Indonesia’s green madrassas
Rather than harping on the divisive rhetoric of tribe, sect and political persuasion, we have a theological and teleological imperative to green our society…
Revelations of war crimes and moralizing idealism
By Charles Bogle (found here) The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism, by Ron Suskind. New…
A ‘counter-view’ of suicide-bombing
The victims are not exclusively Americans and Jews but in countries like Iraq and Pakistan, Muslims themselves. What is even more traumatising "which arouses…
SURVEY: South Asian countries not too happy, survey finds
SAJA Forum has this interesting post: Bangladesh, India and Pakistan ranked 64th, 68th and 81st in the latest World Values Survey published by the…
Guantanamo? The Worst of the Worst?
I was introduced to Mahvish Khan’s daring work by Irfan. Her close work at the infamous Guantanamo Bay is remarkable for the insights and…
Watering the the Indus Valley
Published in telegraph.co.uk – Last Updated: 12:01am – BST – 17/05/2008 Peter Parker reviews Empires of the Indus: the Story of a River by…
Stop demonising China
Globally, the Tibet issue has been blown beyond belief by the media. I am compelled to ask that over one million civilians are dead…
Greeks in Chitral, Pakistan?
By Salman Rashid There is no historical evidence of Alexander or his men straying north of the ridges of the Hindu Kush Mountains into…
Economist estimates cost of Iraq war to exceed $3 trillion
This is an astounding figure. Not to mention the loss of over 1 million civilians, the sectarian blood-baths, the destruction of a civilisation and…
Turkey in Radical Revision of Islamist Texts
Turkey is working on a revolutionary new interpretation of the Prophet Mohammed’s reputed sayings, known as the Hadith. The project is aimed at allowing…
Kosova is finally independent
The ultimate frustration of not being able to vote, sitting miles away from home, was somewhat compensated by the moving images of the Kosovo’s…
Buddha, the Taliban and Pakistan-
I have been working on this composition for quite a while. I was angered, rather revolted by what the Taliban were doing in the…
Struggle on Many Fronts – Communists and Capitalism
Prabhat Patnaik’s “The Communists and the Building of Capitalism“, evidently an ideological and polemic-ridden article, makes some interesting points particularly in the context of…
World’s first oil paintings found in Afghan caves
Bamiyan is no ordinary location. This was the place where the giant Buddhas that stood for centuries with their message of peace were destroyed…
Bhutan
http://www.anitabora.com/blog/2008/01/24/passage-to-bhutan/ Bhutan Chronicles, Oct 2007: After getting our permits to enter Bhutan, the road journey from the border town of Phuntsholing to Paro took…
Muslims in Germany” study: State-propagated racism under the guise of science
Muslims in Germany are completely alienated politically and also have to cope with a racist witch-hunt, which has increased continually ever since the September…
Vandalism in the name of development
I was introduced to this photo taken by Khanpride by Jami Sirhandi. His plea was to stand up to the ‘development mafia’ and stop…
The inequitable world that we live in (on the “filthy rich”)
Negotiating with my middle class guilt, I have been pondering over this article. I had posted on Richistans earlier – somehow the obscenity of…
The greatest party on earth?
Declan Walsh writing for the Guardian: Pakistan’s tourism ministry designated 2007 as “Destination Pakistan”, the year when tourists were urged to discover the country’s…
Remembering Neruda on Support Burma Day
The monks in Burma have resisted the oppression with grace and immense selflessness. I am reminded of a poem The Dictators by Pablo Neruda…