Secularism is an old song that keeps reverberating in the liberal, enlightened, progressive, leftist, and socialist circles of Pakistan. Earlier this January news from Bangladeshthat its supreme court banned use of religion by political parties provided a fresh impetus to the choir. Since then a plethora of op-ed appreciating and envying this progressive step of Bangladesh continues appearing in the newspapers. They all regret Pakistan’s lagging behind in this important improvement. In Pakistan, secularists have always been understood to mean something that is, harshly to mildly, against religion. However, their position is quite different: they hold that the state ought

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For us living together requires neither love nor mercy, but rules of conduct; everything be it ideology, faith, or any system of thought, comes after that. Anything short of it is at the same time inhuman and anti-human, and is like putting death before life. [K.A.] “Hey, Mr., you are different. Your skin color is different. You wear clothes different from mine. Sometimes you use shorts or just rags. You eat things different from mine. You play different games. You sing and dance. You make and watch movies. You have places of nudity and obscenity which you call freedom and

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How a police officer’s highhandedness in torturing someone special earns him the wrath of the State Aristocracy is evident from the following news: Defence-A SHO found guilty of torturing senator’s son LAHORE: Defence-A SHO Faisal Sharif has been proved guilty of torturing the son of Senator Abdul Ghani Bangash, a couple of weeks ago, in an inquiry conducted by SSP Discipline and Inquiry. Lahore CCPO has ordered DIG Operations to suspend him from service immediately and initiate a departmental inquiry against him. The CCPO has also ordered not to give him field posting in future. The SHO had thrashed Irshad

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* The world needs to be changed into a world for individual persons, not for this or that genus of this or that community or nation! * It is knowledge that rules; since it helps us make better and just rules! * When religiosity dominates in a society, morality recedes. See the present-day Pakistan! * Presently Muslims are lurching somewhere in their Middle Ages! * All the pro-establishment elements in Pakistan are anti-America; and all the anti-America elements, even if they are not pro-establishment, somehow serve the cause of the establishment. * Instead of doing Ideology and Politics, the Pakistani

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In a previous post, Riyasti Ashrafiya ka Pakistan – 1, a news item was highlighted. It was published in an Urdu daily Mashriq Peshawar on October 15, 2012. It states that Barrister Hassan Sajjad, son of former president and chairman Senate, Wasim Sajjad, has been appointed Adviser to the Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, and a notification to this effect has been issued. This second highlight, published in The Express Tribune on November 15, 2012, states the following: In Question-Hour session in the Senate: “two top ranking officers had been appointed by former premier Yousaf Raz Gilani in diplomatic missions abroad

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What has gone wrong with the US – erstwhile champion of individual freedom, world-renowned political cartoonist, Patrick Chappatte explains very well in this cartoon! This cartoon was published in the International Herald Tribune, Pakistan print edition, November 12, 2012.

Few days back (on November 3), I finished reading a rare and old book. If one wants to see a glimpse of the old world, read this book. Actually, this April I was in Fez, Morocco, for the Special Meeting of the Mont Pelerin Society, on Freedom, Human Dignity and the Open Society. (Let me add that I am the only member of the Mont Pelerin Society from Pakistan!) There in a session on April 24, one Benedikt Koehler from London presented his paper, “The Birth of Capitalism in Islam.” It was quite enlightening, and in addition to putting a question

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See the following report and be in the know what things are occupying the Prime Minister of Pakistan, no matter they are illegal or not, or immoral or not: SHO Gujar Khan transferred on PM’s complaint RAWALPINDI: On the direction of Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf the City Police Officer DIG Azhar Hameed Khokhar has transferred SHO of Gujar Khan Inspector Abdul Sattar Khan to Police Line. The prime minister complained that SHO Sattar exchanged hot words with his brother Raja Javed Ashraf on the public meeting held under the PPP in Gujar Khan on October 21, 2012. The SHO

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When creative spirit of a nation is arrested from within, it is as vulnerable to external insinuations as is to internal machinations, and can never make any progress.  “Pakistan is under siege.” We had enemies from the very first day. With time, the list of our enemies grew longer. So much so that today we have neighbors not friendly to us and a world all hostile to us. We are alone in a wilderness created of our own. Isn’t it Greek mythology whose gods and monsters we have resurrected in ourselves? Like the one-eyed monster, we have no second eye

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Last night (November 2), I finished reading another book on Stoicism. It was first published in 1908 by Archibald Constable & Co., London. It belongs to the series, Philosophies Ancient and Modern. Since then it has been reproduced as A Little Book of Stoicism, and as Guide to Stoicism. Fortunately, the original first edition titled as Stoicism, is available at www.archive.org. Its author is St. George Stock, a scholar not well-known, only that he was born in 1850, and at the end of his Foreword to the book is written “St. George Stock M.A. Pemb. Coll. {Pembroke College} Oxford.”  Here

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Day before yesterday (Oct 28) I finished reading, Stoicism, by Rev. W. W. Capes. It was published in 1880, as part of a series – Chief Ancient Philosophies, by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London. This book discusses Stoicism in a historical perspective, focusing on its development via its chief philosophers, such as Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelus Antoninus, and its relation to early Christian teachings. The Chapters give a glimpse of the contents of the book: I.  The Thought and Character of Socrates II. The Cynics III. The Rise of Stoicism and its Relation to the Spirit of

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Is it for the Supreme Court to see what’s happening to the citizens in Balochistan and Karachi? Or there is none to heed? It seems so! I think Nero was a far better person than the present federal and provincial rulers. At least, he had a knack for playing fiddle; whereas the present ruling party and its allies and the state machinery under them are interested only in making sure they remain in the government and continue robbing the citizens’ tax money. They do not care a dime for the security of citizens’ life and property; let these cockroaches be

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The street intellect as a rule and the scholarly intellect generally live and thrive on the staple food of Conspiracy Theories in Pakistan. Nothing is so acceptable and universal here as the occurrence of conspiracy theories. Be they daily incidents, or the historical events of national or international significance, they all originate, it is understood, from the womb of certain eternal conspirators, the selection of which depends on the nature of the event to be explained. Descartes ought to be jealous of this Certitude! Likewise, be it academia or any think tank (an animal so rare in Pakistan!), or an

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The states, or political elites, throughout the world, are successful: they have come to control almost all the aspects of individual citizen’s life in most of the countries. They control the “creation and cultivation” of human beings! They do this: 1. By capturing the state and its institutions;  2. By establishing ministries of information and communication (and things like that); 3. By controlling education, especially by deciding what is to be taught in schools, colleges, universities, and other educational entities; 4. By establishing public sector education; 5. By regulating private sector education; 6. By controlling print and electronic media; 7.

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Pakistan is a victim of political parties whose motto is: politics of the mafia, by the mafia, for the mafia! Every moment and every day the citizens of Pakistanare being inescapably entangled more and more in the tentacles of mafia politicians. Sometimes in the name of Revolution, sometimes in the name of Religion, sometimes in the name of Democracy, sometimes in the name of Enlightened Moderation, or such other traps, these mafia politicians fool and exploit the people. But they never talk of what the Pakistani citizens have desperately been wanting from the day one, and what they really need

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On October 12, a letter appeared in The Frontier Post. Here is its text: “Hurdles of Pakistani bloggers Why Pakistani bloggers cannot enjoy journalists’ legal privileges? The journalists, media persons, news anchors always enjoy legal privileges and certain immunities across the world as compared to the ordinary citizens of the State. The journalists all over the world are protected under media shield laws that allow journalists not to identify their sources. However, when it comes to bloggers who are also regarded as Online Columnists, no such exemption, shield body or legal protection is offered to them as afforded to journalists.

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Malala Yousafzai, a 14 year Pakistani girl student and activist keen on getting education and advocating it for other girls, has been targeted by Taliban! In this context, I would like to point out two things: 1. Every time Taliban repeat such a heinous crime, there is abundant outrage and endless condemnations both by the state and not-state elements. When such crimes are committed by non-Taliban ordinary or not-ordinary persons, or by the Pakistani state itself, that evokes far less condemnation from the non-state elements as well as other state elements. What does that amount to? That indicates what the

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Pakistan is a china shop and the bull is its ruling elites. They are on the rampage since the day this shop was established. The stories of which come to light, I say which come to light, tell of the ways the bull is playing in and with the china the shop contains. The bull of the present government of the Pakistan Peoples Party is a unique bull which believes in breaking the shop itself. The latest story of this dispensation is heart-wrenching and kills the hope that this country could ever be ruled by laws. Today’s The Express Tribune

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As for Photography, I believe in NO Manipulation! It’s the Photographer, and then his Camera and the World, the combination of which may produce a work of art! The availability of an Opportunity for that combination to work wonder depends both on Chance and the Photographer’s Eye. All the photo-manipulating tools and things like that are not for the Photographer to take advantage of but what the traditional photographer used to do, such as cropping and minor adjustments which do not disturb (which otherwise is known as “improvement”) the originality of the photo taken spontaneously. A photographer’s Basic Tool is

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* Governments, i.e. ruling elites kill their own citizens, sometimes by their unwise vested policies as in Pakistan, and sometimes using the same weapons they manufacture or purchase with their citizens’ money as in Syria. * Growing up beyond the boundaries of his own culture is the first precondition of a thinker. * If your passion starts paying, it means it has the potential of becoming your profession. * When fascism pervades the air, Philosophy is there to give solace. * A government does eat our money; it eats our time also. * When we read a book, and write

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So, this time Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) is on a mission to define Obscenity. It may be a political ploy and what’s the story behind the curtains the managers of TV and Radio channels must be knowing well. Also, the issue of Obscenity may be a covering fire and the intended target is something else, such as editorial independence of the electronic media in Pakistan. Better the electronic media should regulate itself and before the PEMRA comes in to strangulate its freedom! Many a questions need to be raised about the character and mandate of PEMRA, and a

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This evening I finished reading, The Elements of Moral Philosophy, by James Rachels (McGraw-Hill College, 3rd edition 1999; previous editions 1986, 1993). I have read a number of books on Ethics; it’s quite different from all others. Though written for the students, it retains the philosophical tenor well. Not only Rachels discusses important arguments put forward by the important schools of moral philosophy, he contributes towards devising a new Moral Theory also. Distinctively, he equates Morality with Reason. “It is an offense against morality because it is first an offense against reason.” Have a look at the scheme of the

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It is no gainsaying that the government has completely failed the citizens of Pakistan by mismanaging the electricity generation and distribution. This government-made crisis is immeasurably hurting every aspect of the society. But there is no sign of any realization of the magnitude of the crisis on the part of the present government which through its 5 years of rule did nothing to resolve it. The electricity tariff is directed upwards with no reason why it is being increased day by day. Somehow back in 2003 at least there was a bit of sense that it needed to be reduced,

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My reading room is 11 X 9 feet. The wall on the left contains built-in-wall shelves measuring 10.5 X 3.4 inches. Against the front wall are placed two steel almirahs. They are all full of books, old, new, and on various subjects. Their number is irrelevant to the purpose of the present writing. Apart from technical subjects such as relating to physical, scientific and technological disciplines, I have books about many subjects and disciplines. Let me make it clear: my passion is Philosophy, Literature and History. So, books on these subjects abound. All these books were there randomly stuffed in

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