Death: an inevitable reality?on September 19, 2018A 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?
Pakistan and Ahmadison September 13, 2018In 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
Imran Khan’s government takes a bold standon September 7, 2018Information 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
The Rohingya genocide: an appeal to Imran Khanon August 30, 2018Once 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 Sikh heritage in Pakistanon March 9, 2018The 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
A walk down familiar roads — in the wrong directionon January 31, 2018I belong to an old locality of Lahore - Mozang - where my ancestors on the paternal side have lived for as long as they could remember. In the Civil and Military Gazette of 1880, a news headline read, “A man dies of snakebite in Mozang, a village two miles from Lahore”. By the turn of the 20th Century, Mozang had been enveloped by expanding modern Lahore under British patronage. Temple Road, … [Read more...] about A walk down familiar roads — in the wrong direction
Treading the footprints of Ava Gardner in Lahoreon January 9, 2018The Goddess of Hollywood, Ava Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990), was in Lahore in 1955 to shoot for the film Bhawani Junction (1956), which had Stewart Granger as the man opposite her. She stayed at the Falettis Hotel which is inseparable from the history of British India and its many favours to Lahore. An Italian named Mr Falettis established the hotel in 1880. As Lahore’s … [Read more...] about Treading the footprints of Ava Gardner in Lahore
Muslims against the Muslim League: Critiques of the Idea of Pakistanon November 11, 2017A topic greatly under researched is finally attracting the attention of scholars: the opposition to the Muslim League, its idea of Pakistan and the partition of India that was inevitable were the idea to Pakistan materialise as a separate state for Indian Muslims in the Indian subcontinent. In this regard mention must be made of Shamsul Islam’s, Muslims Against Partition (2015), which has … [Read more...] about Muslims against the Muslim League: Critiques of the Idea of Pakistan
Is Marxism relevant today?on September 17, 2017Karl Marx is undoubtedly one of the greatest thinkers of all times whose ideas have profoundly impacted the modern world. A prolific writer, theorist, polemicist and activist, his revolutionary theory of socialism proved to be the most telling indictment of the horrors, which the industrial society of the 19th century had generated. Addressing the workers of the world rather than any nation or … [Read more...] about Is Marxism relevant today?
Project Lahore: telling a story pictoriallyon April 20, 2016I am not sure if any city on the Indian subcontinent exercises such mystique and charm as Lahore does. Its origins are shrouded in Lav, son of Lord Rama of Ayodhya, founding it. In Milton’s Paradise Lost (published 1667), Lahore and Agra are mentioned as great cities of the world. At least since the time of the Great Mughal, Emperor Akbar, Lahore has enjoyed the steady devotion of myriads of … [Read more...] about Project Lahore: telling a story pictorially
