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Has Lahore forgotten why January 26 was chosen as India's Republic Day?
The Ferozepur road, one of Lahore’s arterial thoroughfares, evokes a lot of nostalgia. Starting from the Walled City, connecting several small ancient hamlets on the way, including Ichra, Mozang, Amar...
View ArticleI'll never forget the day Burhan Wani was killed
This blog was originally published on October 29, 2016.The news first broke when I was in the north of Kashmir in Vijbal, a town of less than a hundred households.My cousins had invited me for dinner...
View Article'Security situation' is the reason Taimur was shot. What is 'security...
In a police state, we all live on a knife’s edge. And the slightest error in judgment on part of a citizen may have lethal consequences. This ever-present fear is inconsistent with our vision of a free...
View ArticleDear Imran, a leader who wants to fix Pakistan would never propose a US visa ban
On January 27, US President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order which barred nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries from traveling to the US for 90 days, as well as indefinitely suspending the...
View ArticleAs a Jewish person, I won’t stand idly by as Muslims are targeted in North...
My grandfather Morris wasn’t even 14 years old when he had to flee Kozmyn, a small village in Russia, by himself in 1904. Geopolitics had invaded the young boy’s life. The Czar’s soldiers had come to...
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Here is how Pakistanis actually reacted to Trump's Muslim ban
From a Pakistani TV soap character Dear … sob sob … Sartaj Trump …Please …sob sob … sartaj, don’t put a travel ban on us. Please don’t behave like my mother-in-law … sob sob … even though, I think it...
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By grabbing a cobra by its head, one woman changed her Tharparkar tribe forever
From inside a straw hut she had built, Meeran pulled out a small, woven basket and opened the lid covered in a swatch of azure blue fabric. With quick, nimble fingers she nudged the coiled cobra...
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Concerned US and Canadian Muslims weigh in on rising Islamophobia
Last month, North America witnessed instances of blatant Islamophobia and religious and racial hatred. Not long after the new American president Donald Trump announced a visa ban on seven...
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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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