Rahimullah Yusufzai
On May 13 in Afghanistan and Pakistan, three known and elderly religious scholars were assassinated by unknown people in incidents of targeted killings. The blood spilled on that fateful day would likely become the reason for further sectarian divisions and dangerous feuds and cause more bloodshed. This was precisely the purpose of the perpetrators of these cold-blooded murders.
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By Saeed Qureshi
One of the hottest and bizarre topics in contemporary American politics is the same sex marriages which connotes that a male can marry a male and in a similar fashion a woman can opt another female as a spouse or married partner.
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Ikram Sehgal
Col (r) Syed Akhtar Abbas, director of legal affairs of the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF), confirmed to the media that the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) probe into Pakistan’s import of ephedrine during 2010 beyond its stipulated international quota. Published on its website, the INCB 2011 report said that it was “increasingly concerned about the diversion and attempted diversion of Ephedrine and Pseudoephedrine in Pakistan that began emerging in 2010.”
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Asghar Ali Engineer
LAST month in Vienna there was a seminar on multiculturalism and religious pluralism. Among other issues a discussion was held on the concept of justice. What is justice, it was asked, and participants gave their opinions.
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Saad Hafiz
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in its recent annual report said, “At least 943 women were killed in the name of honour in the country, of which 93 were minors.” While reliable worldwide estimates of honour killing incidence do not exist, a UN study in 2000 suggested there were as many as 5,000 women Continue reading
Dr Haider Shah
The Oscar award for Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s Saving Face brought the issue of vitriol (acid throwing crime) to prominence. Little did we know that the real storm was waiting in the wings as the story of the tragic end of Fakhra suddenly surfaced in the media. The acid attack victim that left Pakistan 12 years ago returned in a coffin to Karachi, as her agonising desire for getting justice accompanied her departed soul.
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By Salil Shetty
WORKING for an organisation whose job is to stand up for justice and freedom, and to expose abuses and injustices, I am often forced to highlight problems rather than progress.
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Rafia Zakaria
ON International Women’s Day, while the world was spending time ruminating on all the evils one half of its population is subject to, some residents of Rahim Yar Khan district were busy with something else.
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Usman Ahmad
Spring is supposed to be the season of renewal. It is the time of year when nature’s life cycle begins again and the world heaves with the verdant breath of future promise. The ancient Mesopotamians ushered in the season with the festival of Akitu that celebrated the cutting of barley. Continue reading
Shamshad Ahmad
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s Oscar-winning documentary ‘Saving Face’ has rightly brought laurels to her and to her teammates for highlighting globally an issue that had hitherto remained unnoticed and unreported even in Pakistan. The 40-minute documentary focusing on acid attacks against women in our country is indeed a bold attempt to change lives but more than that, it unveils the true face of a society, the bulk of which is still living in medieval times.
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