Spare me the Zionist conspiracies
“The parts are Jewish!” screams Barry, an ill-tempered white convert to Islam, played to perfection by Nigel Lindsay in the critically acclaimed film, Four Lions. The car has broken down and rather than admit to his friends that he hasn’t had it fixed, he claims, “Jews invented spark plugs to control global traffic.” We’re meant to laugh at outrageous, outlandish accusations such as this, but this scene could be used to portray a sad reality in Pakistan. It highlights what is wrong with a large segment of our society. Many Pakistanis seem to have this unhealthy obsession with conspiracy theories, especially those ...
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The weapon of ideology to fight terrorism
Why lambast Pakistan? Why criticise the Pakistan army and religious fanatics? Why can’t you offer some solutions to fix the grave security situation responsible for our economic turmoil? We sacrificed our citizens, sports, tourism, hotel industries and foreign direct investment etcetera so why highlight Pakistan’s problems rather than offering solutions? Above stated are questions I have faced over the past few years, during my conversation with Pakistanis across the world. In this blog, I have tried to analyse these questions and also tried to highlight solutions to terrorism (‘public enemy number two’ after inflation). Just as a doctor needs to make a proper diagnosis before ...
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Message to literalists: You are a minority
The Pakistani Taliban’s suicide bombers attacked the shrine of Syed Ahmad Sakhi Sarwar in Dera Ghazi Khan district, killing 50 people. The dead include children, women, the elderly and handicapped. Self-destructing suicide bombers who kill innocent people show that they are against the Islamic ideology of saving humanity from self-destruction. Taliban’s confused ideology The Taliban (including Wahabis, Salafis and all Muslims who kill other Muslims) cast a shadow on their status as Muslims. The classical scholar Hasan alBasri calls Muslims who kill other Muslims “the grave sinners”, whereas Wasil ibn Ata called such Muslims neither “believers” nor “non-believers”. Ironically, the predecessor of all ...
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Pakistan ka matlab kya…who cares?
Six odd decades after independence, we are still squabbling over the ideology of Pakistan, what it represents and what it means to be a Pakistani. With the rise of social media and greater access to information, the urban youth are starting to challenge the official narrative of history. And hence, today the battle of the ideology of Pakistan is in full swing. To me, Pakistan is an undeniable truth, much like Israel. Pakistan is a sovereign country – whether one agrees with the original ideology it is based upon is irrelevant. Like Israel, Pakistan is on the map and must ...
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1947: A teenager’s memories of Independence
After all these years I can still smell the stench of death and half burnt timber. I still see mountains of rubble as if it was August 1947 in Lahore. I was 13 years old, tense and worried. I could see columns of smoke rising over the city’s rooftops. Speculations were ripe. They said Lahore was going to be a part of Pakistan but the inclusion of Gurdaspur, the area where my relatives lived, was doubtful. I did not know what would happen to the rest of the Muslims all over India. My own relatives lived in East Punjab, and I anxiously ...
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Was Jinnah’s Pakistan ‘Islamic’?
Whether the country that came into being on August 14, 1947 was actually intended either for the Muslims or Islam is a matter that still invites enormous room for debate. This question has always meddled with our ideological roots; but even after 64 long years, we are not anywhere close to the answer. This confusion can be held for transforming our country into a mighty farce. Jinnah the liberal Jinnah, as it comes out, was a liberal to his bones. Why, he dressed up in sleek, hip western suits, drove imported cars, conversed in a foreign language and never sported a ...
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Imran Khan and the MQM: Similar yet distant
Imran Khan is well known for his work in the development sector. He is also a national sports hero and hopes to bring reforms that will change the status quo and bring progress and prosperity in Pakistan by doing away with the corrupt and feudal controlled system. Khan leads a pro-democracy center-right political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf or “Pakistan’s Movement for Justice” – justice, which is said to be the main agenda for reform. He offers an ideology which is very similar to the center-left political parties, but he appears more interested in educated professionals, who are self-made and renowned international figures ...
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All of us are corrupt… for a reason
Corruption screams across headlines almost daily in this land of the pure. From Pakistani cricket scandals, to dubious land allotments we’ve all become very frustrated with corruption in our daily lives. However, many times the debate about corruption in the media is highly simplistic and revolves around slogans of ‘the government should get rid of corruption!’ By highlighting some interesting perspectives, I aim to show corruption from a different lens. Corruption has two broad aspects to it: the first kind is attributed to man’s inherent evil nature. Man has impulses within him that long for power, wealth and fame. The ...
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How to fight the Taliban… with Islam
Pakistan just can’t get a break. If it is not being drowned by floods, it is being set ablaze by suicide bombers. On Friday, at least 53 people were killed and 197 injured in a suicide bombing targeting a Shia Muslim rally in Quetta. A day before, three bombs exploded at a Shia procession in Lahore, with a mounting death toll of 35 people and wounding over 170. The Taliban have taken responsibility for these attacks and boldly asserted that Shias are their targets. The argument that the Taliban use to justify their actions is simple, Shias are non-Muslims and apostates, ...
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Where sufism stands
Sufism is a complex and cross-cutting belief system in Pakistan. Even Deobandis believe in Sufism. Naqshbandi, the major Sufi cult in Pakistan, is mainly comprised of the Deobandis. It is interesting that Maulana Masood Azhar, head of the major terrorist group Jaish-e-Muhammad, is also believer of Sufism and has restricted his followers to the practices of the Naqshbandi cult. To further complicate the intermingling of beliefs and practices, the Barelvis, who are considered representatives of Sufism in Pakistan, are not free from pro-militant jihadi tendencies. In the Kashmir insurgent movement during the 1990′s the Barelvis were quite prominent. Some Barelvi militant ...
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