Liberals and Liberalism Archive

منٹو کے جنم دن پہ فلم ڈائریکٹر نندتا داس کا خط منٹو کے نام- نندتا داس: ڈئیر منٹو صاحب، جنم دن مبارک ! شوٹنگ کے پاگل پن ، چیلنج کی کثرت کے درمیان ،تم مجھے پرسکون رہنے کی طاقت دیتے ہو۔اور پختہ عزم کے ساتھ چیزیں جیسے وہ ہیں اور ان کے بارے میں ویسا

Why liberals are losing – Pervez Hoodbhoy: LIBERALS in Pakistan have been an endangered species for quite a while. How many dodos remain? Nobody quite knows, but a day after the assassination of Governor Salmaan Taseer in 2011, the press secretary of the Jamaat-i-Islami, Farid

مارکسزم سے لبرل انحراف: بھائی وجاہت مسعود کے جواب میں – شاداب مرتضیٰ: مکرمی وجاہت مسعود صاحب نے مارکسزم کے حوالے سے اپنے ایک تازہ تبصرے میں بعض نکات اٹھائے ہیں جنہیں انہوں نے مارکسزم سے اپنے انحراف کی وجہ بتایا ہے. چونکہ ان سمیت ہر شخص کو مارکسزم سے انحراف کا

روشنی، زالان، لشکر بھنگوی اور دیگر ترقی پسند پاکستانی ویب سائٹس کے بارے دیوبندی مدرسے کا مضحکہ خیز فتوی: لاہور کے ایک مدرسے نے روشنی کے بارے میں ایک فتویٰ جاری کیا ہے جس میں کہا گیا ہے کہ جو لوگ روشنی کی پوسٹ کو لائک کرتے ہیں یا شئر کرتے ہیں انسے رشتے داری جائز نہیں. A

اداریہ: جعلی جمہوریت بچاؤ اتحاد، دیوبندی وہابی ریاست بناؤ اتحاد ہے: پاکستان کے دارالحکومت اسلام آباد اور پنجاب بھر میں وفاقی اور صوبائی حکومتوں نے پاکستان تحریک انصاف اور پاکستان عوامی تحریک کے خلاف بڑے پمانے پر پولیس کریک ڈاؤن شروع کردیا ہے اور اب تک مختلف مقدمات میں 500

پاکستان کے عجیب لبرلز اور عجیب ملحد: پاکستان میں کوئی بھی نظریہ اپنی اصل حالت میں قائم نہیں رہ پاتا یہی وجہ ہے یہاں کا لبرل ازم بھی باقی دُنیا سے نِرالا ہے- یہاں کہ لبرلوں (بالخصوص سوشل میڈیائی) کی لبرل ازم نیو ائیر اور ویلنٹائنز

Jinnah’s Pakistan Or Taliban’s Pakistan By Faisal Mahmood: On 11 August 1947 Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah addressed to the members of Pakistan Constuituent Assembly.In that address Jinnah Said ,“You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go

Pakistan’s Media Police: ISLAMABAD — Maria Khan, the host of a Pakistani television talk show, raided a massage parlor in a private residence in Lahore last week and accused the women working there of being prostitutes. Accompanied by the police, Khan and

Pakistan must repeal its blasphemy laws -by Farahnaz Ispahani and Nina Shea: In Pakistan, proceedings in the now infamousblasphemy case of Rimsha Masih, a 14-year-old, mentally disabled Christian girl, took a turn for the better after the powerful Muslim Ulema Councilbacked her against the accuser. Last Saturday, Rimsha, jailed since August 16, was

General Zia-ul-Haq, a convenient scapegoat for Pakistan’s fake liberals and fake leftists: We work in pro-establishment think tanks which publish and reinforce the Deep State’s views and policies on Afghanistan, Kashmir, Taliban and Jihadis. We blame Zia. We criticize “incompetent and corrupt” elected leaders, undermine democratic governments, become a part of

Deeply bitten by your liberality – by Zainab Binte Ali: Plato, the totalitarian, out of passion and prejudice hushed Democritus to strangulate the spirit of progress, evolution and above all democracy. Ali abbas Jalalpuri must have been working with darbar in Jalalpur if he had paid heed to the

Pakistani liberals are no leap of faith – by Sadanand Dhume: Source: Published in Wall Street Journal on July 12, 2012. This isn’t the best time to be a Pakistani liberal. Opinion polling shows most Pakistanis thinking of America as an enemy, democracy as an unwelcome concept and the imposition of

For upholding the Constitution, Prime Minister Gillani gets convicted! – by Farhad Jarral: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has just convicted an elected Prime Minister for following an explicit Constitutional clause (Article 248 (2)) – on the basis of an Ordinance passed by a military dictator, General Musharaf (Contempt of Court Ordinance 2004) – who

Ironical conflict: Mumtaz Qadri and capital punishment -by Ammar Kazmi: Liberals are against death sentence yet not ready to accept any punishment less than death penalty for Salman Tasir’s murderer whereas most of the religious people who are in favor of death sentence expect no punishment in this case.

Constructing a ‘Secular’ Jinnah: New Project for Pakistani Liberals -by Marvi Sirmed: Originally Published at: BAAGHI As a firm believer in cultural roots rather than oneness through religion, August gives me hope. Flags adorn the cities and marketplaces fill up with the echoes of milli naghmas (patriotic songs) sung in the

Eric Foner on the Evolution of Liberalism -by Meera Ghani: Excellent interview with Eric Foner. For those who may not know him he is an American historian. On the faculty of the Department of History at Columbia University since 1982: There are some similarities to make the case for

Pakistan: The Troubles Continue -by Sybil Daniel: In August 2009, a mob of religious bigots took seven lives in Gojra, Pakistan, which has a Christian minority, and the whole village was set ablaze. This violent act continued for five hours and busloads of people joined the

Farewell to George Fulton: Is Pakistan a livable country? That is the question in the minds of many Pakistanis. Most of whom had no choice in deciding to be a Pakistani citizen. Whereas George Fulton – who we all recognize from “George ka Pakistan” –

How a new film may help popularize fundamentalism in Pakistan: Editor’s Note: We are cross posting the following article sent to us by one of our valued supporters. The following article from the Christain Science Monitor highlights the support for Islamofascism in a segment of society that is traditionally

Islamic liberalism vs. digital fundamentalism – by Farman Nawaz: It is not a difficult task for any Muslim or non-Muslim to understand the true spirit of Islam. Though it is very difficult even for educated Muslim to study in detail the first 50 years of Islam or to

The liberal fiasco in Pakistan – by Suleman Akhtar: "Mocking the religious beliefs of others is not necessarily the emblem of liberalism. To assert on the liquidation of all pluralistic cultural as well as social traits cannot escalate an individual from braggart to liberal. To castigate the nasty

This is not a clash of civilizations but an internal conflict between moderates and extremists: A recent report in Time explains the huge significance of Salman Taseer’s killing. “The manner of his murder reveals a truth that many Muslims still deny: This is not a clash of civilisations between Islam and the West but

“Ye Charagh kesa bujha diya” -by Arshad Mahmood:

LUBP Interview with Olaf Kellerhoff, Resident Representative Pakistan at Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom: Related Interviews: LUBP Exclusive: A critical interview with Nadeem F. Paracha LUBP Interview with Kamran Shafi LUBP Interview with Dr Ayesha Siddiqa (Part I) LUBP Interview with Dr Ayesha Siddiqa (Part II) Brief Introduction: LUBP is pleased

Pakistan’s eminent intellectual Dr Pevez Hoodbhoy on drone attacks in Pakistan: A drone – of the kind discussed here – is a programmed killing machine. By definition it is self-propelled, semi-autonomous, and capable of negotiating difficult local environments. Remote handlers guide it towards an assigned target. A drone does not

Drones Debate: Pashtun Nationalists, The Liberals, the Left and the far right: First things first. The USA has no right to stay in Afghanistan let alone drone Pakistan. It is the US military aggression and presence in the region that has fuelled unrest and complicated the matters. The very Taliban and

Arshad Mahmood’s column on Nawaz Sharif’s Meesaq-e-Pakistan and Mubarik Haider’s response: Mubarik Haider’s Response: I wish to appreciate the conciliatory stance taken by Mr. Waseem Altaf. Even worthier is his emphasis on evidential logic and on the need for intellectually honest discourse. Let me add another emphasis: correction of concepts

Don’t waste your dollars on media owners in Pakistan – by Ammar Kazmi: Cameras are insured but the photo journalists and field reporters are not, what a mean and inhuman attitude of Pakistan’s media owners that there are no life insurance policies for journalists. I think this is not only a lust

India is changing, we also need a cultural change: The candid photograph of a Hindu and a Muslim in Ayodhya having a quiet laugh is a snapshot of the way India’s citizenry reacted to the verdict. They may have their opinions, and sharp ones at that, but they

The Wrong Bandwagon by Soufia A Siddiqi: Cross post : Institute of Democracy and Development by Soufia A Siddiqi Lately, Ufone’s been making all of us laugh really hard. That’s ended brutally with its latest advertisement in the Saaf Awaaz campaign. A lot of people I know are

Jinnah’s Pakistan- by Dr Mubarak Ali: It has become a ritual to celebrate Independence Day every year without considering whether we have achieved it or not. The question is how far independence has accomplished its objective by creating historical consciousness among people: whether it has

MQM: Ethnicity and Politics of Violence- by Raza Habib Raja: At the onset I would like to acknowledge that I have very mixed feelings about MQM. At one hand, I like its relatively secular approach and its demonstrated commitment to denounce hardliners when everyone else was actually going for

Sugar Crisis coming forth!: LAHORE: The government will have no other option but to further raise sugar prices at Utility Stores in order to narrow the gap with the open market, to cope with the impending sugar crisis. Industry sources believe that the

Obscurantism and undemocratic mindset – by Junaid Qaiser: قد ا مت پسند ی اور غیر جمہو ر ی اندا زِ فکر قا ئدا عظم ، مذ ہب اور ر یا ست کے تعلق کے حوا لے سے کیا خیا لا ت ر کھتے تھے ، قر ۃ

Neo-Islam in Pakistan: we need to confront it with full force – by Dr Muhammad Awais Khalil: Thanks to General Zia for the forced islamization of Pakistan, pouring bags full of US dollars and Saudi riyals and mushroom growth of madrassas of a particular ideology [wahabism and deobandism] which has created a generation who has a

Welcome to Pavlovia –Farrukh Khan Pitafi: When the court had ruled only to block one website, PTA’s decision to block a number of others was uncalled for and appeared symptomatic of a ‘holier than the Pope’ attitude Rome was not burnt in one day. Russian

Irrational patriotism, liberalism and nuclear arsenal – by Raza Habib Raja: My article “Traitors and Reactionaries” which was just a satire has created this impression that I am some kind of a Taliban supporter or a media Taliban. A long emotional article of Chaudhary Ahmed Khan alleged that I am

Political interpretation of religion – by Wahiduddin Khan: Introduction (adapted from Yoginder Sikand’s article in Milli Gazette) Coming to terms with the challenges of modernity has been a major concern of many Muslim scholars and Islamic activists. How can Islam as a universal ideology be expressed in

Save the parliament to save the country – by Khalid Wasti: 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 بنانے تک

Faith in democracy: A review of political parties of Pakistan – by Nadeem Paracha: An apt analysis by NFP of the political parties in Pakistan and their attributes and religious tendencies: Islam holds an important place in the workings of society and thus politics of Pakistan, a fact even some of the most

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