Dr Ishtiaq Ahmed

With the publication of this Urdu translation of my book, The Punjab Bloodied, Partitioned and Cleansed: Unravelling the 1947 Tragedy through Secret British Reports and First-Person Accounts, a milestone has been achieved not only by me as a researcher and an academic but also in terms of the research on the history and politics of […]

In the exchange of views on Venkat Dhulipala’s book, Creating a New Medina, Mr Yasser Latif Hamdani ends his article ‘The Congress’ use of the ulema’ (Daily Times, April 27, 2015) with the following remark: “Both parties used the Islam card but I leave it to the readers to judge whose use was more pernicious […]

Mr Yasser Latif Hamdani’s observations in his column ‘Use of religion in politics’ (Daily Times, April 13, 2015) on my review of Venkat Dhulipala’s book, Creating a New Medina: State Power, Islam and the Quest for Pakistan in Late Colonial North India, raise interesting questions. He is of the opinion that my endorsement of Dhulipala’s […]

The veteran leftist Tahira Mazhar Ali Khan (1925 to 2015) died on March 23, 2015. Her departure closes the chapter on pre-partition erstwhile Lahore-based Communist and pro-Communist intellectuals and activists. I first saw her in the late 1960s at meetings in Lahore of workers and of the National Awami Party (Wali Khan). Then, when the […]

Last week I argued that freedom of speech and opinion is guaranteed in the west but laws do exist to penalize the character assassination of living human beings. Those dead and gone, even founders of religions, are not covered by these laws. The reason for such a distinction is that harm can only be done […]

The hugely positive markings on the Daily Times comments section and similar responses on Facebook to last week’s article on the Punjabi language have greatly pleased me but, more than that, greatly surprised me as well. It seems I have lifted the lid from a cauldron in which Punjabiyat had been brewing for a long […]

In this concluding article, I will sum up my standpoint on how the cultivation of Punjabi, in spoken and written form, can be a spurt to regional and global trade. Let me underscore that, for me, the definition of a Punjabi is anyone who says he is a Punjabi. It is not necessary that such […]

I ended my second article in the ongoing series on the Punjabi language’s potential for boosting regional and global trade with the plea that it is only if rational thinking based on mutual benefit prevails in the corridors of power and amongst the trading and entrpreneurial classes that Punjabi can be used as an asset. […]

On December 28, 2014, I had the privilege of giving a talk at the National Punjabi Conference held at the Punjabi Complex, Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. One of the greatest tragedies in the life of people is when they feel ashamed and hesitant to speak and write in their mother tongue. Upwardly mobile Pakistani Punjabi Muslims […]