The upcoming Swedish election on June 5, 2018On 9 September 2018, Sweden will go to the polls. The country is a constitutional monarchy, which adheres to the parliamentary system of government. It has a unitary system of government and a unicameral legislature with 349 members elected through universal adult franchise. The total population of Sweden is 9.8 million. Native-born Swedes constitute the […]
The Congress and Muslim League’s ideas of nation and nationalism on May 31, 2018The ideas of nation and nationalism upheld by the Indian National Congress and the All-India Muslim League were two different conceptions of nation and nationalism. Before I explain that let me put my thesis in perspective. A nation in a minimum sense is a group of people who share some cultural affinity and claim a […]
Freedom of speech and its detractors on May 15, 2018The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) states that ‘Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers’. The chief theorist of freedom of speech was John Stuart Mill. […]
Karl Marx is 200 years old today on May 5, 2018The founder of Marxism, Karl Marx, was born in Tiers, Prussia in Germany, on 5 May 1818. His family had converted from Judaism to Christianity to escape anti-Semitism which was widespread in Germany and neighbouring countries. His father was a lawyer by profession. Marx studied law and Hegelian philosophy. He wrote his doctoral thesis on […]
Can a handshake change the world? on May 2, 2018Friday, 27 April 2018 can be a game changer in world politics. On that daythe leaders of North and South Korea met on the Military Demarcation Line which was drawn in blood after three years of fierce fighting between Korean Communists and Nationalists. Both leaders stepped on to the other side shook hands and embraced […]
Airstrikes on Syria are justified on April 17, 2018I am unconditionally in favour of force being used by external powers to prevent governments brutalizing their own people. The principle of non-intervention is fine, but such a principle cannot be carte blanche for using chemical weapons against civilians. Chemical weapons are illegal and are banned under international law. The US-UK-French airstrikes on Syria were […]
Emergence of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement on April 14, 2018Before leaving Lahore for Stockholm on March17, I had promised a Pashtun student of mine that I shall take up the demands of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) for fair treatment by the state. PTM is the latest body of collective effort by citizens to claim redress of their grievances against what they allege is […]
Science and faith: defining their separate spheres on April 13, 2018Science can be described as knowledge gained systematically through observations and experience gained through sensory perception which provides a rational-material explanation of continuity and change in the universe. It is directed at understanding the processes underway in animate and inanimate objects. Such knowledge can give birth to technology with which these processes can be manipulated […]
Who killed Dr Tanzeem Akbar Cheema? on March 19, 2018On February 13, 2018 a gruesome murder took place. It carried all the hallmarks of target killing. That day Dr Tanzeem Akbar Cheema, Associate Professor of the Botany Department, Government College University Lahore was driving back from work as he did normally after a full day’s work when at around half past eight in the […]
To whom it may concern on March 3, 2018Ordinarily ‘To whom it may concern’ is the standard title of a text which is sent to those whose identity is not known but procedurally are the relevant recipients of it. For years, I have been writing recommendation letters for my students seeking admission to higher institutions of education, especially foreign universities. To whom it […]