Some wars haunt like recurring nightmares long after its initiators pack up their bags and quit. Exactly ten years ago, the United States invaded Iraq ruled by the despotic Saddam Hussein on flimsy pretexts. It was an intervention which changed the world. The impact of this tragic war was monumental. A sober reckoning is needed to avoid repetition of such colossal follies....

Therefore, Jinnah’s Pakistan is an Islamic state, which defines who a Muslim is, excludes those Muslims it does not like and is not very democratic. Imagining it in any other way is living in a dreamland and refusing to accept the reality. However, this does not mean that Pakistan is unworkable. Pakistan might be saddled with issues of the past, but surely we can accept and solve them, if we want.

This is a reality. Not only have the urban liberals been shifting their loyalties towards ethnic groups of their choice, ever since the 1990s, many former progressives and liberals in urban areas have also been moving towards centre-right parties such as the PML-N. The complaint is obvious: PPP has not learned much from its founder Z A. Bhutto’s folly of conceding too much ground to the rightists and the feudal elite...

Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the self-confessed leader of the banned outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, may think that Pakistan is the best Islamic nation for the Bollywood star, Shahrukh Khan to move to, but it is India that is arguably the best Muslim country today. Muslims in India enjoy complete political and religious liberty, a free legislative environment to undertake economic and educational initiatives, a vibrant television media and cinema that teach liberal coexistence, and access to a vast number of universities and institutes of modern education....

Lenin famously asked, “What can be done?” The tragic answer is probably nothing. Given the absence of an intellectually rigorous concept for governing and complete understanding of why today’s world is so different, muddling through by default becomes the answer. Unfortunately, given the paradigm shifts noted above, muddling through is very high risk....

There was Sattar talking to some media men and I saw no bullet holes on his body and nor was he clutching his chest, gasping for air. As the city settled back to normality when the MQM finally took back its decision to strike, it seems many on Twitter were somewhat disappointed. What an anti-climax to what seemed to be such an exciting day to Tweet and Facebook....

Jamaat-Shibir also spreads intolerance against its opponents, including those considered to be atheists. Recently, five students of my alma mater North South University have been arrested for the killing of blogger Rajib. They claim they were “performing their religious duties”, under the influence of a Shibir leader. Ironically, the predecessors of Jamaat-Shibir supported an atheist before Partition to form a homeland for Muslim....

An essential part of democracy is freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of thought and freedom of press. These are considered the essential rights that allow people to be adequately informed and able to vote according to their own interests. Democracy is not just how the majority comes to power but how the majority treats the minority when in power....

Such a study is also important because rapid urbanisation in Pakistan has affected the growing political ambitions of the country’s middle and lower-middle-classes, and the fact is that even though elections in Pakistan as a whole are still not being contested on issue-basis, these issues do come into play in big cities. I have chosen four cities: Karachi (in Sindh); Lahore (Punjab); Peshawar (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and Quetta (Balochistan).....

In the age of face-to-face fighting, it perhaps made sense to talk of courage and gallantry. But in the age of science, believing in heroes and martyrs is futile. Killing is merely technical work, valour is a meaningless concept and war is stupid and irrational. While our emotions resemble those of our remote ancestors who clubbed and beat one another to death, cultural evolution has drastically changed all the conditions of human life.....

They are weary of crossing unforgiving seas and walking harsh terrains seeking mere survival. More voices must join those who are speaking out in support of their rights. ASEAN must break away from its silence and tediously guarded policies and western countries must be confronted by their own civil societies: no normalization with Rangoon when innocent men, women and children are being burned alive in their own homes.....

Similar treatment is offered to females with a western background. By and large, a flamboyant western girl is shown on television, defying our cultural values. Her attire is revealing instead of concealing; her values are liberal instead of traditional, and her conduct rebellious instead of scrupulous. She is independent, assertive and bold, therefore unacceptable, immoral and disreputable....

The acts of violence led by the Islamists, Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) are tormenting our neighboring Bangla Desh, more than 50 dead, injuries and destruction of Hindu, Budhha temples amongst other losses. Its spill over is also being felt in Kolkata to some extent (Feb-March 2013). In Kolkata a strong crowd owing allegiance to Muslim communalism, different organizations like Minority Youth Federation, and others went on rampage…..

Today as crores of Indians feel fearful and insecure, or feel ashamed at what is happening around us, it seems that we wish to confirm the Marxian axiom that religion is the opium of the people and that “man makes religion, religion does not make man”. It is tragic that this wonderful land that at different times in history gave space to many religions — Buddhism, Jainism, Agnosticism and Atheism, competing with each other to evolve the profound Sanatan Dharam (called Hinduism today)...

During a bilateral counter-terrorism meeting last January in North Block, a top home ministry official made an unusual request to a visiting Saudi Arabian diplomat. He said as the custodian of two Holy Mosques, Saudi Arabia should attempt to delegitimise violence in the name of Islam. Seeking to stop religious radicalisation of youth through internet, the official suggested that clerics of the two mosques should engage the youth through a website or interactive dialogue or televised lectures to give correct interpretations of Islam....