South Asia Citizens Web

How can we expect our society to become tolerant when our textbooks are filled with venomous content? How can we expect our children to become progressive when we expose them to violent literature, and at such an early age? By using words such as “Hindus can never become true friends for Muslims” and using adjectives such as goondah for Hindus and fanatic clergymen for Christians, how are we possibly trying to teach our youth to be more compassionate or embrace different religious philosophies?

The News on Sunday
A dangerously free man
The recent and drastic phase of anti-Shia violence coincides with the release of Malik Mohammad Ishaq. A peek into the life of this “good Taliban” the Pakistani state nurtured in the last three decades
by Arif Jamal
In recent months, killings of Shia Muslims in Pakistan have touched new heights. The killers, ostensibly from the jihadist Deobandi groups, have invented new methods. Buses are stopped on the highways and sects of passengers are (…)

Jamia Teachers Solidarity Association released a 180 page report at a widely attended public event on 18 September 2012 at the Jamia Milia University in New Delhi. This document reveals 16 cases in which those accused of being operatives of various terrorist organizations arrested mostly by the Special Cell of Delhi Police, were acquitted by the courts, not simply for want of evidence, but because the evidence was tampered with, and the police story was found to be unreliable and incredulous.

Barring random news items and a few opinion pieces, the hijab debate has never really been part of the national narrative of Pakistan. Those who wanted to wear hijab/niqab/burqa wore it and those who preferred the traditional shalwar kameez and dupatta chose that without any problem. Unlike Saudi Arabia, Iran or Turkey, there never was governmental coercion or pressure on women to wear a particular type clothing or to ban them from wearing a particular type of clothing in state institutions. A woman’s clothing was her own business as it should be anywhere in the world. However, things are changing. With the celebration of the World Hijab Day, which had tacit approval of the government and the patronage of the first lady, Nusrat Pervaiz Ashraf, of the Hijab Conference organised by the Jamaat-e-Islami, things are moving in the direction where the state is turning partisan.