Jefferson and Muslims on February 12, 2017The question that whether Muslims could be citizens of Christian Commonwealth was first considered by John Locke in the 17th century England. John Locke wrote in 1689: “Nay if we may openly speak the Truth, and as becomes one Man to another, neither Pagan, nor Mahumetan, nor Jew, ought to be excluded from the Civil […]
Is the Muslim ban really that bad? on February 5, 2017US President, Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration has been dubbed the Muslim ban and this might well have been the intention behind it. After all, during the campaign, Trump had promised a Muslim ban but some people refused to believe him. The Executive Order, however, has been couched in the language of the danger […]
What does Pakistan mean to you? on January 29, 2017Last week, an important date in our history went by quietly and unnoticed as it does every year as far as I can remember. On 28 January 1933, Chaudhry Rahmat Ali — a 33-year-old student at Cambridge University — published a declaration, which was to forever change the landscape of South Asia. Ali’s own story […]
Pakistans opportunities in the Trump-era on January 22, 2017President Xi Jinping of China delivered a historic speech last week at Davos in which he spoke about the need for free trade and globalisation. It was historic because here you had the leader of a Communist state speaking in favour ofglobalisation and international trade. Meanwhile, the newly elected leader of the “free world”, President […]
The battle for the souls of Islam on January 4, 2017Future historians of Pakistan will mark January 4, 2011 as a significant date in the history of the country. This is the day two ideas of Pakistan finally collided in a parking lot in F-6 Islamabad. What followed was religious, social and legal chaos which continues till date and one fears will not abate unless […]
A confederation in South Asia is a nonstarter on January 1, 2017A few days ago, Sudheendra Kulkarni, peace activist and a friend to Pakistan in India, for whom I have great respect, proposed a confederation between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. This — he suggested — was an idea endorsed by both Jinnah and Gandhi. This is partially correct. Jinnah did. Gandhi did not. The idea of […]
Jinnah would have regretted making Pakistan on December 29, 2016Every year on Christmas Day, we in Pakistan remember Quaid-e-Azam Mahomed Ali Jinnah, who is said to have been born on that day in 1876. There are remembrances and tributes; a change of guard; TV shows dedicated to the memory of the man who is credited with (and in some circles blamed for) the creation […]
What is there in a name? on December 25, 2016The decision of Bollywood stars Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor to name their son Taimur led to a severe backlash on social media by right-wing Indian nationalists. Why name a child after the 14th-century mass murderer who butchered Indians, they asked. The good old Goodwin’s Law came into play. Taimur is to India what […]
Ethnic cleansing of Ahmadis on December 18, 2016What happened in Chakwal on 12 December, while the nation celebrated Eid Milad-un-Nabi, is yet another reminder that Pakistan’s systematic exclusion of Ahmadis, which started in 1974, is taking a disturbing and frightening turn. After having attacked the Ahmadi place of worship (they are not allowed to refer to it as a mosque under law), […]
Low-quality conservatism on December 11, 2016Justice Antonin Scalia of the US Supreme Court passed away in February this year. He was a renowned conservative who was known for his pitched fork resistance to liberalism on the bench. Scalia was an extremely conservative Catholic who believed in a religious mission that he imbibed from his Church. In short, he was the […]