The FSC in our hybrid society
Columbia University. Her dissertation was on the conflict between Pakistani liberals and the ulema and Islamists. There has recently been a lively debate between Feisal Naqvi, Salman Akram Raja, Afiya…
What is the extremist narrative?
The government and the state are in a dilemma over the extremist religious narrative: if they do identify its broad features they will invite the wrath of the community of…
Gratitude for bigotry?
Legal eye There has been a thoughtful and eloquent exchange between Feisal Naqvi, Salman Raja and Afiya Shehrbano over the last few weeks regarding the Federal Shariat Court’s utility from…
The reek of denial
Legal eye The army chief claimed that in 2016 Pakistan would see end of terror in all its manifestations. Terrorists responded by launching a spate of vicious attacks in Quetta…
How far we have fallen
References to ‘Islamic’ terrorism and Islam as a religion that promotes violence and intolerance are commonplace. What are consistently and conveniently forgotten are the origins of Islam and the message…
When Islamophobia turns deadly
‘Vaccinate’ against Shariah; demands to ‘publicly announce allegiance to America and our laws’ etc are a few recent statements by US political leaders pointing to the level of toxicity and…
The ulema’s marriage preoccupation
The one progressive piece of legislation passed in our history was Ayub Khan’s Family Laws Ordinance, 1963. It proclaimed the birth of no women’s revolution but merely put some brakes,…
Beyond sound and fury
It is worth asking what distinguishes west-based Pakistani academic-activists from the native liberal-activists that they berate. Products of the same class, privilege and educational opportunities, the only obvious distinction seems…
Culture of impunity
On May 27, two crimes that shocked the world took place, one in the morning in Lahore, Pakistan and the other at night in Uttar Pradesh, India. Three young women…
The book remains the same
Two anti-national processes are simultaneously underway. Together they largely define the wretched degeneration of the political process in the country today. One is the fraudulent and prolonged charade being perpetrated…
