VIEW: Free and compulsory education —Irfan Muzaffar & Faisal Bari With a burgeoning private sector in education claiming over 40 percent of all enrolment, the public sector schools lie in shambles, unable to retain and educate an increasing school age population. This gap between the rhetoric and practice has only widened through these years. There is, therefore, a strong sense of déjà vu about 25A that is not easy to dismiss Article 25A, according to the 18th constitutional amendment, declares “education free and compulsory for all children of the age of 5 to 16 years, in such manner as may … Continue reading Free and compulsory education for both sexes

VIEW: The fountainhead of religious extremism —Yasser Latif Hamdani Pakistan will have to undo the Maududian infiltration of its state and society. It means liberating our campuses of organisations like the IJT. It means purging the state and its machinery of elements that are furthering the Jamaat’s hate-filled agenda My article last week on Faisal Shahzad’s radicalisation elicited unprecedented response on the issue of Islamic organisations operating in the US, thereby necessitating this sequel. There are things that need to be said before it is all too late. Faisal Shahzad’s e-mail to the “peaceful ummah” as published in the New … Continue reading Mullahs – Enemy of Islam?

COMMENT: Nurses and medical care —Dr Syed Mansoor Hussain In Pakistan, nurses are very much the ‘invisible’ face of medicine. Unless we can empower nurses and the nursing profession, we will never be able to improve the quality of healthcare available to our patients International Nurses Day was celebrated on May 12. Unfortunately, in the largest hospital in Lahore no celebration or commemoration took place that I know of. Over the last year, much has been done about the rights of women in general and those in the workplace. Interestingly even today, nurses are probably the single largest group of … Continue reading Pakistani Nurses

COMMENT: The Clinton statement —Shahzad Chaudhry The total deaths of Pakistanis in this war against terror amount to around 27,000. And yet some question the ownership of this war? Secretary Clinton may have many reasons for her frustrations but that can never include Pakistan’s lack of commitment, paid for in blood When Faisal Shahzad attempted that crude adventure to light a fireball in Times Square, the most likely beneficiary through relative gains was thought to be India, since Pakistan’s loss is translated easily as India’s gain. Preet Bharara, the naturalised Indian-American legal expert of New York City, at least, would … Continue reading The War against Terrorism and Mrs Clintons statement

A daughter’s song Reviewed By Huma Yusuf dawn.com “Any astute reader can enjoy Songs for the unique peek into the lives, loves, letters, notebooks, and photographs of the Bhuttos that it offers.” Pakistan Fatima traces back to tell the Bhuttos’ tale INHERITANCE OF LOSS? Fatima traces back to tell the Bhuttos’ tale Halfway through her recently released memoir, Songs of Blood and Sword, Fatima Bhutto asks, ‘Why was everything in this family so complicated? Why was it so ugly, so violent?’ The same questions can be asked of the reaction to her book, which in Pakistan has comprised condemnations and … Continue reading Songs of Blood and Sword – Fatima Bhutto

International Cricket Council, ICC, president David Morgan. – AP (File Photo) dawn.com BRIDGETOWN: World cricket’s top administrator has insisted officials are “extremely vigilant” when it comes to ‘spot-fixing’ after Pakistan’s Danish Kaneria was arrested in a betting probe. But International Cricket Council (ICC) president David Morgan, in an interview with AFP here in Barbados on the eve of the World Twenty20 final between Australia and England, insisted: “I can honestly say to you that I have no knowledge of any spot-fixing that I am refusing to tell you about.” Kaneria and a colleague at English county side Essex, Mervyn Westfield, … Continue reading ICC chief promises ‘vigilance’ after Kaneria arrest

dawn.com Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, Conservative Party’s co-chairman and minister without portfolio poses for the photographers as she arrives at British Prime Minister David Cameron official residence at 10 Downing Street in central London, for the first cabinet meeting, Thursday, May 13, 2010. World David Cameron: Tory leader on cusp of power UK ELECTION David Cameron: Tory leader on cusp of power GUJJAR KHAN: The rise of a Pakistani-born Briton to become the first Muslim woman named in a British cabinet has given Pakistan something to cheer after weeks of introspection and blame over the failed New York bombing. Baroness Sayeeda … Continue reading Pakistanis want British Minister to remove terror stigma

Adil Najam, a Pakistani-American professor at Boston University, took his 12-year-old son aside before sending him off to school last Wednesday. He told him to hold his head high, even if the other kids make fun of him and call him a terrorist. In the days following this month’s attempted car bombing in Times Square by Pakistani-American Faisal Shahzad, Pakistanis and other Muslim groups in the U.S. have been taking precautions to prevent a public backlash similar to the one Muslim-Americans faced following 9/11–but they are still preparing for the worst. “We are so grateful, thank God, that the bomb … Continue reading Muslims: Bracing For A Backlash?

Munich Imam Tries to Dull Lure of Radical Islam Gordon Welters for The New York Times Hesham Shashaa, center, an imam at the Darul Quran mosque in Munich, condemns militancy. By SOUAD MEKHENNET MUNICH — Hesham Shashaa looked twice at the display on his cellphone, staring at the number. “It’s either a person who needs help or someone who wants to kill me,” he said. Mr. Shashaa, an imam at the Darul Quran mosque in Munich, follows the strictest form of Islam, Salafi. But the people who want to kill him are Muslims. “They use the religion for their personal … Continue reading German Imam Tries to Stem Lure of Radical Islam

Nick Clegg, Liam Fox and William Hague all sit on the new National Security Council By Aled Thomas No 10 plans to impose national security considerations across Whitehall departments more than ever before. A Conservative party advisor told politics.co.uk that the setting-up of the new national security council (NSC), with its first meeting open to cameras, on the first day of government was “to make it clear that this is the new way of doing things”. In an exclusive interview the party figure said the government wanted to take a “holistic” approach to national security as a whole. Feature: Government’s … Continue reading National security ‘spreading across Whitehall’