Best Ambassador of Hindu Muslim Unity (Part-II) on August 19, 2019Jinnah’s idea of Pakistan was of a secular democratic state. Pakistan departed from that vision repeatedly, first in March 1949 with the Objectives’ Resolution, then in 1956 when it decided to call itself an Islamic Republic. It is not that Jinnah had not referred to Islam as a positive unifying force for Muslims of British […]
Best Ambassador of Hindu Muslim Unity (Part I) on August 18, 2019The recent Indian actions in Kashmir have once again ignited the debate on partition. Front and center in the debate as usual is the role of Mr. Jinnah. It is therefore apt to revisit his legacy once again and see just how prescient the dynamo Bombay lawyer was in his analysis of India’s perennial problem: […]
Our kakistocracy and India’s real game on August 15, 2019Pakistan’s tragedy is that at this critical juncture does not have a master politician or diplomat like Mr. Jinnah or Sir Zafrullah Khan who has the coup d’ceil to take full view of the terrain that is laid before us. Our response to recent Indian actions in Kashmir is a knee jerk, not clearly thought […]
Dual nationality and elections on July 28, 2019Article 63(1)(c) of the Constitution of Pakistan disqualifies a person from being elected as or holding an office as a member of the National Assembly or Senate if he or she acquires the citizenship of a foreign state. One of the biggest supporters of this clause was none other than our current Prime Minister. However […]
Pakistan’s image on July 22, 2019People have some really warped ideas about what it means to be patriot. In my opinion you are not a patriot if you defend the indefensible and accept status quo. The self styled patriots in Pakistan believe that by burying your head in the sand like an Ostrich you can evade the real and present […]
Pakistan’s real ideological fault line on July 15, 2019In the on-going political maneuvering and power plays between various state institutions and political parties, Pakistan as a nation state has taken its eyes off the real ideological fault line in Pakistan which lies between Orthodox reactionaries and the Muslim Modernists. Nadeem Farooq Paracha’s excellent study “Muslim Modernism; the case for a Naya Pakistan” succinctly […]
Dissent and the Islamic Republic on July 7, 2019Last week I received a notice from Twitter Legal that the Government of Pakistan had reported my account as being in violation of Pakistani law. Apparently quoting Mr Jinnah, the founding father of this country, and speaking for the rights of minorities in Pakistan has been deemed in violation of Pakistani law. Twitter has been […]
Pakistan and religious freedom on July 1, 2019The Foreign Office has rejected the report by US Commission on International Religious Freedom for being biased. It went on to say that Pakistan was a multicultural pluralistic country where people of various faiths lived together in peace and harmony. Frankly I could care less about the USCIRF’s report but I am very disappointed in […]
Pakistan’s rationale is economic and political not religious on June 23, 2019The problem with Pakistan and its perpetual identity crisis stems from the confusion over its narrative and founding myth namely that it was created in the name of Islam. In several of my previous articles I have written in some detail as to why the claim that Pakistan was founded in the name of Islam […]
Politics and religion on June 16, 2019In priest-ridden societies like those that exist in the subcontinent it becomes next to impossible to engage in politics without appeal to religion. Mahatma Gandhi was the foremost practitioner of religious appeal in politics, introducing the idea of India’s ancient culture, Hindu idioms and appealing to Ram Rajya as the ideal rule of man. His […]