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1 DIVIDED: Tensions have led to the establishment of militant organisations like the Tehriq-e-Labaik that preach religious intolerance. Reuters
G Parthasarathy
Chancellor, Jammu Central University & former High Commissioner to Pakistan
The two major schools of Islam, which emerged in the 19th century in the territories of present-day India, have traditionally been described as Deobandi and Bareilvi. The sects emerged from the efforts of many Muslim clerics and thinkers who fled from Delhi following their persecution by the British after the Mughal rule ended. Deobandi practices were widely adopted in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and by virtually all Pashtuns in Afghanistan. The Deobandis thus established a firm foothold amongst the Pashtun population in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. Most importantly, while the Bareilvis remained content with their influence in the subcontinent, the Deobandis reached out to people in the Arabian peninsula in the 19th centur
THIS is apropos the news ‘US to revive duty-free zones in Pakistan, Afghanistan’ (April 30) which talked about the possible introduction of a bill in the US Senate for funding duty-free industrial zones in regions bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Having observed the fate of some earlier similar adventures on the Pakistan side of the border over the last 50 years, most funded by the Pakistan government and some by donors, like the USAID, the introduction of the proposed bill in the US Senate can likely lead to another round of disaster.
The first serious set of industrial development interventions in areas along the Pakistan-Afghan border took place during the Bhutto period, wisely disbanded in the early 2000s. Industrial projects were undertaken in most of the former tribal agencies by the now-defunct Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) Development Corporation.
IA Rehman the non-conformist humanitarian
“Whoever controls the media, controls the mind” Jim Morrison.
On an oppressive August day back in 1986, after shifting from Karachi to Lahore, my husband took me to the offices of the Viewpoint magazine at 4A Lawrence Road to meet his former colleagues. The very first question Mr IA Rehman [Ibn Abdur Rehman, popularly known as Rehman Sahib] asked me, with that signature twinkle in his eyes was, “So, how is Lahore treating you?” One single question, yet so full of hospitality, concern and above all, camaraderie, that it swept me off my feet. That singular brush with this titan of print media journalism left me awestruck. He appeared to be the most unassuming character, someone who could easily pass for a ‘commoner’ in a crowd while keeping his larger-than-life personality intact. As many others have said before me, Rehman Sahib was the kind of person whom one could proudly introduce – not just as a prominent professional –
Opinion
May 4, 2021
Some of the more effusive opponents of the current regime are prone to exaggeration. A most amusing bit of hyperventilation is when some claim with great confidence that the current era is worse than the Gen Ziaul Haq dictatorship.
This is pure nonsense, but not because the protagonists of the current scenario are necessarily trying for things to be any better than the darkness of the 1980s. The comparison with the 1980s is nonsense because turning down the volume of the national discourse in Gen Zia’s era was just so much easier than it is today. In an era of a seemingly unlimited number of newspapers, television channels, social media feeds and angry, underserved citizens, the feeble attempts to ‘manage’ the national discourse only expose the limited imaginations of the protagonists of this unique time in Pakistan’s political history.