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2016

UNDERESTIMATING THE SIKH COMMUNITY

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ALI SUKHANVER

Ali display picGurdawara Panja Sahib is a Sikh temple located 48 kilometers away from Pakistan’s very important city Rawalpindi in Hassan Abdal and is considered one of the most sacred places of worship for the Sikhs from all over the world. It is visited by thousands of Sikh and Hindu pilgrims twice every year. A few weeks back, I had a chance of visiting Gurdawara Panja Sahib in precious company of Dr. Ali Ahmed Kharal who is a world renowned educationist and author of a research book ‘Humanism & Pakistani English Novel’.  Gurdawara Panja Sahib is no doubt a majestic building with a unique historical background built by Maharaja Ranjit Singh somewhere in the 15th century, according to some historians. My intention of going to Hassan Abdal was to visit Cadet College Hassan Abdal too which is the first Cadet College in Pakistan and was established at the initiative of General Muhammad Ayub Khan, the then Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army. Though Hassan Abdal is a Muslim majority town but all around the Gurdawara one could find a lot of Sikh residents. The government of Pakistan has provided them all facilities, all basic rights and all possible security. They say, ‘Pakistan is our own homeland; it is the land of Gurdawara Panja Sahib, so it is very dear and sacred to us.’ Coming out of the Gurdawara, we met an old Sikh Sardar in a street leading to the town. I have forgotten his name but his hopefully glittering eyes are still in my memories. He said to me, ‘We shall build a very grand mosque in Khalistan and safeguard it, just to thank our Pakistani Muslim brothers for the care they shower upon us and our places of worship in Pakistan’. I don’t know when the Sikhs would succeed in getting an independent homeland of their own but I am very much sure that they would certainly build a grand mosque when they succeed in materializing their dream of Khalistan. Sardar Jee promised to invite me to the first National Day of Khalistan when Khalistan comes into being. God knows better what is the present status of the Khalistan Movement but the hope-glittering eyes of Sardar Jee seemed very much confident that things would be alright soon.Read More »UNDERESTIMATING THE SIKH COMMUNITY

MOLESTING DEAD MUSLIM WOMEN

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ALI SUKHANVER

Ali display picWho is leading a more miserable life in India; the Dalits or the Muslims? It is a very difficult question to answer because both the minorities are facing the same derogatory and insulting situation in the Indian society. However at some places Dalits seem in a better position and at some places the Muslims seem superior to them but they both are far inferior when compared with the upper-caste Hindus. A few years back India’s much esteemed news paper The Hindu, published a very heart rending investigative report on the poor plight of the Muslims in India. The newspaper sent an investigative team of its reporters to different residential areas of the Capital Delhi and assigned to it the task of finding a flat for a Muslim family. The team went to different property agents but everywhere it got the same response, “The landlords want only Indians, not Muslims.” The reporting team contacted Radha of Gulshan properties in New Friends Colony, New Delhi also. A few days back the Gulshan properties had advertised for a flat to be rented on but the reporting team got the same response there. The agent said, “Another Muslim wanted to take the same flat on rent but he was also refused by the owners though the flat has been vacant for a long time but they will not give it to a Muslim.” The Hindu latter on published the findings of its reporting team with the title, ‘Muslims: The Untouchables of India’. Read More »MOLESTING DEAD MUSLIM WOMEN

The making of Pakistan’s Putin

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Ayaz Amir

raheel-sharif“The leader must aim high, see big, judge widely, thus setting himself apart from the ordinary people who debate in narrow confines.” General Charles de Gaulle.

I think – and I could be dead wrong and if I am, let me go to Sehwan Sharif to atone for my misjudgment – the most important event in Pakistan’s recent history will happen post-November when Gen Raheel Sharif puts up his spurs and a successor takes his place.

I can bet anything that when his departure ceremony takes place in General Headquarters and he formally relinquishes his command there will be on his face not the wan, wistful look that Gen Musharraf had when he was handing over his baton to Gen Kayani. Musharraf was looking back on his years of glory and was uncertain about the future, correctly as it soon turned out, Kayani, his anointed successor, in effect becoming his Brutus.Read More »The making of Pakistan’s Putin