The straightforward fact is, when I am writing these lines; I find no hope provision of justice and protection to marginalized portion of the society. I am representative of the most vulnerable community of the country, largely dealt under Islamic militancy. Until 2006, rape in Pakistan was a crime

The first person to own a car in my hometown, Azamgarh, was Raja Harish Chand. I am talking about 70 years ago! The next family to buy a car was ours. It was an old Ford. The arrival of the car represented major scientific development, but its arrival in our lives did not engender in me any sort of

‘Tobacco is one of the leading killers in the world’; ‘smoking is harmful for our health’; ‘smoking can cause lung cancer, heart disease’… We have heard it all before. We also know how once someone gets into the habit of smoking it is very difficult, if not impossible for him/her to quit due to the

Having been born in 1925, I have personally witnessed almost a whole century of the history of the Indian subcontinent. The last 100 years was a period of momentous developments for this part of the world. This period saw the emergence of many ‘towering’ personalities, but in terms of helping the pe

“The Great Leader Erdogan” now resembles the late Chairman Mao Zedong because he dictates from high. At least Mao had the excuse of ruling a one-party-state because of the enormous traumas that engulfed China. However, modern day Turkey is going in the wrong direction because “The Great Leader Erdog

Dialogue between people of different faiths is a pressing necessity. Yet, relatively few dialogue initiatives have been launched by Muslims. This is because Muslims, generally speaking, don’t believe in building bridges with non-Muslims in religious matters. They believe in converting them. And ther

Field Marshal Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi appears likely to run for the presidency given the perilous situation in Egypt. It is easy for skeptics to drum up the Hosni Mubarak era but what can the same skeptics says about Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan and Syria? In all the above, with the exception of

The most astonishing thing about the recent talks wasn’t what happened in Geneva but what happened outside of the talks. Once more, the maverick Obama administration was at its estranged best. This applies to America starting once more to fund sectarian and terrorist forces while talks were underway

The intrigues of major NATO and Gulf powers have collectively helped al-Qaeda affiliates and a plethora of Sunni Islamist terrorist movements to spread from Iraq to Libya. Indeed, nations like Mali and Tunisia have been dragged into the intrigues of outside nations that only have short-term objectiv

Once again Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy law is in the limelight after a Briton, Mohammad Asghar, has been sentenced to death on blasphemy charges.
His tenant, with whom he was having a dispute, brought the charges against him alleging that he had claimed to be Islam’s prophet in Rawalpindi.

What is the purpose of interfaith dialogue? It is generally accepted that the purpose of interfaith dialogue is to establish harmony among religious groups. This kind of interfaith dialogue has been going on since long, may be several hundred years. But, according to my experience, all these exercis

The present decade is synonymous to a sunflower with its dark center reflecting a profuse cloud of myths about cancer and the bright periphery emancipating its complete treatment. The myths about cancer go parallel to the fact that it is now completely treatable. The days are long gone when cancer w

The focus of this year's World Cancer Day (4 February 2014) is on Target 5 of the World Cancer Declaration: Reduce stigma and dispel myths about cancer, under the tagline 'Debunk the myths' (the 4 myths of-- we do not need to talk about cancer; there are no symptoms of cancer; there is nothing I can

World Cancer Day: 4th February
Despite alarming cancer rates globally, with worst impact in low- and middle-income countries, one is forced to ponder if we really believe in 'cancer prevention is better than cure'. Cancer treatment is challenging and expensive, with very worrying 5-year survival ra

The recent news that two MLAs of the Goa Legislative Assembly had registered their birth at the Civil Registration Office in Lisbon created a major controversy in this State. Goa was liberated from colonial rule on December 19, 1961. Subsequently, the Goa, Daman and Diu (Citizenship) Order, 1962 bes