Pak Tea House » Entries tagged with "Congress"
What Thomas Friedman has wrong on Egypt, Pakistan and India
By Yasser Latif Hamdani Thomas Friedman’s latest piece deserves to be read by every Pakistani, not because it is accurate- there are several glaring mistakes in it- but because it shows pretty much how the world views us- a basket case anti-people state. The important thing that must be underscored is that if the world views it like this it is entirely our own fault. We have made a horrible mess of things in Pakistan. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Democracy, Islam, Jinnah, Pakistan, south asia
Rebuttal to Ishtiaq Ahmed, Shakil Chaudhry and Safdar Mahmood Part 1
Everyone has the right to his own opinion and I would like the counterparties to realise that I too have the right to my opinion about Ishtiaq Ahmed’s work. Nevertheless, I still think that his recent book is a drastic improvement upon his earlier work. It is precisely for this reason the book needs to be highlighted. Coming as it is from a certain one-sided point of view, the content of the book shows that the violence in Punjab was caused by the insistence of Congress to partition Punjab at the insistence of the Sikhs.-YLH By Yasser Latif Hamdani On Ayesha Jalal, H M Seervai and Hamza Alavi I reproduce Ayesha Jalal’s lecture at LUMS which is a corrective and rebuttal to claims made by Ishtiaq Ahmed on the one hand and Safdar … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
Responding to Ishtiaq Ahmed’s latest myths about partition
By Yasser Latif Hamdani My Original Article in Daily Times Ishtiaq Ahmed’s Part I in response to my original article published today. First of all, I cannot be bothered to dedicate my weekly space in Daily Times to engage in an endless back and forth with Dr Ishtiaq Ahmed who – as he knows very well- I have a particular opinion of not just because he wages pseudo-history as revenge (in a country where everything from democracy to judiciary is waged as revenge) but because when confronted with a counter-point of view he resorts to the usual: “I am the foremost political science professor trained in democracy and the authors you quote– like Ayesha Jalal and H M Seervai – have no training in democratic thinking or constitutional theory”. Indeed I would not … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
How Azad won in Pakistan and India! Ramchandra Guha’s imaginary history and other incidental lies.
*This is a rebuttal to Ramchandra Guha’s article “Letting Azad win” which in my view was a terrible distortion of history and facts. -YLH By Yasser Latif Hamdani Ramchandra Guha- the so called Indian Historian- is incapable of telling the truth. It never ceases to amaze me how he continues to distort the facts regarding partition. Now however he has taken desperate tactics using frivolous allegations. Consider: he thinks Lahore is Kandahar where every woman is in a burqah. Anyone who has been to Lahore knows that this is an incredible lie even by the standards of Ramchandra Guha. Perhaps had he actually bothered to visit Lahore, he would have changed his mind but facts are not what Guha is interested in. He is more interested in weaving an India-shining myth and in … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
On Jinnah and Nehru Report
Crossposted from here. This blog entry is a reply to Mr Yasser Latif Hamdani’s insightful piece on Nehru Report named ”Jinnah, M C Chagla and Nehru Report”. First of all I would like to say that it is always a pleasure reading Mr Hamdani’s articles focusing particularly on the surrounding events leading to partition. Even when I disagree with his conclusions, I still admire his zeal for the subject of history which is often ignored in our … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
Maulana Azad on Jinnah and Partition
From Watan 1948: Muslims alone are not responsible for it. This strategy was first adopted by the British government and then endorsed by the political minds of Aligarh. Later, Hindu short-sightedness made matters worse and now freedom has become contingent on the partition of India. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
Was Jinnah the only founder of Pakistan?
Many – both friends and foes of the Quaid-e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah take him to be the sole founder of Pakistan, whereas, a close scrutiny of the research material on the subject reveals that this is not a fact. The title ‘Quaid-e Azam’ [great leader] was at first bestowed on him by one Mian Ferozuddin Ahmed. It became an official title on the 11 August 1947, when Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan moved a resolution … Read entire article »
Was Jinnah A Democrat?
A continuation from “Was Jinnah secular?” and “Did Jinnah want Pakistan?”. By Yasser Latif Hamdani There are many people who criticize Jinnah – quite incorrectly in my opinion- of having laid the foundations for subsequent periods of authoritarian military rule. They allege that Jinnah’s decision to become the Governor General was the first blow to parliamentary democracy in Pakistan. Unable to distinguish the argument of constitutional purists pleading the ceremonial and executive roles of president and prime … Read entire article »
Was Jinnah secular?
By Yasser Latif Hamdani (In wake of the national debate on ideology and textbooks, Mr. Raza Rumi, the founder and editor of Pakteahouse, recently asked me to revisit the issue of Jinnah’s secularism through a comprehensive blog-post. This blog post is written for PTH exclusively and may be reproduced by giving PTH credit.) Many people (though not all) on all sides of the ideology divide in Pakistan take umbrage with the description of Mahomed Ali Jinnah – … Read entire article »
Filed under: Jinnah, Liberal Democratic Pakistan, liberal Pakistan, Pakistan, secular Pakistan
Multiple Identities 1
By Yasser Latif Hamdani Muhammad Ali Talpur and Ishtiaq Ahmed, in their articles in Daily Times, have addressed the issue of identity and nationhood in their serial articles in recent weeks which require careful review. Addressing a very fundamental issue i.e. the interplay of identity with citizenship, regrettably both gentlemen have turned the facts on their head and equally unfortunate is their appeal to each other’s authority on the subject which is neither here nor there. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Partition, secular Pakistan
Another "K" Word
By Wajid Ali Syed http://www.thepakistanupdate.com/2010/04/another-k-word/ In almost every briefing pertaining to South Asia, the U.S. Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Ambassador Richard Holbrooke says that he won’t use the ‘K word,’ by which he means Kashmir. This is sensible of him, knowing that any statement could escalate into an exchange of hot words between India and Pakistan (and India has made it clear it has no intention of bowing down before an meddling intermediary). Hence Ambassador Holbrooke understands the seriousness of the situation and thus avoids the “K” issue. There is another increasingly controversial “K” that U.S. officials should refrain from using, especially in a derogatory manner. And that “K” stands for Karzai. Until recently the United States has treated the Afghan President as a puppet without realizing that his power base has … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Democracy, Kashmir, Taliban, USA
Rahul Gandhi or Narendra Modi?
In four years, standby to greet Prime Minister Narendra Modi By Jawed Naqvi | Crosspost from Dawn, 29 Mar, 2010 A big race, probably the biggest that India is mandated to hold, was kicked off last week. It could usher Narendra Modi or Rahul Gandhi as prime minister in 2014 when elections are due, if not before. And since Modi has the unqualified support of major industrialists who know the art, shall we say, of financing parties, lobbying for MPs, and influencing key policies, there is little reason to doubt who the corporate media would be backing when push comes to shove. Gandhi, with his limited experience of NGOs in Amethi and Rae Bareli might find himself as the back-up. He is untested. Modi, on the other hand, has shown his worth to those … Read entire article »
Filed under: Democracy, India, Politics, secularism
Has Pakistan Arrived?
By Brigadier (ret) Simon Samson Sharaf In an emotional and controversial address to his constituency, the President of Pakistan, Mr. Asif Ali Zardari referred to the country as Sindhu Desh. In his fiery and reactive speech, this was perhaps the only silver lining. Deliberately or otherwise, he had touched a very sensitive issue of nationhood. The politicians of Sindh unlike the Unionists of Punjab have been more Pakistani in many ways than they are accredited. Jinnah, the Syeds, Qazis, Soomros and Bhuttos are but to name a few. Reviewing the annals of history, we are pleasantly reminded that Pakistan was never the realization of one ethnicity, sect or mindset. It was a struggle based on the aspirations of diverse groups and still remains so. … Read entire article »
The Man Who Forged An Interview: Shorish Kashmiri's Maulana Azad Hoax
By Yasser Latif Hamdani Some people believe that if you repeat a lie enough times it becomes the truth. Making the rounds on the internet these days is a “suddenly discovered” interview of Maulana Azad which he allegedly gave to Agha Shorish Kashmiri of Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam in April 1946. Well I hate to break it to all of you – Agha Shorish Kashmiri was a fraud and the interview itself was most probably cobbled together through excerpts from Azad’s book “India Wins Freedom” and his famous address to the Muslims left behind in India in Jamia Masjid- both easily available texts. Before I come to the actual nature of the forgery, let us re-cap for a second what this creature Majlis-e-Ahrar was and just how deep its motivation ran in discrediting Pakistan and … Read entire article »
Filed under: History
Shame On You Chief Minister Hoti!
By Yasser Latif Hamdani ANP’s NWFP government is fighting the onslaught of terror and even those who disagree with its politics and its past have rallied behind it all over Pakistan. We at PTH support all steps in the right direction and therefore this morning I wrote an article welcoming ANP’s suggestion of changing Pakistan’s name. Democratic politics requires old configurations, compromises and coalitions re-align themselves along new political realities. Alas I knew that it was too good to be true and by evening ANP sparked off a divisive controversey of a very different nature which revealed the true pettiness of this party and its politicians. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Pakistan
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