Secularism is Indias need, not a luxury on November 12, 2015Intolerance is an outcome of extremism. Whether it is religious extremism, ultra-nationalism, extremist views about an ideology or about the superiority of a race, all encourage intolerance towards others. The rise of intolerance in India these days is not surprising. During Modi’s election campaign it was evident that extremist views and communal politics would give […]
Pakistan-India peace need is urgent on August 10, 2015Misperceptions about the other on both sides of the Pakistan and India border can be found galore. We are so close and yet so far. The more I meet particularly the Indian middle classes the more I feel there is a need to understand each other first to build a bridge to peace. On both […]
Three bits of good news on July 17, 2015After a long diplomatic drought Pakistan has finally seen two monsoon showers. I cannot call it rain as it is still too optimistic and early to hope for a peace spring. First, on July 8, 2015, Pakistan managed to carve for itself the dream role of mediator in the Afghan government and Afghan Taliban peace […]
Karachi: left to its own devices on July 6, 2015Over 1,000 people have died because of the freak heatwave in Karachi while the PPP government fiddled away in the air-conditioned Sindh Assembly. It was easy to blame K-Electric for the breakdown and do nothing. Not only that K-Electric failed to meet the electricity needs of the people, it also had no contingency plan for […]
The need for a counter-narrative on June 22, 2015Impressive figures have been released by the ISPR on the first anniversary of the launch of Operation Zarb-e-Azb. During this operation, which was launched after dithering for years, 2,763 terrorists have been killed and our forces suffered a loss of 347 officers. Many more were seriously injured on both the sides. The result of this […]
The good and the bad of the NAP on January 1, 2015After marathon brain storming sessions the government has come up with a counterterrorism strategy that has two new features and the rest is July 2013 wine. The July strategy was not effective because it was not implemented. The government got bogged down in saving itself from Imran Khan and his threats, which nearly dethroned it. […]
Can Bilawal put the disarrayed PPP together again? on October 23, 2014Challenged by the hectic political activities of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) and eroding popularity, the 47-year-old Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has woken up from its slumber. Though the PPP has regularly been holding the anniversary of the October 18, 2007 attack in which it lost 150 workers in two bomb attacks on Benazir Bhutto’s homecoming […]
Stable Pakistan needed to face tough man Modi on October 5, 2014Is Indian secularism in danger? This question is asked by a number of secular friends since the Rashtriya Swayamsevakh Sangh and Bharatiya Janata Party (RSS-BJP), led by Narendra D Modi, was elected to power earlier this year. Those who have always been sceptical about Indian secularism believe that India has voted on a communal basis […]
Fighting terrorism sans fighting its ideology on September 19, 2014At the cost of repeating myself, I have to say that ideologies do not stop at the defence forces’ barriers. Most armed forces personnel are as good Muslims as their civilian brethren and bring with them the religious ethos of their families and the society they live in. Like any other conservative Muslim of Pakistan, […]
Dharnas strike at tenuous democracy on September 9, 2014“The moving finger writes; and, having writ,Moves on: nor all thy piety nor wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a line, Nor all thy tears wash out a word of it.” — Omar Khayyam. Whatever may be the fate of Tahirul Qadri’s ambiguous revolution and Imran Khan’s azaadi (freedom) march, one thing is […]