No sanctuary for Pakistan’s Shia Muslims – by Aakar Patel: Source: Adapted from Hindustan Times with minor editing and additional information Attacks against the Shia Muslims of Pakistan are now so frequent and so normal that they are seen in run rate terms. Last Friday (26 July 2013), after

Is the Pakistan army martial? -by Aakar Patel: Are Punjabi Muslims martial? Do they have a history of war and conquest or at least of resistance to conquest? I ask because there’s no evidence of their martial character in our history. No general, nosubedar, no thanedar, no wazir, no bakhshi of

Jinnah, Jaswant and the BJP: An analysis by Aakar Patel and Ghazi Salahuddin: Jinnah, Jaswant and the BJP Sunday, August 23, 2009Aakar Patel Jaswant Singh has not been expelled from the BJP for his book on Jinnah. He could not have been, because it does not say anything untrue. Very quickly, this

Let’s sing Iqbal’s Tarana-e-Hind-o-Pak to fight religous extremism – by Aakar Patel: Mr Zardari, tear down this wall Sunday, March 08, 2009 Aakar Patel Allama Iqbal imagined Pakistan as a utopia in northwest India where Punjabis would do ijtihad and read Nietzsche. The Quaid-e-Azam ordered a Pakistan where religion would cease

The Gujaratis of Pakistan – By Aakar Patel: The Gujaratis of Pakistan Sunday, February 08, 2009Aakar Patel Pakistan has fewer Gujaratis than it should, and that is to its detriment. Even so, the Gujaratis of Pakistan are its best citizens. None of the people on the list

The end of the Kashmir jihad: Elections in Kashmir… By Aakar Patel: The end of the Kashmir jihadTuesday, December 30, 2008By Aakar Patel On Jan 12, 2002, President Pervez Musharraf banned Laskhar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad. He promised that “no organisation would be allowed to carry out terrorism on the pretext of Kashmir.”

Our leaders and their writing – by Aakar Patel: Monday, December 29, 2008 (The News)India’s early leaders wrote a lot. Ambedkar’s Writings and Speeches number some 20 volumes. Nehru’s Selected Works, still being edited, have reached volume 39 and the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, who wrote almost

The distant gleam of greatness – by Aakar Patel: Sunday, December 21, 2008 (The News) Nehru is the touchstone leader for the secular Indian. Gandhi was religious, bringing him closer to the common man, and he looked wrong. The secular

The loneliness of Manmohan Singh and a war worth fighting and winning…: Friday, December 05, 2008by Aakar Patel On December 13, 2001, India’s parliament was attacked. Twelve people died, including six policemen and the five attackers. The next day Pakistan’s High Commissioner Ashraf Qazi was summoned to South Block and told