India’s Home Minister P. Chidambaram during a speech at the conference of State police chiefs and Inspector-Generals of police cautioned against the emerging phenomenon of ‘saffron terror’. The Home Minister’s comments have proved controversial with the Opposition Party, Bharatiya Janata Dal (BJP) demanding an apology. Semantics apart, Home Minister Chidambaram’s comment was not frivolous. [Photo: […]
I’d written earlier about the stultifyingly small (perhaps still-born?) aid packages that have been flowing into Pakistan’s flooded regions. As a result of the widely acknowledged insufficient private donations, the U.N. has asked that its member states double their pledged humanitarian aid packages to Pakistan. To get your head around the latest news on private […]
Per usual, the PBS Newshour with Jim Lehrer has provided, far and away, the best reportage on the flood in Pakistan. Working with Saima Mohsin of the English-language channel Dawn News, the Newshour has aired some of the most arresting stories on Pakistan’s crisis. The piece you will find below is no different. Mohsin lays […]
I suggest, my readers, that you pass on this note to all your friends and loved ones: Please donate the small, though value of $50 to the flood relief effort in Pakistan. Consider that private pledged donations to Pakistan’s flood victims are 1/40th the dollar value pledged for the victims of the Haiti earthquake and […]
Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured. Mark Twain It really is a grueling task to write about Pakistan because there is never anything encouraging to discuss. It is always an angry mob shouting against ‘foreign hands, […]
The government of Bangladesh has made secure moves toward greater equality of opportunity, particular in education of the young children of Bangladesh. This move is partly explained by the fact that the young stand for the greatest–certainly the largest– generation in the country. And the politics of the country will sway in whichever direction the […]
I’ve never quite understood the BNP leader’s use of the term oust, when she bleats on about ousting the sitting Awami League government “because its activities go against the interests of the people and the country”. Does Begum Zia mean that she will force Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation from power? Alternatively does she intend […]
The U.S. government has made several related moves that now allows it go after the Pakistani Taliban with meat and muscle. The U.S. Department of Justice has charged Hakimullah Mesud, the alleged leader of the Tehrik e-Taliban with conspiracy to murder 7 C.I.A officers. Using a Jordanian physician as a double-agent the Tehrik-e-Taliban were able […]
“It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.” Saint Augustine According to a report in Dawn, once again, Pakistanis have embarrassed themselves, and ironically enough, their struggling country the other day at Washington Dulles Airport by acting awfully. Bravo. It is unfortunate to note that there has […]
Islam, like other religions, instructs its followers to first help protect and comfort those who are in trouble. Therefore, it only makes sense that folks, especially those who are supporting the construction of a new mosque at Ground Zero abandon the mosque project and instead help the victims of horrendous floods in Pakistan. No, I […]
Hinduism is a religion of festivities. Pomp, color, dance and music, assortment of delicacies, traditional costumes and merry making are usually associated with most Hindu festivals. Janmashtami- celebration of Lord Krishna’s birth, epitomizing the grandeur of Hindu festivities was observed in India on September 1. The Janmashtami celebrations, like most Hindu festivals, have come to […]
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s exhortation that the journalists work with her to consolidate democracy sounds more like a threat than a claim that the government and journalists should work together. The Daily Star reports that she rang out: “Don’t do anything that might jeopardise democracy in the future.” Claiming that journalists help pass propaganda in […]
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