Women sans ideology By Jawed Naqvi Dawn.com “Millions of girls do not go to school because there are no segregated toilets for them,” writes Jawed Naqvi. –File Photo In a Premchand story that I can’t recall offhand, part of the job of an unpaid male agricultural worker, a chamar Dalit to boot, was to put up with the tantrums of the zamindar’s wife. He was her physical attendant, which in a quaint way breached the caste barrier if all too briefly. For usually it was the upper caste zamindar men who played havoc with the lives of young chamar women … Continue reading These women are everywhere! What is it with them?

Falling short of solutions Posted by annie  Addressing a group of Pakistani journalists last week, American religious scholar Imam Yahya Hendi presented a utopic vision of a world where “people would celebrate the differences amongst one another” and societies would flourish on pluralist sentiments. The evening, planned as a dialogue between the journalists and the imam, who is the Muslim chaplain at Georgetown University, was largely meant to focus on Islam in America. However, Hendi appeared insistent on discussing, indeed sermonising about, the “universal need for religious pluralism and tolerance,” which although compelling, hardly elaborates on the challenges that Muslim … Continue reading American Muslim! Islamic Scholar!

Colonel Imam: Ideologue or pragmatist? By Wasif Khan Tuesday, 09 Mar, 2010 // // Amir Sultan Tarar also known as Colonel Imam. — File photo In a recent interview with the New York Times, the once renowned Colonel Imam made some very insightful remarks and dire predictions. For those unfamiliar with the name, Colonel Imam was an ISI operative who played a prominent role in recruiting and training resistance fighters during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. His list of students includes prominent ‘mujahideen’ commanders such as Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Ahmed Shah Masood. The Colonel worked closely with the Americans and … Continue reading Colonel Imam supports the Afghan Taliban – but what makes you think he does not support the Pakistani Taliban?

Partners in blasphemy Last week, an interesting story in the Pakistani media went unnoticed in which an eminent Islamic jurist Dr Muhammad Aslam Khaki threatened to register a blasphemy case against the federal government for comparing the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) to the Charter of Madina. The jurist was referring to the review petition filed against the recent NRO verdict by the Supreme Court of Pakistan that declared the ordinance unconstitutional, ordering the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to reopen all the corruption cases against a number of senior political figures and government officials who were earlier protected under the … Continue reading Blasphemy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Or is this Law a BLASPHEMY?

Bad, bad secularism! —Farrukh Khan Pitafi The opponents of secularism are mere agents of the forces that want to subjugate us and keep us prisoners of contradictory, reductionist ideologies “Whereas sovereignty over the entire universe belongs to Almighty Allah alone, and the authority to be exercised by the people of Pakistan within the limits prescribed by Him is a sacred trust.” Thus begins the Constitution of the Islamic Democratic Republic of Pakistan. I have read these lines again and again throughout my life and have never been able to divine their meaning. Sovereignty, I take it, is a mundane, human … Continue reading Spanking Seculars?

King Qzer takes on Karachi Posted by Faisal Kapadia Dawn.com Recently, my six-year-old daughter accompanied me to a football freestyle event at a local mall. Needless to say, we had a blast as rap and hip hop blared in the background and desi kids ranging from 18 to 25 years old performed some incredible moves on stage with a bouncing football. Even more thrilling was a chance encounter with an 18-year-old rapper, Qasim Naqvi – better known as King Qzer in Karachi’s underground hip hop scene. I caught up with King Qzer to chat about Pakistani rap, what inspires him, … Continue reading King Qzer! Pakistani Rapper? What next Pakistani on the Moon?

Put your questions to Nick Clegg Nick Clegg wants your vote, here’s your chance to ask him why he should get it Reddit Stumble Opinion Formers Campaign for an English Parliament Our aim is to get for England the same political recognition as a distinct nation and the same degree of self-government as Scotland. APIL – Association Of Personal Injury Lawyers Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) Electoral Reform Society Find more Opinion Formers in this category: Legal and Constitutional Related News New campaign targets expenses MPs MPs deemed to have committed “crimes against democracy” will be targeted by a new … Continue reading Nick Clegg UK wants your vote, here’s your chance to ask him why he should or should not get it!

Celebrating women parliamentarians —Muhammad Ismail Khan Talibanisation, at its very core, is aimed against women and can be present as much in the urban areas of Pakistan as in the tribal areas If you have followed the media on women’s parliamentarians, you may conclude that they have little to do except badmouthing each other by passing the most inappropriate remarks, either in talk shows or in the assemblies. But you should not follow only the media. Instead, you should look at the statistics. One of Pakistan’s most focused non-profit organisations, the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT), has been … Continue reading More women parliamentarians needed in the Muslim world

The Swiss question —Meher Bokhari What the government needs to do is ask the SC if the letter it has been ordered to write to the Swiss government will in fact be in line with the constitution It is amazing how convincing and confident stalwarts of the PPP sound when questioned about their government’s commitment to fully implementing the December 16, 2009 detailed judgement of the apex court. One cannot help but wonder whether they feel as convinced as they sound. The federal government’s updated review petition includes many objections to the historic judgement. The government views as unfair the formation … Continue reading Swiss stuff