Don’t expect a miracle to happen
The state has responded by ending the moratorium on the death penalty and convicted terrorists are now being hanged. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has…
Six ideas for Pakistan to defeat the Taliban
There’s a lot Pakistan could do to root out terrorism. But will it? It is being seen as a watershed moment in Pakistan, the…
Will Peshawar attack change Pakistan’s policy on terror?
Pakistan’s predicament is a sad tale of domestic Islamist identity enmeshed with the regional dynamics. The latest strike by the Pakistani branch of the…
Peshawar attack: Pakistan’s 9/11 moment?
Pakistan faces a challenge largely of its own creation and only political processes can correct it, argues Raza Rumi. The attack on Peshawar’s Army…
The Perils of Reporting in Pakistan
The toll of Taliban attacks is measured in more than bodies. By MARY LOUISE KELLY Stay in the news business long enough, and you…
Data Darbar – the Urs begins
Originally uploaded by Jahane Rumi “The heart is the seat of knowledge and is more venerable than the Kaaba. Men are forever looking at…
Kal bhi woh darte the
A few lines I wrote after Malala’s Nobel and some of the reactions of Pakistanis on social media (English translit. below) Kal bhi woh…
Iqbal Bano sings Nizami Ganjavi (Persian Sufi poet, 1141-1209)
Iqbal Bano sings Nizami Ganjavi-Mara ba ghamza… by razarumi1 Mara ba ghamza kusht o qaza ra bahana sakht Khud sooy e ma na deed…
Remembering Shahbaz Bhatti, an unsung hero of Pakistan
It has been over three years that Pakistan lost a brave Christian citizen Shahbaz Bhatti for his relentless advocacy of human rights and in…
Meeting Salma Bhatti
I met the wife of slain Minister Shahbaz Bhatti and discovered tales of woe, marginalisation and hope It has been over three years that…
‘Hum Bhatak bhi Gaye au Kia Hoga’
After a long time, I attempted to write a poem. Here it is – pretty raw and unpolished. Will translate it later for readers…
The legend’s shadow
Forays into analysis give resonance to Dilip Kumar’s recollections that are occasionally derailed by Saira Banu’s looming shadow, I wrote in this review of…
The Rise of Religious Intolerance in Pakistan: Implications for Democratic Development and Human Rights
My talk at the National Endowment for Democracy on religious intolerance in Pakistan. In early November 2014, a mob in Kasur, Pakistan burned a…
Pakistan’s beleaguered Hazaras
The attack on the Hazara community in Quetta last month, which left 10 dead and many injured, comes amidst the recent spate of violence…
Pakistan: Hiding state failure by invoking the ‘foreign hand’ theory
1) Repetitive trends. When Sri Lanka’s cricket team was attacked in Lahore the civil administration and police on TV said India did it. Raza…
Europe faces a huge challenge in dealing with its Muslim citizens
Mannequins dressed in brightly coloured headscarves at a shop in Cite, France I talked to Akbar S. Ahmed about the perception of Islam…
Meena Kumari, the poet
After my earlier article on the life of Meena Kumari, I explored the iconic actor’s prowess in an entirely different area of personal expression…
Southasian Sufism: a new victim of communalist brigade
After everything Muslim has been trashed by the rejuvenated Hindutva across the border, now Southasian Sufism is also being highlighted as an Islamist-supremacist project.…
In Pakistan, ‘Blasphemers’ Like Me Receive Militant Justice
Like so many others, I was recently targeted in a cold-blooded assassination for speaking out against extremism. Pakistan has acquired a strong reputation of…
Reclaiming the legacy of ZA Bukhari
By Raza Rumi Defining ‘Pakistani’ culture has been a problematic endeavour right from the inception of the country. Pakistan has straddled between 5,000 years…