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How the Virgin Mary brings together different faiths in Pakistan and India
For many members of threatened minority communities, places of worship offer solace. Last year, more than 70 Christians were killed while celebrating Easter in a park in 2016. The forced conversion of...
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‘At once silent and eloquent’: a glimpse of Pakistani visual poetry
Whose mischief created a world of beseechers? Each petitioner is seen wearing a garment of paperThis line from Ghalib refers to what he claimed to be ancient Persian tradition of petitioners wearing...
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The hidden 'evil' of Valentine’s Day
We have been warned over and over again about terrorists and extremists. These warnings are entirely biased. They only speak of stereotype terrorists and extremists; or those who may actually be, and...
View ArticleHow shrines helped indigenise Islam and Christianity in South Asia
The blog was originally published on January 9, 2017.At least once a month, I drive down to Lahore from Islamabad using the Motorway. Just before the Jhelum River, as the Salt Range and Potohar Plateau...
View ArticleIf terrorists burst in, where is the nearest exit I can push my brother towards?
It hurts, deeply. Lahore. Quetta. Mohmand. Peshawar. Sehwan.I wonder if we'll ever live without this sense of fear – the fear that you or your loved one will never return as they step out of the...
View ArticleDamadam mast Qalandar is a cry of rebellion against established orders
Sehwan is different. Unlike the more officially-accepted shrines of Pakistan, such as the Data Ganj Bakhsh in Lahore, Bari Imam in Islamabad, and the lustrous tombs of the Suhrawardi sufis in Multan,...
View ArticleHina Shahnawaz's murder shows Pakistani men won’t let women break free of...
Work and what it means for the female franchise — independence in industry, social emancipation, progress from our primitive psychology and a need to be better than the women before us — has belittled...
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As Pakistan cracks down on love, hate makes deeper inroads into the country
The Pakistani state has a unique ability to find itself in farcical situations.On Monday, February 13, the Islamabad High Court banned Valentine’s Day celebrations across the country on the eve of the...
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The breathtaking ruins of Mohenjo-Daro have an ancient tale to tell
Mohenjo-Daro is one of the oldest settlements in the Indus Valley Civilisation. It is believed to have been built 5,000 years ago in an area which today is in the Sindh province of Pakistan. Most...
View ArticleA world without written words: the remnants of Pakistan's oral tradition
A few years ago, I had gone on a long trip to south Punjab in Pakistan, where I wound my way through various Sufi shrines belonging to several traditions, some similar and others distinct. I was...
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Jhulay Lal's cradle of tolerance
This article was originally published on June 3, 2015. One of my colleagues asked me some time ago:‘Can you believe that Hindus and Muslims can pray at the same place simultaneously?’‘Well, of course...
View ArticleIt's time we stopped using 'kala' as an insult and respected the...
February is Black History Month in the United States. It originated in 1926 with the efforts of the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History, founded by historian Carter G....
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Why we should be concerned that our children are growing immune to terrorist...
We don’t realise how terrorist attacks affect our children indirectly. Have we ever stopped to think how it is changing our younger generation’s behaviour pattern?I will never forget the conversation I...
View ArticleHow Pakistan can save more lives at the site of bomb blasts
As a doctor who has worked at sites of suicide bombings, I have realised that Pakistan is in a far more deplorable state in terms of emergency medical assistance than I had thought. Countless lives can...
View ArticleWhat does Trump's Executive Order mean for Pakistanis?
On Friday January 27, 2017, United States President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order titled “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States.” The text of the order...
View ArticleWhat does the recent shooting in Quebec City mean for minorities in Canada?
There is no safe place left anymore.It is hard to imagine a quieter suburb than Sainte Foy and a town quainter than Quebec City. But this façade of calm and peace collapsed Sunday night when at least...
View ArticleWhy liberal politics is no answer to prevent the disappearances of activists
One of the most common liberal responses to the excesses committed by the powerful in Pakistan is to call for people to ‘speak out’. This familiar refrain, voiced often in the aftermath of the January...
View ArticleChina, not America, likely behind Hafiz Saeed's house arrest
The biggest question about Hafiz Saeed’s house arrest isn’t why, but why now?After all, we’ve been here before. He was placed under house arrest in December 2008, just days after the Mumbai terror...
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Pakistan: The lesser-known histories of an ancient land
The first people Long before the emergence of the great Indus Valley Civilisation on the banks of River Indus 5,000 years ago, the earliest known people to make present-day Pakistan their home were the...
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Helping people at Chicago airport is the beginning of my fight against...
My father always wanted me to be a lawyer. Like many Muslim parents, he was thinking of a job that was safe, secure, and lacking in ostentation. So I went to law school, passed the Bar Exam in my first...
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