History itself is the best teacher for mankind. People, who learn from it, record their names in the history as successful. These lessons and the examples keep on cumulating day by day as the time waits for none and keeps on flowing like water streams endlessly by turning future into present and the present into […]

“We are sorry for the losses suffered by the Pakistani military. We are committed to working closely with Pakistan and Afghanistan to prevent this from ever happening again”, said Hillary Rodham Clinton to Hina Rabbani Khar on a telephone call, and Pakistan reopens its border to NATO supply convoys into Afghanistan after a seven-month blockade since […]

It is extremely sad to admit that the profession of journalism in Pakistan has suffered nightmares and moral atrocities for decades now. • Biased reporting, twisting the history for vested interests and igniting hatred is on the timelines and news of the hour. • The volume of biased reporting upon the educated masses has increasingly […]

It was a sunny day on 12th February 1949 when the leader of Muslim Brotherhood, Hasan al Banna was invited for a meeting with an Egyptian government minister in Cairo. At the venue, the minister never appeared and hence the brotherhood’s leader had to leave. While he was on the street to get a taxi, […]

The instinctual problem that arises with democracy is the belief that democracy originated in the west. The history of democracy is therefore presented as troublesome. The Ancient Greeks, who are told to be the founders of “democracy”, would probably be shocked and be dismissive of modern democracies. As modern representative governments are radically different in […]

Islam is very democratic in its application of things. After all, in its truest essence, democracy is not only elections, but a variety of things. These include pluralism, free speech, freedom of association, basic human rights and so on. Islam encourages all of these within its own framework. As far as the objection that in […]

Is there anything wrong with the idea that people should have the right to rule? Many people argue that there actually is something unacceptable and Islam does not permit such a thing; a blasphemy, maybe.  To say that the people have the right to rule, they argue, is to give away a right reserved for God alone […]

Our nation is obsessed with ‘gates’, be it Watergate or Bill Gates; (though the latter is considered a plural by many). Thus, it has become customary to associate the word gate with every scandal, whether it is  Memo-gate, Mehran-gate, Veena-gate or the latest Bahria-gate; the word ‘gate’ is there as a symbolic representation. Do these gates open […]

It is true that while Islam may not be a proponent of liberal western democracy as we know it, but in its very essence Islam is quite democratic. “Consultation” is a fundamental concept in Islam. If anything, the Islamic ideal is nearest to a constitutionally restricted democracy whereas democratic principles are ordained under, within and […]

Budget 2012 was being presented in National Assembly and it reminded me about my lab attendant. His newly born daughter died last month during labour at home  in a far flung village of KPK . He was not able to afford the delivery expenses in hospital and therefore he opted for labour at home. I […]