Bringing Home the Desert -by Suleman Akhtar: I’m all for endorsing their policies, but what is the vindication they have of myriads of dead bodies of my country-fellows? I’m ready to relinquish Khusrow, Ghalib, Bhittai, Bhulla, Rahman Baba and Gul Khan, but can they introduce

Urdu text of Amn Tehrik’s Peshawar Declaration: A comprehensive strategy to eliminate terrorism: Amn Tehrik (Peace Movement) is an emerging and dynamic movement of concerned individuals and organizations from the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for the promotion of peace in the troubled regions of the province. Amn Tehrik has been regularly organising

Children of Zia – by Nabiha Meher: In elite academic institutions, we often make a knee-jerk and erroneous assumption that we are not responsible for the intolerance that now permeates our land. It is easy to blame the non-English speaking public sector and madrassas. We like

The Conservatively Hip – by Ayesha Siddiqa: Why are more youth, especially among the relatively affluent segments of society, embracing a greater religious identity and conservatism related to it? Why is it that we find an increasing number of young men and women among the upper-middle

Military Mullah Nexus – by Shahid Mahmood: Related articles on LUBP: General Ahmad Shuja Pasha’s letter to Mullah Baradar – by Hakim Hazik Taliban Apologist Court bars extradition of Mullah Baradar It is not a self-created tragedy that almost one million people gave up their lives

Our expats: The Pakistanis living abroad, Part 2 – by Fawad Manzoor: In the original article( click here) I wrote about the negative contributions of our Ex-Pats with few positive ones. I was expecting the editor will hesitate in posting the article but I am glad he posted. I am also surprised that I

Profiling Pakistani jihadists — by Ali K Chishti: One major draw for jihadis in Pakistan is the clout a religious militant enjoys with the law-enforcement agencies. The militant organisation gives otherwise powerless men a strong sense of identity in an increasingly fragmented social structure What kind of

The warrior seminaries of Punjab — by Dr Amjad Ayub Mirza: Photo source: Newsline On more than one occasion the PML-N has demonstrated sympathy, and even outright links, with the forces that are considered to be part of the Pakistani Taliban It was Dante who said: “The hottest place in

Beyond Madrasas: assessing the Links Between Education and Militancy in Pakistan – report by Rebecca Winthrop and Corinne Graf: Report published by the Brookings Institute: Overview: Increasing educational attainment is likely to reduce conflict risk, especially in countries like Pakistan that have very low levels of primary and secondary school enrollment. Education quality, relevance and content also have

Encountering fundamentalism — by Nizamuddin Nizamani: Extremist Islam is encroaching deeper into the Thar Desert and almost all district and tehsil headquarters of Sindh and Balochistan, where large numbers of seminaries, with new buildings and equipped with every kind of infrastructure, have been erected during

Madrassah reforms : Does PPP want to nourish sectarianism?: Here is a well written piece about Madrassah reforms by Saiful Islam Khalid. I found this piece in a weekly newspaper from Islamabad. It was in paper print, which I have composed and edited to post it for LUBP

How Saudi Arabia has corrupted Yemen to spread Wahabism: Religious schools under scrutiny in Yemen Wednesday, 03 Mar, 2010 TARIM: Malaysian student Mohamed Fatri Ben Kazrah flew half way round the world to fulfill his dream of studying Islam and Arabic at a Yemeni religious school. Ben Kazrah

Punjab: Bullets in Bansri – Guest post by Bahadar Ali Khan: The rural Punjab has gone through a subtle but certainly very conspicuous change during the last two decades. The ‘new’ Punjab doesn’t resonate with its traditional and historical composition, as it used to be known for its friendliness, easy

Little monsters – by Nadeem F. Paracha: There is nothing new anymore about the suggestion that over a span of about 30 odd years, the Pakistani military and its establishmentarian allies in the intelligence agencies, the politicised clergy, conservative political parties and the media have, in

70% of religious seminaries (madrassahs) in Pakistan belong to the Deobandi school of thought: Report: According to a report appeared in today’s Daily Express more than 1.9 million students are enrolled in 17000 religious seminaries (madrassahs) of which around 70% i.e. 12000 belong to Deoband school of thought, around 20% i.e. 3500 belong to

Mohmand operation and the need to close down extremist seminaries in the NWFP: Mohmand operation Thursday, January 22, 2009 (The News) At least 60 militants are said to have died within the last 24 hours in Mohmand Agency, as troops continue operations intended to regain control over the tribal territory. In stepped

It is the duty of the government to ‘find and crush’ madrassas that preach violence – Mufti Sarfaraz Naeemi: A benign role for the madrassa? Mufti Sarfaraz Naeemi of Jamia Naeemia in Lahore has been quoted by an American newspaper as saying, “The actions of a small minority have given a bad name to Islam and to a