Changing Pakistan after Peshawar: The Role of the State
Three long, agonizing days have passed since the unspeakable events in Peshawar on December 16. As people everywhere grapple with a tragedy that is beyond comprehension, the one thing that unites all...
View ArticleWaiting in Bethlehem
Turning and turning in the widening gyreThe falcon cannot hear the falconer;Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and...
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Pakistan: Litfests and Bookfairs – Two Worlds? by Ajmal Kamal
The following is a note from Ajmal Kamal (who edits the Urdu literary magazine Aaj, runs City Press in Karachi, and is an institution in his own right). Comments welcome. My own first thought...
View ArticleA hectic holiday season
I trust everyone had a good holiday season. December happens to be a particularly hectic month for me as the exact first half is my birthday, followed my parent's wedding anniversary then the Iranian...
View Article"we are muslims"
...“We have source besides the (Pakistan) army…people in Kashmir are fighting....just need to incite them....we can fight with the (Indian) army from both the front and back....we are...
View ArticlePower of the Monarchy
If Baby Prince George has a daughter then potentially we could see British history repeating itself uniquely in one single family (the Windsors)Victoria - longest reigning monarch (Hanoverian)Edward...
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Understanding the power of religion
RUSSELL: When I look back on my own career and the history of British and American diplomacy, one of our biggest mistakes has been to underestimate religion’s huge galvanizing power. We should not try...
View ArticleGood Nutrition Good Life
The beautiful Samantha Gilbert lectures us on why we need to replace processed food with natural ones. I'm truly surprised by how little concern people take to...
View Articlemarkets today. 09.01.15
Main news items for today being that Greek debt is set to rise in the wake of the expected election in late Jan. If oil breaches $40 per barrel than all bets are off. Also important to see the last oil...
View ArticleWhose fault is it?
This sentiment emerged in conversation with a fellow Pakistani where I said "it's not the fault of Pakistan, it's the fault of Pakistanis."I've moved on with my life and live a fairly acculturated...
View ArticleIs caste system a curse
http://m.thehindu.com/data/just-5-per-cent-of-indian-marriages-are-intercaste/article6591502.ece/
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Starting the week
Where do we see the markets go from here? Well I for one think that despite the plunging price of crude oil we are seeing an ongoing recovery. It's always puzzled me that just how quickly the world has...
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My prospective Hindu father-in-law quoting Baha'u'llah
I recently read that as few as 5% of marriages in India are inter-caste and PK's message of religious tolerance in South Asia couldn't come anytime sooner.I'm grateful that my Hindu father-in-law to be...
View ArticleWhat is wrong with the National Front?
It seems apart from the plunging price of oil the FT seems replete instead with warning about democracy. I intensely dislike and distrust nationalism (apathy/dislike for the "Other") while I condone...
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Unreal Islam
The word “takfīr” (pronounced “tuck – feer”) is one of the most fearsome words in the Islamic lexicon. Deriving from the same root as “kāfir” – infidel – it refers to the act of declaring someone who...
View ArticleIs Showering a white people thing?
http://uk.eonline.com/news/614318/naya-rivera-says-showering-daily-is-a-white-people-thing-watch-nowAfter her comments, Rosie O'Donnell proceeded to call upon a stunned African-American woman in the...
View ArticleWho reads BP anymore?
Leave a comment if you do; I'm not expecting many to be honest even if we do have robust viewing figures.The first couple years of the blog had an excellent comments section especially when we were...
View ArticleThe power of blasphemy
There is never a point to deliberately offend; in fact BP is a perennial victim of that.There was a time in our first year when we were hitting a tipping point and then we became a target, which led to...
View ArticleSlaughter of blonde Muslims
"So, in Bosnia, the case was there were white, blond-haired, blue-eyed Muslims who were being slaughtered and identified as Muslims. That really touched me."The great brown hope for every British...
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Blasphemy, blasphemy laws, Pakistan, Charlie Hebdo..
I just picked this out of a past post about the cruel blasphemy execution (by being burned alive) of a Christian couple in Pakistan. I am posting this here because blasphemy is in the news again and I...
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