, state, Uncategorized, USA
Imran, Allama and Pakistan ka matlab kiya
By Yasser Latif Hamdani Speaking at one of his rallies, Imran Khan asked “What slogan did Quaid-e-Azam use to make Pakistan?” and then answered his own question with “Pakistan ka matlab kiya? La illah ilallah”. The only problem is that this is a slogan that Quaid-e-Azam never used. In fact, in what could have been Jinnah addressing Imran Khan through space time continuum, we find that the founder of this state as having very clearly stated … Read entire article »
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Book Review: Pakistan Kaisay Bana(Volume 1 and 2)
by Abdul Majeed The arguments around how and why Pakistan came into being remained current throughout the years after its emergence and is still a matter of debate due to different internal and external reasons. One belief popularized by the ruling elite and the religious parties is that the sole objective of the creation of Pakistan was to implement the Islami Nizam or Sharia in this piece of Land and they call it Nazriya-i-Pakistan. The other belief … Read entire article »
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Taliban, Pushtun Nationalism and Militancy
By Yasser Latif Hamdani There is a tendency amongst the apologists for Pushtun Nationalists to claim that Taliban were somehow imposed on them externally and Pushtun nationalist tradition was non-violent and secular. Anyone who dares to point out facts contrary to this is automatically called an ISI agent. … Read entire article »
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The Inside Story of the Doctors Movement
by Anonymous The first recorded protest by students in Punjab was in 1905 when students from King Edward Medical College, led by Dr. Satya Paul protested against the discrimination being faced by the students (Page 21, Pakistan Main Tulaba Tehreek, Professor Aziz uddin Ahmed). The first proper National Student Body was founded by yet another medical student, Dr. Sarwar from Dow Medical College, Karachi. Dr. Sarwar formed Pakistan’s first student union, the Democratic Students Federation (DSF). … Read entire article »
Filed under: Democracy, Doctors, human rights, Judiciary, lawyers movement, Media, movements, Pakistan, Uncategorized
My Legal Journey From Muslim to Non-Muslim and Back
Maudood A. Bhatti I was born a Muslim. Until the second amendment was passed in Pakistan’s constitution in 1974, I remained a legal Muslim. I was very young when this happened, too young to remember it well. Hence, I did not have the opportunity to carry out and observe Islam’s practices before I was declared non-Muslim by State and before these practices were banned on me. I practiced my faith later on in my teenage years just as any other Pakistani Muslim; observing the five daily prayers, reciting the Holy Quran etc. I also played cricket with all kinds of friends – Shia, Sunni, Christian etc. Even though I was declared a non-Muslim under Law by this time, no one made a big fuss about it except for an occasional use of … Read entire article »
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Liberal or Pseudo Liberal: A Needless Debate
Editor’s note: RHR has raised some excellent points in this post. However, the immediate trigger of this blog needs to be corrected. It is NOT about the blogs’ war. But it has to do with the specific targetting and hate-campaign initiated by Abdul Nishapuri-Laibaah (both incidentally fake names and reportedly the same blogger based in the UK) against Raza Rumi. Raza Habib Raja Once again a so called blog war has started. During my time with PTH, … Read entire article »
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The “King” And ICE
By D. Asghar Bollywood Superstar, Shah Rukh Khan aka “King” Khan, must be really unlucky. Last week, he was questioned again for two hours at an American airport. A couple of years back, he went through a similar ordeal here in the US. Many called it a publicity stunt, as his movie, “My Name is Khan”, was about to be released. The movie which was a collage of Hollywood hits like , “Rain Man” and “Forest Gump”, dealt with the plight of Muslims in a post 09/11 America. It sure seems like ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has sort of a mix up with our “desi King’s” name. No wonder why, he is pulled and grilled. The people often wonder, is the system so dumb, that it cannot differentiate between a real … Read entire article »
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Breaking the curfew by Emma Duncan (excerpts) part III
Emma Duncan is the Deputy Editor of The Economist. She is the magazine’s chief reporter, writer and editor on climate change. She has also held several other posts on the paper, including Britain Editor and Asia Editor. In 1988-89, she wrote “Breaking the Curfew” (Michael Joseph), a book on politics, culture and society in the troubled state of Pakistan. Following are a few excerpts from her wonderful book on Pakistan. “There are three stages of acquaintance with the place. At first, it is wholly mysterious. The visitor wanders through the narrow alleys of bazaars, his senses confused by the strangeness and excess of everything. There is too much noise, and greater variety of it than in developed-country cities; motorbikes, rickshaws with their silencers removed, horse-drawn Tongas, people shouting louder than they do in … Read entire article »
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Breaking the curfew by Emma Duncan (excerpts) part II
Emma Duncan is the Deputy Editor of The Economist. She is the magazine’s chief reporter, writer and editor on climate change. She has also held several other posts on the paper, including Britain Editor and Asia Editor. In 1988-89, she wrote “Breaking the Curfew” (Michael Joseph), a book on politics, culture and society in the troubled state of Pakistan. Following are a few excerpts from her wonderful book on Pakistan. “Sitting in a garden on a winter morning, drinking milky coffee and shading my eyes from the bright sun, I mentioned to the man I was talking to, one of the central figures in the country in the past couple of decades, that I found Pakistan a hypocritical place. I said it partly as a provocation, but he, to my surprise, agreed with … Read entire article »
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Breaking the Curfew by Emma Duncan(Excerpts)
Emma Duncan is the Deputy Editor of The Economist. She is the magazine’s chief reporter, writer and editor on climate change. She has also held several other posts on the paper, including Britain Editor and Asia Editor. In 1988-89, she wrote “Breaking the Curfew” (Michael Joseph), a book on politics, culture and society in the troubled state of Pakistan. Following are a few excerpts from her wonderful book on Pakistan. “Pakistan is a forty two year old country … Read entire article »
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Murder of History Part III
by Abdul Majeed In the last few weeks, we discussed some of the prevalent myths regarding Pakistan History. This week, we continue debunking more myths and providing some alternate versions by using multiple sources. 1. Mujahidin had gone to conquer Kashmir in 1948. The first war between newly-independent Pakistan and India happened in 1948 A.D in Kashmir Valley. It is postulated that the prime objective of Mujahideen(mostly from NWFP) was the liberation of Kashmir. Actually,when they reached near Sri Nagar, they forgot their “objective” and started criminal activities. Regarding this, Owen Bennet Jones in his book writes, “At this crucial juncture, when Kashmir was ready for the taking, Pakistan paid the price of the haphazard nature of its operations in Kashmir. Rather than striking forward, the tribesmen became distracted by the opportunities for … Read entire article »
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Exploring links between Iqbal and Maududi
by Abdul Majeed Abul Ala Maudui and his party Jamaat e Islami, vying for an “Islamic Revival” have always tried to legitimize their agendas by using their association with Pakistan’s national poet Allama Iqbal. Following is an excerpt from Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr’s book, “Mawdudi and the making of Islamic Revivalism”, pages 36 and 37, exploring the dynamics of relations between Iqbal and Mr.Maududi. ” The story of Dar-ul-Islam also brings to the fore another important and … Read entire article »
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Bhutto dey naaray wajjan gey!
by Maleeha Manzoor A belief that the entire world and all of its religions/communities accept; is after every descent and oppression, there appears a glimmer of ascension and ecstasy just like after every murky night, a new gleam of hope rises in the countenance of sun and the obscurity of the life absconds packing all the pains and thoughts along with it. After its inception, my country ‘Pakistan’ was governed without its own constitution and it … Read entire article »
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