Monday, April 23, 2012

Indicators of liberalism

Taimur Ashraf, in the Daily Times, has an interesting point to make.  Since Jinnah, a lawyer, defended in court both Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1909, on a charge of sedition) and Ilam Din (1929, appeal of his death sentence awarded for the murder of Rajpal; motive of the murder - alleged blasphemy against the Prophet),  Jinnah's liberal credentials are established.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

The cost of losing East Pakistan

Regarding Gilgit-Baltistan [GB], Nazir Naji writes:
What did we lose after losing East Pakistan? Those who are pushing this country deep into a quagmire in the name of Islam still have no idea about how grave that loss was. The leadership of East Pakistan would never have let Pakistan be embroiled in the Afghan war. The Kashmir problem would possibly have been solved. Just like India, Pakistan would be on the road to rapid development. We would be standing with dignity in the comity of nations. Our society would have been free from the scourge of violence. No OBL would have been ensconced safely in our quarters and no Hafiz Saeed would have had the gall to support foreign terrorists. We have seen all this because we let East Pakistan go. And what is happening in GB now, if I allude even perfunctorily to it, it would scare the daylights out of most.