Saad Hafiz

Another Pakistan Day or Pakistan Resolution Day has come and gone, this time with a grand military parade put off for several years due to terrorism fears. On March 23, 1940, the All-India Muslim League moved a resolution in its annual session in Lahore that demanded autonomous states for the Muslims of British India. This […]

President Obama’s recent visit to India, while ignoring Pakistan, is being seen as a “diplomatic failure of Islamabad”. Failure or not, the visit does warrant a review of the effectiveness of Pakistan’s foreign policy given the changing nature of a state and the realities of the international scene. Generally speaking, a country’s foreign policy is […]

In terms of history, culture, language and religions, India and Pakistan have much in common. However, the political paths of the two states have so considerably deviated that it seems unimaginable that they had shared origins. Today, despite many domestic problems that are impairing its growth, India is increasingly an important global political and economic […]

Discontent and annoyance with democracy is picking up pace in Pakistan. The promise of an unprecedented era of lengthy civilian rule appears to be in jeopardy. A sort of toxic impatience with the democratic process, which has always existed in the political discourse, is being rekindled. There is public frustration and resentment against the elected […]

The ghastly terrorist assault in Paris at the office of the French magazine Charlie Hebdo is a direct attack on freedom of speech, thought and expression, the basis on which all open, democratic societies are created. The bedrock of such societies is the protection of life, pluralism, openness and freedom of religion, conscience and security. […]

In terms of history, culture, language and religions, India and Pakistan have much in common. However, the political paths of the two states have so considerably deviated that it seems unimaginable that they had shared origins. Today, despite many domestic problems that are impairing its growth, India is increasingly an important global political and economic […]

As secularists and democrats, we do not want religion applied to politics, as we believe that religion is too divisive. We believe that democratic freedoms are strengthened by the separation of religion from politics. We are sceptical of religion playing a constructive role as an agent of stability and predictability. This does not mean, however, […]

A Turkish government spokesman summarised the reaction to the outcome of the 2007 Turkish parliamentary elections in other Muslim countries as: “What the hell did the Turks do right that we did not do? How come they can manage a predominantly Muslim population, negotiate [for membership] with the EU [European Union], and have a workable […]

It is hard to dispute that there is a cancer of extremism within Islam today. Groups like the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the Taliban reinforce a particularly harsh description of Islam as terrorist-prone, modernity-proof, plagued by fanaticism and susceptible to the hellish clarion call of jihad. The frequent incidents of beheading, […]

Haider, the recently released Bollywood movie, helps to lift the lid on the brutal conflict in Indian Kashmir. The artistic portrait of modern political rebellion, an exposé of government-sanctioned violence and a vision of hope that continued resistance may galvanise a new future. Set during the 1990s, the most intense years of the ongoing insurgency […]