Ishtiaq Ahmed

Revisiting India's Partition: New Essays on Memory, Culture, and Politics Edited by: Amarjit Singh, NaliniIyer, and Rahul K. Gairola Publisher: New Delhi: Orient Black Swan, 2016 Pgs: 400 The partition of India and the two Muslim-majority provinces of Bengal and Punjab in 1947 continue to whet scholarly curiosity and that of the public. A growing corpus of academic literature is now … [Read more...] about 1947: the partition that caused a million deaths and displaced

It is seldom that qualified research, conceptually and theoretically sophisticated informs the academic undertakings of Pakistani scholars. This is especially lamentable when one reads works written supposedly by political scientists. Their contributions to information and knowledge are mostly political history. Other branches of social science are not much better. Understanding society, its … [Read more...] about Faith and feminism in Pakistan

I received the news with a heavy heart that one of Lahore’s original ambassadors in Delhi, Pran Nevile, died on October 11, 2018. His was a very long innings, close to a century. He was fit like a fiddle the last time I met him in Government College Lahore in 2016. His hair was thick and natural dark, although grey was predominant. Many of us wondered how he could easily go up the steps and … [Read more...] about Lahore’s eternal citizen, Pran Nevile (1922 – 2018) is no more

Most sensible people were looking forward to the meeting of the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan in New York. Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan had written to his counterpart PM Narendra Modi that he wanted to discuss all outstanding issues and problems which have bedevilled the relations between their two countries, and instead of conflict and war find peaceful means of resolving them. The … [Read more...] about India under Modi continues to disappoint

A few days ago, a student wrote to me, recommending that I discuss death: something we all know is a reality which nobody can deny. Let me define death, as the termination of metabolism in the human body so that it ceases to function. The heart stops beating, the brain stops working and all normal processes of life come to standstill. The question philosophers, founders of religions, kings and … [Read more...] about Death: an inevitable reality?

In the light of the clumsy and awkward decision of the Imran Khan Government first to include Dr Atif Mian in the Economic Advisory Council and then exclude him the next day under pressure from the Ulema and others has been the subject of unprecedented attention from the world press and social media. One thing is certain, the government is still not a coherent and well-knit entity which knows how … [Read more...] about Pakistan and Ahmadis

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhary’s statement that the new government will not bow before extremist pressure, which surfaced when an Ahmadi, Dr Atif Mian, was appointed as adviser to the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (EAC), is a step in the right direction. Contemporaneously nowhere in the world is religion or race the constitutional basis for the rights of citizens except Iran, … [Read more...] about Imran Khan’s government takes a bold stand

Once again, the world is witness to horrific crimes against humanity against a hapless people by a state fired by ethnic nationalism. United Nations (UN) investigators have found overwhelming and conclusive evidence of the Myanmar army carrying out raids on Rohingya villages raping women, mutilating babies, killing young and old men and women indiscriminately and then burning the corpses and … [Read more...] about The Rohingya genocide: an appeal to Imran Khan

The Quest Continues: Lost Heritage — The Sikh Legacy in Pakistan Author: Amardeep Singh Publishers: Himalayan Books, New Delhi Edition: 2018 The Times of 25 December 2015 published under the title, ‘A heritage all but erased’ a review I did of Amardeep Singh’s first book, Lost Heritage; The Sikh Legacy in Pakistan. In his debut work he had published stunning photographs of Sikhs gurdwaras, … [Read more...] about The Sikh heritage in Pakistan