Thoughts on romantic love on February 19, 2016No two people have the same opinion when it comes to romantic love. Love has as much psychology to it as it does sociology. Love has its biology too, but this article will not discuss that. Romantic love is an emotional addiction. It is the process of intensive imagination whereby an individual associates certain traits, […]
It is not the ideology primarily on December 20, 2015For more than two weeks now, the San Bernardino mass shooting by a Muslim couple once again brought to the fore the question of what motivated the duo to carry out such a shooting spree. The knee jerk response was one of holding Islamic scriptures responsible for providing grounds for Muslim violence against non-Muslims. The […]
Conservatism strikes on November 15, 2015For more than a week, social media has been abuzz with the gory details of the death of Rukhsana, an Afghan girl of 20 years of age, who was stoned to death for allegedly committing adultery. That the incident happened in the Taliban controlled area in Ghor province lends credence to the fact that the […]
Quaid-e-Azams Pakistan on September 10, 2015Of the several enduring issues that have plagued Pakistan since independence, one is the persistent failure to grasp with the notion of Quaid-e-Azam’s Pakistan. The question that constantly rattles us is what sort of Pakistan the founding father envisaged: Pakistan as an Islamic polity with sharia being the supreme law of the land or a […]
Revisiting religious discourse on August 17, 2015Maulana Tariq Jamil is probably Pakistan’s best-known religious ideologue. He is welcome almost everywhere, from mosques to madrassas (seminaries), from colleges and universities to the corridors of power, cutting across sects and ideologies. Resultantly, what he says is what matters.While listening to one of his old speeches delivered on Independence Day, aired by the state-run […]
Geo-political implications of the deal on July 23, 2015The historic deal between the P5+1 countries and Iran, giving Tehran sanctions’ relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme, will impact regional politics in various ways. At the global level, the deal ends Iran’s international isolation. It resets the country’s vexed relations with the US and, by implication, the rest of the west. […]
Bureaucracys woes on June 11, 2015There is a causal relationship between a worker’s happiness and his or her productivity. What makes an employee happy depends upon his or her needs, which may range from a job best suited to one’s personal inclination and attractive salary packages to a friendly work environment. Nevertheless, what matters more is discrimination — either real or […]
Is the tribal Pashtun a born militant? on March 31, 2015Every society is known for its own kind of stereotyping. Of the various preconceived notions associated with various subnational groups in Pakistan, one is the intimate association of tribal Pashtuns with religious zealotry. Stereotypes, sometimes, have germs of truth but only partially. The problem, however, is that the need to account for the existence of […]
From political to apolitical to militant Islam s on February 14, 2015Political Islam establishes a relationship between politics as an arena of the exercise of power and religion as a set of belief systems. Political Islam, as I define it, is a struggle for power in the name of Islam either through violent or non-violent means in order to implement religion as a system of government. […]
From political to apolitical to militant Islam on January 14, 2015Political Islam establishes a relationship between politics as an arena of the exercise of power and religion as a set of belief systems. Political Islam, as I define it, is a struggle for power in the name of Islam either through violent or non-violent means in order to implement religion as a system of government. […]