I have greatly learned, and thoroughly enjoyed, a series of discussion on Judith Bennett’s History Matters. The response from Judith Bennett (and, what a response!) also includes links to the discussion before. Go read. I promise you, that you will learn. If only we had more SAists running blogs, I would love to do the [...]
{ 12 comments }
You can catch me with Jerome McDonald on Worldview. Let me know how I did.
{ 6 comments }
Doug Feith, who is certainly prosecutable, had an op-ed in NYT yesterday. The most revealing thing about it was the title, Radio Free Swat. Vietnam is, after all, the proper framework. This Sufi-fights-Taliban meme needs some serious pushback. Nicholas Schmidle and Will Dalrymple have also written recently along these lines. The argument is certainly a [...]
{ 27 comments }
Ten or more terrorists attacked the Police Training School in Manawan, Lahore at 7:30 am. Over 8 policemen killed; nearly 100 injured. 1 or 4 of the attackers have been apprehended, and the rest killed. The gun-battle lasted for 8 hours? Details are sketchy and you should look elsewhere for real-time information. As many are [...]
{ 18 comments }
I failed to note holi here. But this set of big pictures and a fortuitous scan (courtesy of Alam Sahib) gives me an excellent excuse to post this Mughal painting from 1625 and widely credited to Govardhan. It shows, first of all, the various activities associated with Holi. And I love the drunk Jahangir being [...]
{ 3 comments }
“Now, as the Obama administration completes its review of strategy toward the region this week, his sudden ascent has raised an urgent question: Can Mr. Sharif, 59, a populist politician close to Islamic parties, be a reliable partner?” – Jane Perlez, “U.S. Weighs Sharif as Partner in Pakistan” , New York Times, March 24, 2009. [...]
{ 12 comments }
On March 23rd, Pakistan celebrates “Pakistan Day” to commemorate the Muslim League session in Lahore in 1940 at which Muhammad Ali Jinnah most crisply articulated a “Muslims are a nation’ ideology. I want to highlight some sections for you. Look, for example, that Jinnah builds upon twinned arguments: First that Muslims as a community had [...]
{ 10 comments }
Wendy Doniger has graciously, and generously, agreed to respond to some of the comments at CM. I thank her. I have followed with great interest the conversation between Conrad Barwa and Qalandar on this website, and the first thing I want to say is how grateful I am for the reasoned, intelligent tone of both [...]
{ 40 comments }
My narrative is alternative both to the histories promulgated by some contemporary Hindus on the political right in India and to those presented in most surveys in English–imperialist histories, all about the kings, ignoring ordinary people. But the texts tell us not just who was the ruler but who got enough to eat and who [...]
{ 35 comments }
Re: Patrick French. “Touting Religion, Grabbing Land.” New York Times, March 17, 2009. It has been a while since CM had a rant post. I have matured, you know. Elevated discourse and all that. But, fuck it. This Patrick French “opinion piece” just fills me with that oft-familiar feeling. First off, does Patrick French meet [...]
{ 18 comments }
Now that CJP is on his way to the Supreme bench, one can look ahead. This movement which started in March 2007 has been the most sustained political and civic mobilization in recent memory. As they say, nothing succeeds like success, I wonder what the ground-leaders of the Lawyers Movement will be undertaking as their [...]
{ 10 comments }
Long March 2009: Gilani Speech
{ 5 comments }
I don’t know if this is true but what a glorious moment even a possibility of this represents for the people of Pakistan.
{ 11 comments }
DK sent me a song from this promising new film, Gulaal and it occurred to me how fragile the rationale of PK is. Imagine such a commercial movie (if you can imagine a commercial movie made in PK) that takes as its premise an out-right revolt against the state. Could the Baluchi nationalists project their [...]
{ 58 comments }
Since 2006, the ordinary people of Pakistan have repeatedly mobilized, peacefully and forcefully, in the streets to 1. kick a military dictator out of both army and civilian power 2. get an election done despite the assassination of a popular leader and 3. keep the matter of justice and the judiciary alive and come out [...]
{ 10 comments }
Some Long March pics. The current news is that they are stopping all buses, trucks from crossing the Sindh/Punjab border. Local press is reporting that Kiyani and the US both want the Long March “resolved”. Whatever that means. CM friend Anil has a nice run-down of the Long March. And I ask you to continue [...]
{ 2 comments }
On March 12, 1930 Gandhi marched to Dandhi – stopping in forty plus villages – and speaking about swaraj and breaking the salt laws to show their inhumanity. Satyagraha is definitely at the heart of the nonviolent demand for the restoration of the Supreme Court deposed on Nov. 3, 2007 by Pervez Musharraf and specifically [...]
{ 3 comments }
The Long March is destined to begin in less than 48 hours. I was hoping to have done more, much more, in talking about it, but things have been hectic on the academic front. So, let me just forward you to Juan Cole for some breakdown (I don’t really agree that this is partition-time. or [...]
{ 9 comments }
As you all must know by now (because I told you), Samip and Tina host the awesome podcast on all matters desi. Episode #4 is on Magic (white and black). An added bonus is that this episode also features me (!) delving a bit deeper into the whole black magic ad thing. A bit more. [...]
{ 0 comments }
Rahman Baba (~1650-1715) is perhaps the most beloved folk poet and sufi of the Pashtu speaking world. He is one star among the pantheon of Sindhi, Punjabi, Saraiki, Balochi and Pashto poets of the early modern (Shah Latif Bhitai, Sachal Sarmast, Waris Shah, Sultan Baho, Bulleh Shah etc). Writing in vernacular, but drawing extensively on [...]
{ 10 comments }
