Posts Tagged ‘Objectives Resolution’

Pakistan is worried about the rising intolerance in its society. It is a collective version of hate, but is a natural human instinct at the level of the individual. If someone hurts you, it will be your natural response to hate him. At the collective level, however, you can hate someone without first being hurt by him. As an individual, you might [...]

"The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways — I to die and you to live. Which is the better, only God knows."-Socrates (Apology, 42a) After that, Socrates was condemned to death by drinking a mixture containing poison hemlock by the Athenian Ecclesia. This all started when Oracle at Delphi, subservient to Athenian Polis, [...]

The word secularism seems to be the most contentious one in the Pakistani political culture. Anything that is anti-religion or non-religious is dubbed secular; it is understood as a Western concept with no direct connection with Islam; for example, some people might find some Christian or Judaic values or practices secular. The word is used in its [...]

Part I published in the Daily Times: As an ideology and political doctrine, nationalism is a claim set forth on behalf of a body of people claiming to constitute a nation to establish a sovereign state over a specific territory. Once that state comes into being, it has to devise a national identity to distinguish itself from other states. No [...]

What the eye did not see Source: Dawn, 13 Jun, 2010 On May 28 of this year, how many members of the minority Ahmadi community were massacred in cold blood by the ‘student’ fraternity upholding their version of the religion of the majority? The official reaction: silence. Unforgivable! - Photo by Reuters. “Wherein adequate provisions [...]

We have previously published a number of articles on LUBP providing a critical analysis of the "Objectives Resolution" which was the first formal step towards mullahcracy in Pakistan. Today, Dr Safdar Mehmood, whose academic credentials are as dubious as his religious and political impartiality, has written an op-ed in daily Jang in defence of [...]

It is sometimes frustrating and at other times disappointing that the honorable judges of supreme court of Pakistan know exactly what they are supposed to do, however either intentionally or unintentionally they don't do the right things. Yesterday at one point, CJ tried to be appreciative of the 18th amendment and the Parliament to correct an [...]

"Can some bright psychologist work out why Faisal Shahzad, a college graduate, son of a Pakistani air force officer, married with two children, was prompted to do what he did on May Day?" - Photo by AP. The adoption of terrorism tactics can no longer be merely attributed to ignorance, poverty, deprivation or hardship. Many of our [...]

============================ قرار داد مقاصد سے اٹھارویں آئینی ترمیم تک ! ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ایک سفر ، ایک کہانی ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔ قرار داد مقاصد کو قرار داد مذموم مقاصد نہ بنائیے ============================ روشنی اور [...]

Day after dreary day it goes on — a professor, a woman, shot and killed in a rickshaw in Quetta, four policemen blown up in Peshawar, five ‘activists’ shot dead in Karachi, and more, much more. This land has a helmsman of little consequence and the sub-leadership is habitually frugal with the truth, always hoping that lies will sustain [...]

Our political leadership must make up its mind: either it commits itself to non-discriminatory policies on minorities or confesses to bigotry., writes Asma Jahangir. The much-awaited constitutional reforms may have sailed through the National Assembly and Senate but there are trials ahead. Senator Raza Rabbani deserves praise as do the other [...]

Source Daily Times The 18th Amendment reintroduces the requirement for the prime minister of the country to be a Muslim. Pakistan’s slide down the slippery pole of religiosity is quite clear Frederick Douglass — the great 18th century American statesman and abolitionist — once described democracy as a way to take turns. He was a one-man [...]

پارلیمینٹ کو بچاؤ ۔۔۔۔۔۔۔ !! ملک کو بچاؤ قائد  اعظم کے پاکستان کو ایک ملاں (ملا) کا پاکستان بنانے میں جن غلیظ ذہنوں نے اپنا کردار ادا کیا اور قرارداد مقاصد کی منظوری سے لیکر اسلامی جمہوریہ [...]

Dealing with the divides Legal eye Saturday, March 27, 2010 Babar Sattar In October 2009, concerned citizens and activists from all four provinces and Islamabad congregated in Murree to develop a shared vision for peace in Pakistan and consider the role of the civil society in promoting it. The initiative entitled "pathways to peace", led [...]

Contributed by: Aamir Mughal First Constituent Assembly of Pakistan: M.A. Jinnah, Liaquat Ali Khan, Nurul Amin, Allama shabbir Ahmed Usmani, Maulana Akram and Dr I H Qureshi My friend Wajahat Masood has tried to dig the 'Islamic roots' of Pakistan, exposing the infiltration of a conservative Islamic (neo-Deobandi) thought in the fabric [...]

The misery on our faces Times may be hard but why add to the sum of national misery? Some of our afflictions, like the economic downturn and the war raging along the Afghan frontier, may be beyond anyone's control. But some are entirely self-created. We are not a police state in the political sense of the term. This is not a country behind [...]

I. Ideology Drama was a farce rather hoodwinking the whole Muslim Population The strength of the Muslim League in the Muslim-majority provinces was going to be put to the test during the 1945-46 election campaign. Consequently in the public meetings and mass contact campaigns the Muslim League openly employed Islamic sentiments, slogans and [...]

In a recent TV debate on this subject, the applause meter would have given the win to Islamism. The debaters, three on each side, faced a small mixed audience — quite a few girls, many wearing hijabs, also young men in jeans and a handful of beards. The ‘secularists’ appealed, in measured tones, to the intellect, made references to [...]

Thanks: Raza Rumi and Marvi Sirmed This is a historic speech and a document that posterity will re-examine because of its ever increasing influence on the amalgamation of religion and politics in Pakistan. Seldom has one piece of legislation caused so much trepidation. Here is the text of the address of Sris Chandra Chattopadhya in Pakistan's [...]

Thanks: Hamza Alavi Internet Archive Religious fundamentalism has become a powerful and dangerous force in Pakistan, due mainly to the opportunism of successive political leadership that has pandered to it. Militant sectarian religious groups and parties, led by half-educated and bigoted mullahs,many of them armed to the teeth, are holding our [...]

Incompetent or do-nothing or internally divided parliaments, however constitutionally or otherwise appointed, failed to satisfy the people’s demands. They therefore left a vacuum of effectiveness, into which stepped the more action-oriented, better organised institutions: the civil bureaucracy and the army Poor President Zardari! Here, on the [...]

Many analysts and rightist politicians scoff at the idea of a secular state. They have failed to understand that mixing of religion with politics has brought us today to the most violent juncture of our history. It gives enough space to the fundamentalists to operate in the country with impunity The Iranian constitution provides for an [...]

In the words of Benazir Bhutto, democracy: "... is a birth right too often snatched at the point of the gun from the citizens by the very men who are to guard and defend us. This can stop to enable the people and the country to march with confidence and courage, with pride and dignity, with progress and prosperity into the twenty first [...]

After the tragic events of 9/11, Pakistani establishment finally had to set aside its traditional ideological hangovers, and instead raised a different slogan, “Pakistan First”. It was a matter of coercion or choice one can’t say with a degree of confidence; nevertheless it was a visible policy shift from the ideologically loaded past. This [...]

The special committee on constitutional reform, set up to frame recommendations with regard to the construct of the 18th Amendment, is likely to come up with its recommendations soon. The committee’s (more...)

Friday, November 06, 2009Talat FarooqAfter the government crackdown on certain madrassas in Islamabad recently, the representatives of the Wafaq-ul-Madaris aired their indignation on TV channels. They criticised the action on the grounds that madrassas have always been weapon/terror-free -- including, if you please, the Lal Masjid -- and, as such, [...]

By Ardeshir CowasjeeSunday, 01 Nov, 2009 (Dawn)Had the Mideast and S.Asia heeded Jinnah’s advice on religion and state the world may have been in better shape today. —Photo by AFPOf late, amidst the murder and mayhem accompanied by an absence of government or any signs of governance, a group of citizens has been circulating an email message [...]

Religion and politics Rubina SaigolMonday, September 21, 2009 The writer is an independent researcher specialising in social developmentIn the past few months, there has been a noticeable increase in religiously-motivated violence against minority communities, especially in Punjab. The most recent case is that of [...]

Clashing interpretations of Islam Sufi Muhammad of the TNSM and the Swat Taliban led by the TTP have rejected the Darul Qaza judges appointed by the NWFP government in the Malakand-Swat region. Sufi Muhammad’s explanation for rejecting the appointment of “judges” where he would have appointed “qazis” could have been endorsed by a [...]

Myths vs facts about fundamentalism Part I Saturday, February 21, 2009 by Rubina Saigol Religious fundamentalist movements of all shades and hues have gripped large parts of the world and [...]

The end of the Kashmir jihadTuesday, December 30, 2008By Aakar PatelOn Jan 12, 2002, President Pervez Musharraf banned Laskhar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad. He promised that “no organisation would be allowed to carry out terrorism on the pretext of Kashmir.”On Sept 17, 2002, Jammu and Kashmir went to vote. In the two months before polling, 570 [...]