Feathers of a pariah
Pakistan continues to offer evidence of its lack of respect for the rights of religious minorities. This approach has been inviting censure at international forums. A fortnight ago, the European…
Terms of surrender
Startling disclosures are being made about the mode of talks with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as a result of the decisions reached at the all-party conference (APC). The government may…
Jinnah’s ideals
The recent rediscovery of two audio recordings of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s speeches, made in 1947, has once again restarted the debate about just what sort of vision the founder…
Beyond Jinnah’s secularism
That Mohammad Ali Jinnah was secular is old hat. Two of his recently unearthed radio broadcasts that lay hidden in the archives of All India Radio testify yet again to…
Syria: proxy war
Between them, the Western countries and the Gulf kingdoms have turned the Syrian people's pro-democracy movement into an unrelenting unwinnable civil/sectarian war. As Syria continues to soak in the blood…
Aggressive discrimination
In the mad race for power that has affected participants and spectators alike nobody seems to be bothered about the havoc being wrought by intolerance-driven violence. For several months, the…
Should we be complacent?
The report prepared by Zeenat Hisam and Yasmin Qureshi on Religious minorities in Pakistan for the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler) and launched last Tuesday at the…
Elections and ‘Ideology of Pakistan’
The Election Commission's returning officers, drawn from subordinate judiciary, have been taking vicarious pleasure in applying Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution to determine the qualifications/disqualifications of candidates on…
Love as a counter
There are at least 100 Pakistani families who will not be voting in the forthcoming general elections. They no longer have houses that the Election Commission can visit to verify…
Society at fault
While rushing bills through parliament last week, the government neglected to take up the 23rd Amendment bill, which seeks an increase in the number of seats for minorities. Staging walkouts,…
