Naeem Tahir

Dr Javed Iqbal is known the world over for his scholarly works, speeches, lectures and his objective understanding of Muslim history. His works include his autobiography, Apna Gareban Chaak, which is a landmark in honest introspection. His biography of his father, Allama Iqbal, is also objective and does not shy away from or evade the […]

The two governments, Punjab and federal, both find it convenient to divert attention from their colossal failures. This time, once again, they have looked for a diversion. Pakistan’s political history is marred with mismanagement, corruption, ethnic strife and incapability of the governments to handle issues and make plans to take the country forward. But the […]

The Samjhauta Express started from Delhi’s historic railway station on the night of February 18, 2007. It was brimming with people who had a reason to go to Pakistan. Some were returning after visiting relatives, some had come for marriages, some went sightseeing, some visited ancestral homes, some explored business opportunities and some had visited […]

Some people think that insulting the arts or the artist is casual, normal behaviour. An example of this mindset was given by Mr Siddiqul Farooq of the PML-N during a television programme recently. Involved in this kind of behaviour are usually persons belonging to the extreme right, those possessing Talibanised attitudes and their sleeper cells […]

What is a ‘silent majority’? Why does it stay silent? What is its role in a society? How long it needs to stay silent and when must it speak? Is silence at some point almost criminal? Or has this ‘majority’ become silent out of fear? The silent majority is an unspecified large majority of people […]

The murderer has confessed. He killed a Muslim — a kalima-go (someone who recited the Kalima) — who only asked for the course of justice to be followed. One is reminded of the Holy Quran, which says in Surah Al-Nisa (04:093) “If a man kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell, to abide therein […]

Blood on the concrete pavement was what the television screens showed. It was the blood of a distinguished human being, Salmaan Taseer, an outstanding son of the soil who worked hard and achieved a lot. He was a professional, a businessman, a politician, a friend and a family man. He also had the most valuable […]

“He it is Who appointed the sun a splendour and the moon a light, and measured for her stages, that ye might know the number of the years, and the reckoning” — Holy Quran, Surah Younas, Ayat 5. As the new solar year is here, let us look back at the year gone by and […]