News & Articles

ALI SUKHANVER

‘If you expect the world to be fair with you because you are fair, it is like expecting the lion not to eat you because you don’t eat him’, says Shakespeare. Expectations play a very vital role in making our life hell or heaven. Expectations are in actual our desires and hopes that we wish to be fulfilled by hook or by crook. We pray for their fulfillment, we struggle for their achievement and in this way most of our joys and sorrows directly or indirectly get connected with our expectations. Wise are those whose desires and expectations are logical and rational; but what to do if our very logical and very rational expectations prove a house of cards. A few days back, addressing a consultative trade meeting, the Commerce Minister of Pakistan Khurram Dastagir Khan said that import of electricity from India will greatly help overcome the Pakistan’s current power crisis. He asserted that Pakistan will continue to promote trade with India despite tensions along the border. The honourable Minister was very honest and sincere in his opinion and certainly while making this statement he would be expecting the same positive response from the Indian side but if he had listened to Shakespeare’s advice, his expectation might have been altogether otherwise.Read More »STRANGE EXPECTATIONS

ALI SUKHANVER

 Just a few days back, David Swanson, a well known American journalist and a human rights activist penned down an article, ‘Again the Peace Prize Not for Peace.’ The topic of this article is awarding of the Nobel Prize for Peace to Malala Yusafzai and Kailash Satyarthi. He says in this article, ‘According to  Alfred Nobel’s will the Nobel Peace Prize must go to the person who has done the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses. The persons whom the Nobel Prize 2014 has been awarded to have not worked for fraternity between nations or the abolition or reduction of standing armies but for the rights of children’. Next he raises some objections with particular reference to Malala Yusafzai. He says, ‘Malala Yusafzai became a celebrity in Western media because she was a victim of designated enemies of Western empire. Had she been a victim of the governments of Saudi Arabia or Israel or any other kingdom or dictatorship being used by Western governments, we would not have heard so much about her suffering and her noble work. Were she primarily an advocate for the children being traumatized by drone strikes in Yemen or Pakistan, she’d be virtually unknown to U.S. television audiences.’Read More »THE CONTROVERSIAL NOBEL PRIZE FOR PEACE

PROFESSOR ALI SUKHANVER

 Are we trying to disfigure the actual form and shape of the message of Islam; this question really becomes agonizingly painful to me whenever I try to go deep into Allama Iqbal’s concept of the Muslim Community; and this question compels me ponder over the other side of the picture. Allama Iqbal was of the opinion that the Muslims living all over the world belong to one community, they obey the same Lord , follow the preaching of the same Prophet (PBUH) and seek guidance from the same Book which is a complete code of life for every Muslim till the end of his life. He said this concept of oneness and solidarity adds a lot to the strength of the Muslims as a nation. He was of the opinion that the message of Islam could never remain confined to a particular piece of land and this concept gives Islam a colour of universality. But what is happening in today’s Muslim world, is altogether different from the thoughts and ideology presented by Allama Iqbal. Unfortunately we don’t find any cordial relationship between any of the two Muslim countries. Just look at the relationship between Iran and Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Syria, Bangladesh and Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan, Kuwait and Iran, Iraq and Syria and above all between  Pakistan and Afghanistan; everywhere a blazing inferno of hatred and enmity. Where is that ‘Utopian’ world of love, care and brotherly feelings as presented and advocated by Allama Iqbal. At the same time, when we look at the Non-Muslim world which never claims of being part of a ‘community’, we find an unshakable and unbreakable bond of care and co-operation there. What are the factors which do not let the Muslim countries come close and what are the elements responsible for creating distances and differences among the Muslim countries; this topic needs a lot of research and analysis. The ever worst example of disintegration in the Muslim world is the conflicting relationship between two Muslim countries is that of Afghanistan and Pakistan. These two countries are always in a silent state of war, all time a scenario filled with blames and allegations. And the behaviour of Afghanistan is often more aggressive and more violent.Read More »ARE THE MUSLIMS LOSING THEIR STRENGTH?

PROFESSOR ALI SUKHANVER

Countless questions need serious pondering over the issues along the Durand line. What are the factors which never let Pakistan and Afghanistan, the two Islamic countries, come closer; why has the official relationship between these two Islamic countries never been very cordial and genial; what is the actual nature of conflict between these two neighbouring countries; whether this conflict is a clash of two nations or an artificially created air of distrust and misunderstandings by the political hi-ups? Whatever be the reason, it is a day-light fact that the distances between the two countries are always widening. To get the appropriate answer to all these questions and to seek out a solution to the problem, we will have to analyze the situation keeping aside all prejudice and inclinations but one thing must always be kept in mind that at national level, the people belonging to these two countries have never been hostile to each other.Read More »DURAND MEANS NO BOUNDRIES