No place for Ahmadis in Imran Khan’s Naya Pakistan
Imran Khan’s latest video sums up everything that is wrong with our politicians. He has long been bandied about as a saviour and messiah, come to rescue this country and build towards a ‘Naya Pakistan’. On paper, he is educated, courageous and relentless in pursuit of success. His cricket days endeared him to millions in this country and his charity work is exemplary. I do not doubt his honesty and I do not doubt his intentions. Just like any other political candidate, I seek to judge him based on what he says and what he does. His video, however, where ...
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Writing for minorities isn’t easy
Journalism as a whole needs courage, and more often than not, a journalist has to face pressure from the field for rendering his professional duties. But sometimes, a reporter comes across a situation which he never expects to be in. You may think attack, threatening phone calls or encountering indecent attitude from people are unusual but, in fact, they are routine for a journalist in this country. However, I want to share an unusual experience, which had an everlasting effect on me. It was October 2012, when my family and I went to my would-be in-laws with a proposal of marriage. ...
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How do you live in a country that’s killing you?
I’m not in Pakistan at the moment, but whenever I travel I leave my heart behind in its hands for safekeeping. I keep thinking about it, like a woman thinks about her beloved, talking to people about it, looking for news about its well-being. So it was with horror that I learned about the bombing in Quetta on January 10 that killed nearly a hundred Shias as they were at a religious gathering. On the same day, bombs went off in Swat and Karachi, killing yet more innocent people. We lost a wonderful human rights activist, Irfan Ali, who had attended last year’s ...
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Lincoln: Steven Spielberg’s new oscar-contending masterpiece
To get right to the point Lincoln was a great movie. What made it so? Well therein lays the romp. Time and Memorial writers have vainly tried to measure the chalice of greatness from comparisons to Greek mythology to the use of words that are rarely entertained by the common man’s diction. My belief is that the explanation lies in simplicity. What is it that garners tones of reverence and sparks the flame of excitement when an audience sees the “directed by Steven Spielberg” credit flash on a screen? It is his uncanny ability to tell a story. The bedrock of his success ...
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Ethnicity trumps humanity in Quetta
My city paints its streets with red as I attempt to write this blog. Tears trickle down my face as I reminisce over Quetta, once known as the city of peace. There was a time when people would take shelter in this harmonious city. Now people run from it. My head aches from the blasts and my heart longs for home. I still remember when I was a mere six-year-old; this city flourished with love and hospitality. My childhood memories are fresh and alive. I remember frolicking up and down the uneven streets of Quetta accompanied by my Baloch, Pathan, Punjabi ...
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Reconstitution of a secular Pakistan
The past has contradicted the present. In his famous speech of 1947, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah said, “Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims – not in the religious sense because that is the personal faith of each individual – but in the political sense as citizens of the State.” The excerpt bears witness that Pakistan was destined to be a land where religious identities are subsumed into the fabric of unity, let alone one where religious minorities are discriminated against. “All citizens are equal before law and are entitled to equal protection of law”, is ...
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Ahmadi plight: Dead but not resting in peace
Pakistan is the bastion of Islam, and Muslims in Pakistan the vanguards of the Islamic movement. They will shortly take over the world and govern it with Shariah laws. The only problem is for us to draw a consensus as to who really is a Muslim; the Sunnis or the Shias, sub categorised further into Barelvis, Ithna Asharis, Deobandis, Wahabis, the Ismailis or any other less popular sects? We’re at least a step closer to achieving that end. Ahmadis are non-Muslims, and our constitution corroborates that stand; if people from that sect still decide to be tactless enough, so as ...
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If you don’t convert, I can’t work with you
September 18, 2012 The past three months had been quite busy for me since I was working day and night researching a business venture. Being a new concept within the market, the prospects for the project were pretty high provided that it was carried out properly. However, I was short on the amount of funds required for the project. Eager and motivated to step into the world of business, I contacted a friend who introduced me to his uncle who, in turn, showed interest in my project. His uncle was a retired senior government official and had sufficient experience of heading ...
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Blasphemy and minority plight: Pakistan is no different from Burma
As the rest of the country goes about its way, having just celebrated another joyous Eid, spare a thought for a little girl with special needs, languishing in a juvenile jail. She is probably all alone, and scared. With her condition, she very well might not even know the reason she is in there. But ask her neighbours, some who are frothing at the teeth to have a go at her, and they will tell you that she deserves to die. Rimsha Masih, an 11-year-old Pakistani girl of the Christian faith, who reportedly suffers from Down Syndrome, was arrested on allegations that she ...
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Have some mercy, Pakistan!
For 65 years, Pakistanis have struggled to agree on an identity that defines us as a nation. However, a sickening incident that occurred on Friday could serve as a reminder of the one thing no sane, literate person can question. An 11-year-old Christian girl in Islamabad was booked for blasphemy after being accused of burning a Noorani Qaida, a booklet used to familiarise children with Arabic as written in the Quran. The girl is believed to have Down Syndrome. While enough to explain and even forgive her for her actions if they are true, it did not save her or ...
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