The Temple Debate continued on July 6, 2020A religious debate is ensuing in the country as to whether or not a Hindu temple can be built in an “Islamic state”. As I wrote in my previous article, this is precisely the kind of debate that arises in a theocracy and which retards the progress of a modern nation state. However the facts […]
Travails of a theocracy on June 29, 2020The decision to build a temple and Shamshan Ghat for the Hindu community in Islamabad is no doubt a praiseworthy decision but in the larger scheme it does nothing to undo the theocratic nature of the state that exists under the current constitution in its present form. As I have argued several times in this […]
Qazi Faez Isa Judgment; what next? on June 22, 2020The Supreme Court’s short order on various petitions against the Presidential Reference 1 of 2019 against Justice Qazi Faez Isa has come and there is considerable confusion as to what the judgment means for Justice Isa’s future. The Presidential Reference has been quashed as it should have been unanimously in paragraph 1 of the judgment. […]
Qazi Muhammad Isa and the reference against Justice Qazi Faez Isa on June 15, 2020Since the government has faced considerable reverses in the frivolous presidential reference against Justice QaziFaez Isa, it has now deputed its social media trolls and a retired civil servant of dubious credibility, OryaMaqbool Jan, to try and undermine the role of Justice Isa’s father Qazi Muhammad Isa (or as he spelt his name Essa) in […]
Covid-19 and Our Courts on June 8, 2020The mishandling of the Covid-19 crisis by the Government is now apparent to all, as the number of infected cases continues to rise. What is even more troubling is that our legislators are entirely oblivious of the latest developments that are taking place in terms of courts around the world. While other countries- in particular […]
Citizenship, Religion and Genocide on May 10, 2020The creation of Pakistan was always going to be controversial, open to misinterpretation and misuse by many sections both amongst the Muslims and amongst the Hindu majority in India. Jinnah and the Muslim League had posited the idea that Muslims were a nation instead of a minority in 1940 to bypass the inconvenience of being […]
Ahmadis and Jinnah on May 4, 2020For the past few weeks one has noticed a spike in hatred against the tiny Ahmadi community in Pakistan. Ahmadis it must be remembered have already been declared Non-Muslim through two legal instruments – the 2nd Constitution Amendment of 1974 by the National Assembly and the 3rd Constitution (Amendment) Order 1985 by General Zia ul […]
Gandhi, the Myth and Reality on April 27, 2020Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948) is widely acknowledged to be the unquestionable leader of the Independence Movement, credited with, quite unfairly, of having driven out the British singlehandedly. This is an abiding myth as is the saintly halo that seems to be blinding for populace at large. The Government of India since his assassination cleverly marketed […]
The idea of nation on April 20, 2020Pakistan as a country has often suffered because it has been said that it has never been a nation. The underlying assumption is that it was the flawed idea of Muslim nationalism based on religion that led to the creation of Pakistan. This is an incorrect understanding of history. What follows is neither the official […]
The Pandemic, Bigotry and a Weak State on April 13, 2020Ideally the threat of pandemic should have brought us together regardless of creed or ethnicity. That has clearly not happened in Pakistan, where our worst has come out at a trying time: religious bigotry and intolerance. There were initially complaints of certain welfare trusts not distributing food rations to Hindus. After a nationwide outcry that […]