COMMENT: Secularity or secularities? —Ahmad Ali Khalid A person who calls for a greater role for religion is by no means a theocrat and a person who calls for the public sphere to be free from an assertive and populist religiosity is by no means anti-Islamic or an atheist. The differing shades of grey have to be appreciated in these complex debates We have scholars and intellectuals decrying secularism as the root of atheism, moral decadence and spiritual crisis, while on the other hand we have thinkers and intellectuals rooting for secularism. Why is there so much polarisation and so … Continue reading Secular Pakistan?

VIEW: A new phase of terror? —Naeem Tahir The attack on Data Darbar makes a naked and blatant declaration of terror against a peaceful Muslim community that does not subscribe to Wahabiism, Salafiism or Qutbism. It has shaken up the largest Muslim sect in the country The attacks on the shrine of Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhsh in Lahore killed 44 worshippers in prayer and injured another 100. The terrorists chose Thursday to execute their plan when the attendance was very high. There is no precedent for such an atrocity; an attack on peace-loving people in a shrine that symbolises sufi … Continue reading Pakistanis to experience a new phase of terror by Mullahs?

ANALYSIS: The terrorist archetype —Salman Tarik Kureshi These orgies of violence have little to do with ‘causes’ and everything to do with the psychotic aberrations bred into the terrorists. This is a psychosis that is primarily driven by the desire to achieve an enormous degree of notoriety, posthumously or otherwise, through committing violence For most of us, it would have been beyond belief that the atrocity perpetrated at Data Darbar could even have been contemplated. But it was and such acts are being contemplated, planned, organised and executed, even as I write. Nor was this perpetration different to the attack … Continue reading Psychotic? Suicide Bombers?

BOOK REVIEW: Views from other worlds —by Afrah Jamal Mehwar Ki Talash By Sabuha Khan Academy Bazyaft; Pp 224; Rs 250 and Rs 350 (audio book) They head to other lands that guarantee the freedoms promised by their own and mould themselves in the image of the people that provide them. The immigrants’ transformation is complete but their quest for identity has just begun. Sabuha Khan, a Pakistani, is on a quest of her own as she steps into Toronto — a city she wryly observes to be ninth from the top from a place that is probably ninth from … Continue reading Why seek other nations to build a life?

As the sacking of a CNN journalist for a tweet on an ayatollah’s death has shown, it’s hard to convey nuance in 140 characters Brian Whitaker guardian.co.uk, Thursday 8 July 2010 11.30 BST Article history When Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Fadlallah died in Lebanon on Sunday, tributes poured in from Lebanese politicians and religious leaders of almost every hue. There were official condolences, too, from further afield: from Bahrain, Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Yemen, and from the Arab League and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference. Britain’s ambassador to Lebanon, Frances Guy, praised him in her blog, … Continue reading The trouble with Twitter

It is symptomatic of modern values that we conclude Cardinal Newman’s intense love for a man meant he was a homosexual Jack Valero guardian.co.uk, Thursday 8 July 2010 17.00 BST Article history In October 2008 there was excitement over the exhumation, in the outskirts of Birmingham, of an eminent Victorian. The remains of Cardinal John Henry Newman were being dug up as part of the process towards declaring him a saint – Pope Benedict XVI will declare him “blessed” (the first stage) during his September visit to the UK – but the move disturbed more than the ground. The controversy … Continue reading The sad demise of celibate love

French burqa debate is a smokescreen The Islamic burqa is being used by Sarkozy and his cronies as a distraction from the real issue of allegations of state corruption Nabila Ramdani guardian.co.uk, Thursday 8 July 2010 14.30 BST Article history Wearers of the burqa or niqab in France can expect a fine of €150 if the bill is passed and approved by the senate. Photograph: Gonzalo Fuentes/ReutersYou may except the impassioned rhetoric surrounding France’s so-called “burqa ban” to come from the women who actually wear them, but in fact it’s mainstream politicians who are making all the noise. President Nicolas … Continue reading The Islamic burqa is being used by Sarkozy and his cronies as a distraction from the real issue of allegations of state corruption

The death of activism We’ve plenty to protest about in the US, but on the streets there is no dissent. Why is our liberal mood so paralytic? Clancy Sigal guardian.co.uk, Thursday 8 July 2010 13.30 BST Article history Community organiser and Chicagoan Saul Alinsky, circa 1946: ‘I love this goddamn country, and we’re going to take it back.’ Photograph: Myron Davis/Time & Life/GettyIn my middle-class neighbourhood, you can organise people around dog-walking exchanges, the crimewatch duty roster, mutual baby-sitting, earthquake preparedness and dire household emergencies. But even the most liberal-minded among us seem totally spooked by the currently toxic idea … Continue reading The death of activism

VIEW: Recognising Taliban narratives —Gulmina Bilal Ahmad The Taliban are very intelligently shaping the narrative and we are falling in line, so to speak. What is a Punjabi Taliban? Or for that matter a Pakhtun one? It is being turned into an ethnic fight based on narrow understandings and considerations of provincialism Public relations officers have a rule that they live by. The rule is that if you cannot change the facts, change the glasses through which those facts are read and seen. The Pakistani Taliban are masters at this. After Rehman Baba’s mausoleum, they strike Data Darbar, which is … Continue reading The Taliban are very intelligently shaping the narrative and we are falling in line