Tea with Mr Miliband Dunking biscuits with the electorate is all well and good, but any future Labour leader needs some serious policies too Rupa Huq guardian.co.uk, Thursday 22 July 2010 10.00 BST Article history “There might be a knock at the door from the police,” the voice on the phone warned me. Crikey, I hadn’t expected that one. But then when you allow your front room to be the venue for a campaign visit from David Miliband with BBC cameras, furry broom mics and Laura Kuenssberg in tow, you can’t expect normality. The possible police involvement (which never materialised) … Continue reading Tea with Miliband

As support for local councillor John Dixon shows, Scientologists may have a harder time silencing critics online than elsewhere Martin Robbins guardian.co.uk, Thursday 22 July 2010 10.30 BST Article history Last year, Cardiff councillor John Dixon was wandering the streets of London in search of a wedding ring when he happened upon a group of Scientologists. Surprised, he tweeted the following: “I didn’t know the Scientologists had a church on Tottenham Court Road. Just hurried past in case the stupid rubs off.” It’s a fairly mundane sentiment you might think, but unfortunately members of an organisation that the French and … Continue reading Scientology’s problem with Twitter

The Kafka legacy: who owns Jewish heritage? A decision to publish unseen Kafka papers is welcome, but not the notion that European Jewry’s cultural assets belong to Israel Antony Lerman guardian.co.uk, Thursday 22 July 2010 13.00 BST Article history A Tel Aviv court has ruled the papers of Franz Kafka belonging to the Hoffe sisters must be published. Photograph: Bettmann/Corbis It’s excellent news that a judge in the Tel Aviv family court has ruled that a detailed list of all the items in safe deposit boxes in Tel Aviv and Zurich containing the papers of Franz Kafka must be published. … Continue reading Who owns Jews?

by Nadeem F. Paracha on 07 22nd, 2010  I received a number of emails on my last blog, Reform Now. Most of the people who wrote to me asked whether I could comment more on the list of reforms that I suggested in the second part of the blog. Well, here is a sincere attempt. I would like to acknowledge eminent scholars and authors such as Javed Ahmed Ghamidi, Ziauddin Sardar, Muhammad Akhund, Ali Shariati, Irshad Manji, Dr. Fazalur Rehman, Musa Al-Sadr, and Abdullah Chakralawi, whose published work helped me construct this modest attempt. _____________________________ While formulating Islamic laws, a … Continue reading The worst poster boys for Islam?

COMMENT: The saints evil men fear —Zaair Hussain The Taliban have recognised, in their own perverse way, that the sufis are the rightful spiritual guides of the nation and so they try to accomplish by might what they could not possibly do by right The horrors inflicted upon Pakistan by the enemy within can be likened to the eastern masterwork swords known as the katanas; impossibly sharp, cutting to the bone, and created in layers, one folded atop another. That Data Darbar was forced to close for the first time in nearly a thousand years is a horror. That a … Continue reading The saints evil men fear

VIEW: Yes to NACTA —Gulmina Bilal Ahmad We need to focus on developing a counter-terrorism and counter-radicalisation strategy and the sooner we do it the better. Counter-radicalisation will serve as a preemptive strike on those who are working to challenge the writ of the state We seemingly have the illusion that we have the luxury of time — our social, political and economic activities all seem to suggest that. Or perhaps I should correct myself. The public is in a state of panic. The elite are not. Terrorism is not the only challenge that Pakistan is confronted with, but it … Continue reading NACTA

omment:Karachi bleeds —Ali K Chishti It might be true to say that Karachi’s biggest problems are not ethnic, political or sectarian differences but the incompetent police itself, which has become a largely criminal and political outfit The first instance of targeted killings of foreigners in Karachi was the assassination of two Americans, which came amid political, sectarian and factional violence that made the city one of the most ‘dangerous in the world’ in the 1990s. On March 8, 1995, Gary C Durrell, a CIA official, died on the spot while Jackie Van Landingham, a consulate secretary, lost her life on … Continue reading Karachi bleeds

COMMENT:Knight, not pawn: Habib Jalib Baloch —Dr Mohammad Taqi More striking than Habib Jalib’s flowing long hair was his political maturity that was certainly beyond his years. This transition from a student politician to a statesman is rather rare in our part of the world “Aiy haak ki may nagrin qawm e jis o gor int, Aiy haak a pa maa taah e jatag shaklein zinday” — Mir Gul Khan Nasir. “This soil has been our home, after death it has been our grave, So, for evermore, I am this soil’s slave.” In the parlance of nationalist movements in Pakistan, … Continue reading Habib Jalib Baloch

PENSIEVE:A letter to Mrs Sonia Gandhi —Farrukh Khan Pitafi Pakistan has so many issues of its own that a majority of the country cannot afford the luxury of hating its neighbours. In their heart of hearts, even our critics of India also know that, one day, peace has to be built between the two countries Respected Sonia ji, I hope this letter finds you well. I write to express my frustration at the failure of the peace process between our two great nations. Recently, when the Indian Minister for External Affairs, S M Krishna, visited Pakistan, like many others I … Continue reading letter to Mrs Sonia Gandhi