Target killing of doctors; my article of 2002; Dr Sarwar on censoring Jinnah, 1991

It is significant that while the doctors’ killings are labeled as sectarian because those targeted mostly belong to a particular sect, there is no sectarianism or religious intolerance at the grassroots level. ‘‘The incidents of apparently religiously-motivated violence, like the attack on the Islamabad church or the murder of Daniel Pearl, are planned and executed by individual miscreants with no popular support or public sanction,’’ says The News editorial. (excerpt from article of 2002)

`Pakistan: Chaos unto Order?’ and ‘syllabus of hate’

Cutting through the fog of confusion, Haris Gazdar comments in EPW on the Pakistan military having finally appeared to have embraced the war against jihadi militancy as its own – although past experience demands caution before coming to any hasty conclusions. And in The Hindu, Nirupama Subramaniam comments on the ‘syllabus of hate’ that Pakistan needs to deal with urgently if it is to win this fight

Beating Back the Taliban

Even before the army action, wild bearded turbaned hordes were unlikely to take over Pakistan. This is not Afghanistan where decades of war destroyed all the systems and institutions. Nor is it Iran, where a huge urban-rural divide helped the mullahs to take over. Even conservative Pakistanis are uncomfortable with the Taliban’s brand of Islam – public beheadings, corpse mutilations and floggings. There is wide adherence to Sufi values and anger at the Taliban’s attacks on sufi shrines.

Doc’s blog; Madrassas vs Pvt schools; Hoodbhoy on Pk; Cost of war and more

New blog – www.drsarwar.wordpress.com – with photos and remembrances, including by I.A. Rehman, Salima Hashmi, Dr Badar Siddiqui, S.M. Naseem, Ali Jafari, Mohsin Tejani and others; ‘The Madrasa Myth’ – Foreign Policy op-ed co-authored by Tahir Andrabi, Jishnu Das, C. Christine Fair, and Asim Ijaz Khwaja; Pervez Hoodbhoy’s Pakistan predictions; Swat women and ‘mullah Radio’ – a report; HRCP’s report on the internally displaced and more

Some articles re ‘Talibanisation’, veiling, flogging

Two articles on `talibanisation’ and violence against women that I forgot to post earlier – `Ongoing struggle’ about how Talibanisation is splitting our South Asian identity and leading to the existing schizophrenia and changing dress codes, and an op-ed that I had titled “‘Wicked’ NGOs and that flogging thing” (Dawn changed it to the more mundane `Swat flogging & public outrage’. They also changed the word `bottom’ to `back’ which doesn’t at all mean the same thing. `Buttocks’ would have worked but I guess that’s the prevailing `sensibility’…

Swat aid appeals; Pk can defy odds; ‘WoT’ Myths; Binayak Sen; Ashram in Sindh

A lot going on but huge backlog (on the personal front, the ‘Old Fighter’ as his friend Eric Rahim called him still in hospital, fighting on). In this post – Appeals for the internally displaced, Hassan Abbas’ report on How to Rescue a Failing State, and more

Women to Reclaim Public Spaces

WAF believe Talibanisation is a mind set which cuts across all ethnic lines and must be resisted by all, and in no uncertain terms. This mind-set abuses Islam by using it to control others. We believe religion is a private matter and all citizens of Pakistan are equal citizens We believe peace and justice must be the guiding light for Pakistan to become peaceful and just society. To achieve our goal we must discuss matters together and resolve to act collectively for greater public good, for this is what democracy is about.

‘Talibanisation’: Backwards, forward, twisted around

For the bulk of the population, the primary concerns remain how to feed, clothe and house themselves and their families, educate their children, get clean drinking water and adequate medical help. This is unlikely to change for the better anytime soon, no matter which way the political winds blow. But a sustained political process, at least, offers a chance for positive change – eventually. The alternative is too grim to contemplate.
http://www.hardnewsmedia.com/2009/04/2877