The ‘Islamisation’ debate in Pakistan should not only be about the implementation of various ‘Islamic laws’ by the state and governments of Pakistan. It should also incorporate the study of the so-called Islamisation of public space, or space that was historically and inherently secular in nature. One of the most prominent examples in this respect [...]
“We will fight (Hindia) for a thousand years!” Declared chairman of the Bakistan Beables Barty (BBB), Zulfikar Ali Bruto. A couple of years later he was in Hindia trying to negotiate the release of 90,000 Bakistani prisoners of war. Becoming the Prime Minister after the East Bakistan debacle in 1971 AD, Bruto decided to enter [...]
Right after the tragic 9/11 episode, a series of books and debates (on TV) appeared in the US and Europe trying to figure out exactly what had happened. One of the most common expressions reflecting the bafflement that gripped western societies during the testing period was, ‘why do they hate us?’ This is when a [...]
There is a genuine fear among some (yes, just some) Pakistanis that their society and state is headed straight to becoming a 21st century model of fascism. I say the fear is being noted and felt by just some Pakistanis because it seems to most of their compatriots – especially those squirming within the growing, [...]
How many times have you heard some angry soul lamenting on a TV screen or in your drawing room that Pakistanis are a dud nation because they do not come out on the streets to protest against the many political and economic ills that have besieged this country? On numerous occasions, I’m sure. And yet [...]
Has the judiciary been fair in letting a number of notorious sectarian figureheads and preachers of hate go scot free because the police were ‘unable to offer enough evidence’; or is it a case of the judiciary only willing to take politicians to task on the flimsiest of evidences? Recently, I received an email from [...]
Move over, Jamat-i-Islami (JI), there’s a new danda brigade in town. But this brigade’s reactive gringos prefer mimicking the Tourette Syndrome and assorted incoherent abusive tics almost entirely in cyber space. Of course, by now, we all know who they are: A generation of apolitical urban middle-class young men and women who suddenly (and as [...]
Pakistanis have become a callous case of some glaring social and political contradictions. Its people and politicians, army and holy men can be seen affectionately engaging with the most omnipresent symbols and gadgets of so-called ‘western materialism/imperialism’, and yet many of them do not hesitate to roll out high and mighty examples of oratory about [...]
I’ve twice been to Turkey in the last three years. My second trip there coincided with the 2011 election. Recently I have come across various conservative and pro-establishment personalities, politicians and media men in Pakistan praising the Turkish model of democracy and economics. For example, Imran Khan just returned from Turkey and sounded extremely impressed [...]
’ve always felt that what we were taught (and keep bleating about) as ‘Pakistan Ideology’ has been like a stone around our collective neck. A stone that keeps pulling us down, so much so that today, we as a nation are in danger of vanishing from the radar of engaging states. Through hectic and rigorous [...]
