(Published in The Nation Pakistan) Please do not tell the rest of us how to live our lives based on your idea of religion. Because that is not religious freedom, that is religious privilege and we are not going to soothe your fears by holding ourselves back. Or to paraphrase Jon Stewart, “We are not going to censor ourselves to comfort your ignorance”.
Category: Blog
If there is no compulsion in religion then why can’t I eat in public during Ramazan?
(Published in The Nation Pakistan) Enforcing “respect” for religions cannot and must not come at the cost of not respecting human rights. This isn’t about respect. It is about forcing people to follow one ideology and it is time that we left such ideas behind.
If praying means others do not matter, then you are doing it wrong
(Published in The Nation Pakistan) I fail to understand why it is necessary to make things difficult for others so one can perform one’s religious obligations. Aren’t Muslims taught that “Huqooqul Ibad” are very important? So when did we get to the point where consideration for your fellow human is something alien to us?
Who’s cooking fish?
(Published in The Nation Pakistan)
I think it is time to get over the greatness of our religion and nation as our only unifying factors and start asking questions of why we are where we are; and this includes not only questioning ourselves but most importantly, our leadership.
The apathy of a nation
(Published in The Nation Pakistan)
A few years ago I decided to return to my motherland after studying and working abroad. While I was never a hyper-nationalist patriot, it was still my home and my family was here.
A ‘Sharif’ state of affairs
(Published in The Nation Pakistan)
I am just confused. I hear speeches every day by both the Shareefs, saying that they are going to get rid of Islamist terrorists. Now that they have curtailed the nefarious activities of MQM, I am waiting to see similar actions against all Islamist organizations.
Blasphemy and blood money
(Published in The Nation Pakistan) This and many other Shariah laws have no place in the world today. And any demand to impose them over society, instead of secular laws, is not an idea that we should accept. And therefore, we must step up and be vocal about their abrogation. This is because most of these laws exponentially favour some people and are not very considerate to women, minorities and the poor.
It’s all your fault!
(Published in The Nation) The days of women as chattel are over and it is time for everyone to understand that women are human beings with the same rights as men. Rape is about power and as long as the narrative remains what it is, this manifestation of power is going to exist.
Naming the culprit
(Published in The Nation Pakistan)
The Taliban and their ilk want to impose one particular theocracy in the country. As such they are Islamist extremists. There is no point in saying that this has nothing to do with Islam, because it does.
Groundhog Day
(Published in The Nation Pakistan)
Whatever the state is doing to eliminate terrorism is not going to work because it is concentrating on only one end of the pipeline. The need to is to also concentrate on the other end by regulating foreign funding for madrassas; by regulating what is being taught in these schools; by ensuring that banned religious organizations are actually banned and not allowed to roam our streets with impunity.