On being called a traitor
In an ironic turn of events, the Sindh Assembly paid a historic tribute to the late Prof Waris Mir on June 15. The resolution condemned the remarks of Punjab’s Information…
A critique of three scholars
Some of my readers have asked me to write more on historiography in Pakistan other than the writers such as Ali Abbas Jalalpuri, Dr Mubarak Ali, and Sibte Hasan. In…
The people’s historian
Writing about the problems of historiography in Pakistan, Dr Mubarak Ali has pointed out that we are obsessed with the role of personalities, the Two-Nation theory, and religious feelings. He…
The people’s historian
Dr Mubarak Ali tells us that there has not been much worthwhile research on the Arab era in Sindh in any of the languages including English, Sindhi, and even Urdu.…
A flawed system of governance
A Muslim majority state was envisaged by its founder Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah to ensure conducive conditions for the Muslims of British-India for socio-economic, cultural and religious development. Pakistan geographically…
The ME conundrum
I am not the Oracle of Delphi. Nor am I Mehwish Hayat who tweets on every subject. Perhaps if she were to show more skin, people might take note. The…
Intolerance without boundaries
Intolerance does not have a religion; it is a state of mind and conduct existing in all countries and societies in different degrees. It is also a basic inhuman trait…
The threat of Modi
Indian Prime Minister Narendra during the election campaign in Maharashtra promised to confer the highest Indian honour of ‘Bharat Ratna’ on Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, the founder of the Hindu Mahasaba,…
Journalism: an alternative history: Part – II
Another good book on the alternative history of the media in the 1980s is ‘Mun Gharhat Aurat’ (Concocted woman) published in 1997. The Simorgh Collective of Lahore reviewed the presentation of women in the media during General Zia’s regime. Neelam Hussain, Nasreen Shah, Fareeda Sher, and others did the research that was translated into Urdu by Rubina Saigol. The Simorgh Collective had started this study in 1985 by observing the role of the media in projecting women during the years of General Zia’s Islamization programme which aimed at imposing obsolete ideas on society by legislative and media manipulation.…
The marsiya transformed
The tragedy of Karbala is rooted in the consciousness of Muslims. In the Subcontinent, this has found poetic expression in the classical tradition of the marsiya which eulogizes Imam Hussain…
