A journey to enlighten Part-II on March 7, 2019Weber studied social and religious behaviour in the era of modernity. In Weber’s ” Ideal Type” of a modern society, institutions were built and social and political processes conducted on the basis of rationality. Hence Weber’s concept of citizenship was founded on a democratic polity and the principle of equality. By contrast Ibn Khaldun identifies […]
A Journey to Enlighten (Part-I) on March 6, 2019Professor Akbar S. Ahmed’s Journey into Europe is a multi-levelled endeavour. It is a journey into the soul of Europe undergoing its latest upheaval in which the values underpinning pluralistic democracy have been put into question; it is an exploration of the roots of terrorism within a ruptured society; it is a foray into the […]
Unite and fight to reclaim Pakistan on June 30, 2016So, finally the military has launched its long awaited operation against extremists in North Waziristan. This is the largest military offensive so far in a war that has been raging for over a decade but which has been largely unrecognised as such by successive governments as well as society. After sustained precision targeted air strikes, […]
A nation challenged on December 20, 2014The recent massacre of schoolchildren as they sat in their classrooms by an armed militant group that seeks to take over the state has articulated with tragic clarity the critical challenge that the nation faces. Critical in a two-fold sense: first there is a threat to the survival of the state within whose geographic domain […]
Heroes and society on January 25, 2014Over the last fortnight two more Pakistanis joined the pantheon of national heroes. Chaudhry Aslam of the Sindh police, who had been defending the citizens of Karachi against terrorists with exceptional courage and dedication to duty, was killed in a car bomb attack, and Aitzaz Hasan, a schoolboy in Hangu, died protecting his schoolmates while […]