Gandhiji and all other Congress leaders were in prison. When Gandhiji started his fast there was a nationwide movement for his freedom. In a letter to the Government, Gandhiji said that the Congress had no objection if the British Government   handed   over   the   power   to   Jinnah   and   he established a Government. This letter of Gandhiji caused worry in the British camp. But in his letter dated 16 February 1943, the Viceroy assured the British Government that Jinnah had refused to participate in the leadership convention, and along with Liaquat Ali Khan refused Gandhiji's offer. And his statement and that of Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan in the Assembly have dealt pretty effectively with the suggestion that the Muslim League are willing participants either in Gandhi's fast or in his suggestion that a National Government can be formed by them with his goodwill in a day.

Undoubtedly, no sensible person can deny that burning copies of the Holy Quran or divine scripture of any other religion is a very despicable and deplorable act. However, recorded history stands witness that many foreign invaders including the US military, have been found guilty of horrible brutality against the local people and mindless disrespect and destruction of their religious and cultural heritage. Hence, weaker nations and their leaders must...

Ii is taken for granted that the upheavals in much of the Middle East — and great-power decisions about which conflicts are worthy of “humanitarian intervention” and/or “regime change” — have a lot to do with oil and who profits from it. But understanding the dynamics behind the headlines requires more detailed and careful analysis. Adam Hanieh’s Capitalism and Class in the Gulf Arab States is a welcome materialist contribution. Most analyses of the countries that constitute the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC — Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain) revolve around an institutionalist view that sees state formations as solely responsible — like magicians conjuring up new realities — for the social relations that distingush...

This division of labour is classical patriarchal narrative often touted by Zaid Hamid. In the course of this very program, we have heard about Atiya Faizi, Iqbal's friend from Europe. Atiya Faizi was a modern woman, opposite of what Iqabl and Zaid Hamid want other women to be. Atiya Faizi was among the first elite Indian Muslim women who made their way to the UK universities for higher education. Attiya also went to Cambridge...

Enlightened Pakistani expatriates in the USA have developed a consensus that the genesis of what ails Pakistan can be traced to the feudal system our former colonial masters imposed on India. The colonizers declared them and their vassals a martial race, and used them against their own countrymen for sabotage of the national movement and to fight the inter-imperial wars all over the world. The feudal lords treated their peasants worse than one would a slave, forcing them to work in their homes without any payment, treating the latter’s females as keeps.

There has been an increase in threats directed against feminists and women who publicly display their aversion towards gender norms in Sweden, according to many feminist writers and activists. This targets the rights of feminists to exist in a democratic society, according to Anna-Klara Bratt, chief editor of the newly started feminist internet newspaper, Feministiskt Perspektiv. In a context of growing racism and xenophobia, most clearly expressed in the 2010 elections where the racist party the Swedish Democrats won parliamentary seats for the first time, feminists are also singled out for threats and ridicule. In late 2011 the SCUM Manifesto, written by Valerie Solanas in 1967, was performed in front of several audiences, including school students, in Stockholm. Expressing violent...

The HEC either did not bother to check his record or, after checking it, decided that he truly deserved it.  In either case, given that I had expressed reservations about his credentials, I ought to have been told. Nominations for such awards are very likely channeled through the HEC.   You were informed twice about my suspicion about this person’s credibility.  This was backed by the views of HEC Distinguished Professor Asghar Qadir’s remarks about his lack of knowledge about the fundamentals of his field.  This is so despite him being a publishing machine churning out one paper a week for the past 6-7 years – his current tally is 350.  Even the most prolific mathematician ever...

A weak coalition government came into power as a result of the 2008 general election when none of the leading mainstream political parties could bag a simple majority to form their government in Balochistan (Refer to Table 2). Pakistan Muslim League (Q) was the only party to emerge as the leading political party of the province but its split into two factions deprived it the chance of forming the provincial government. Resultantly, the second largest party, Pakistan Peoples' Party, took the advantage of the situation and managed to form...

According to a news item (The News Jan. 28, 2012), The Pakistan Center for Philanthropy (PCP) ranked a cement company of Pakistan among top 10 national philanthropists out of 532 public listed companies in terms of total volumes of donations in 2010 as per statement issued by the that cement company. The ranking was given subsequent to a survey investigating the philanthropic giving of public listed companies. The survey was aimed at recognizing the efforts of corporate sector towards Corporate Social Responsibility, the statement said. The cement company in question donated Rs. 104 millions to different charitable...

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Eric Margolis:‘Studies conducted by the Rand Corporation estimate...a nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan would initially kill 2 million people, cause 100 million causalities, and contaminate South and Central Asia, as well as much of the globe, with radio active fallout’. And reveals: ‘…in late May and June,1999, Pakistan and India were ‘within hours’ of a massive war. Both sides put their nuclear strike forces on the highest alert and, reportedly, began inserting fissionable cores into their nuclear weapons. This crisis whose full gravity was largely concealed from the international public, was the most dangerous direct confrontation between nuclear armed powers since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis’[1]. Who cares?

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