Ulemas constitution on January 1, 2014Through the Christmas celebrations of 2013, Pakistan People’s Party’s co-chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari claimed that he wanted to see a Christian Prime Minister in Pakistan within his lifetime. He wished Merry Christmas to every Christian worldwide and particularly to Pakistani Christians. It is mentioned in the constitution of our country that a non-Muslim cannot be […]
Ulemas constitution on January 1, 2014Through the Christmas celebrations of 2013, Pakistan People’s Party’s co-chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari claimed that he wanted to see a Christian Prime Minister in Pakistan within his lifetime. He wished Merry Christmas to every Christian worldwide and particularly to Pakistani Christians. It is mentioned in the constitution of our country that a non-Muslim cannot be […]
Feeling so lonely on November 26, 2013Pakistan, a Muslim majority country, has a rather small Christian population, about three or five percent. Among them, 98 percent live below the poverty line. In rural areas, they live under the pressure of their landlords and in urban areas most of them work as labourers, barely making ends meet. I know I cannot eradicate […]
Between a rock and a hard place on October 28, 2013Doing journalism in a country like Pakistan, which is dominated by Muslim religious extremists, is not easy, especially when you write about the religious minorities. Pakistan is ranked the third most dangerous country for reporting. The country also has one of the highest numbers of journalists threatened, kidnapped and killed. Before the partition, the vision […]
Constitution Avenue will remain quiet until you sleep on August 28, 2013The distribution is not equal among the whole population, thus there is demarcation among various socioeconomic groups of a country. One of the worst outcomes of income inequality is poverty, which is considered to be fatal for any nation’s development because poverty breeds more poverty, which engulfs the whole nation. According to the World Bank, […]
Insensitivity of Pakistani Christian politicians and civil society leaders on August 14, 2013The PPP government had declared August 11 as Minorities Day in 2009 through the efforts of the then minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti, who was assassinated in the country’s capital in 2011. The day signifies Quaid-e-Azam’s speech to the Constituent Assembly on August 11, 1947, in which he said: “You may belong to any religion, caste […]
A living legend on July 28, 2013Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto is seen as a visionary leader with an enduring mark on Pakistan’s political history. Amongst his accomplishments are strengthening ties with China, nationalisation, the nuclear programme and convening of the Islamic Summit in Lahore. To co-opt the religious right in his global and domestic agenda, he nationalised minorities’ institutions depriving them of […]
Burning neighbourhoods…for how long? on July 21, 2013In Islamabad, another victim of the blasphemy law has been punished. According to the BBC, Sajjad Masih was sentenced to life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 200,000 for sending blasphemous text messages to Muslim clerics to seek revenge from his ex-fiancée in Gojra. Masih, a resident of Pakpattan district, was arrested in December 2011. […]