If Albert Einstein were born a Pakistani on December 24, 2015Imagine for a moment that Albert Einstein, the theoretical physicist renowned the world over for his Theory of General Relativity, was not born in Ulm, Germany during the second Reich but instead was born in Pakistan as a Muslim after 1947. What would have happened to him? How would we have treated the distinguished scholar? […]
One year after the Peshawar massacre on December 17, 2015Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise; the Peshawar school massacre snapped the Pakistani nation awake from its slumber, jolting it out of the apathy that had been built over the years with regards to the victims of the attacks who were even stopped from being seen as human beings in the minds of the […]
The MQM wins again on December 10, 2015Erasing every doubt from the minds of sceptics, the MQM has once again clutched a decisive victory in the third phase of the local bodies’ elections in Karachi last week. Nonetheless, I will not expound on how and why the Sindh-based political party wins the elections, nor will I thrash the voters for voting in […]
How do Muslims respond to terrorist attacks? on December 3, 2015Aside from rekindling the debate regarding Islam as being inherently more violent than other religions, the Paris attacks have also sparked once again an argument within the Muslim community about how they should respond to such atrocities: whether they should sympathise with the victims all the way without any ifs and buts or just consider […]
Why do people hate Altaf Hussain? on November 26, 2015Everyone hates Altaf Hussain in Punjab. And by everyone, I mean anybody from age seven to age 87 irrespective of gender! The feeling runs so strong that if asked who is more dangerous, Osama bin Laden or the MQM leader, I am afraid they would pick the latter. That is why I do not pose […]
Is Islam really more violent? on November 19, 2015Not only have the Paris attacks, which killed more than 130 people and wounded many more, sparked anger and outrage, they also have rekindled the old debate regarding the role of Islam as a religion that fuels hatred and promotes the murder of unarmed, innocent civilians including women, children and the elderly. After suffering through […]
Abolishing rajm on November 12, 2015Although the video captures a bright sunny day and a clear blue sky, its contents could not have slumped any darker. Needless to say, it has shocked the whole world except us, the Muslims who have somehow succumbed to the narrative that God wants us kill women in the most gruesome and inhuman way possible. […]
Imran divorces Reham on November 5, 2015Maybe the story of Imran Khan’s divorce did not deserve as much media attention as it has received. Maybe the news regarding the ongoing operation in North Waziristan, terrorist attacks in Balochistan or the international alliance against Islamic State (IS) needed to be highlighted more. And maybe, instead of exploiting the personal tragedy of the […]
Executing Mumtaz Qadri on October 22, 2015Earlier this month, the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan upheld the death sentence of Mumtaz Qadri, a hero in the eyes of many religious zealots, who killed the then governor Punjab, Salmaan Taseer, while serving as a member of the police elite force appointed to protect him in 2011. Taseer was an outspoken critic of […]
Rising power of the PTI on October 15, 2015After the by-elections in NA-122, which handed over a victory to the PML-N candidate, Ayaz Sadiq, against his rival, Aleem Khan of the PTI, many things can be said about the elections of 2013 with confidence. First, the mandate of the PML-N stands authentic in the previous elections and its strength in the National Assembly […]