noted

But if this charge is true, that the girl was not found a virgin, then they shall bring out the girl to the doorway of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death because she has committed an act of folly in Israel by playing the harlot in her [...]

{ 7 comments }

Afghanistanica on sag-e afghani. Also, on khok-i afghani. Ben on Kindle.

{ 0 comments }

I ask you, nay demand, to spend an hour listening to the The Musharraf Government Makes Its Case at the Asia Society. You will hear from such luminaries as: Dr. Nasim Ashraf, Minister of State, Government of Pakistan; Chairman, National Commission for Human Development. Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif, Minister of Tourism and Youth Affairs, Government [...]

{ 5 comments }

In today’s Chicago Tribune is a special geography section. Of special note is Howard Gardner’s Crosswording India. Gunga Din, included.

{ 0 comments }

I have been lucky enough to be a member of Cliopatria – the group blog of historians – for a long while now. We host an annual Cliopatria Awards, where we highlight the best in history blogging. Please take a moment to nominate someone or some post from the desi/history blogosphere. I hope to do [...]

{ 0 comments }

Peter Nadas gives us some clues: But then, can someone in, say, Boston, “pouring sweet maple syrup over sizzling bacon” understand “from such ambiguous sentences how deformed the thoughts and actions of someone can become who for years has used their mother tongue for hiding thoughts rather than for expressing them?” he asked. “How meaning [...]

{ 2 comments }

I get really annoyed at this “authenticity” business (see an old complaint) about who has the rights to do exactly what for which community. So I really enjoyed this letter to the Guardian about their nonsensical op-ed, The Trouble with Brick Lane: As a mixed-race novelist (hell, just as a novelist), I would like to [...]

{ 11 comments }

There is a new poll [pdf link] out that has details on Pakistani democracy, popularity of various national leaders and some other interesting tidbits. It also shows that Bush and Mush are way unpopular – even as UbL has held on to his appeal in the 18-35 demographic. Make of it what you will.

{ 2 comments }

This terror of a language and the official language of terror continues its march of terror – from Raed Jarrar being denied boarding a plane because his tshirt had Arabic on it, to Debbie Almontaser resigning because someone printed an ‘objectionable’ Arabic word on a tshirt to David Al Watan and his six colleagues questioned [...]

{ 4 comments }

Leo Strauss ruined my graduate school experience and caused the Iraq War. Or maybe not? Chicago Reader investigates the hidden imam of neo-conservatism. I blame Bernard Lewis, actually. Foreign Policy Magazine TV interviewed some ambassadors of countries on their Failed State Index. You can watch Amb. Mahmud Ali Durrani defend Pakistan. “Don’t blame us for [...]

{ 5 comments }

I break my reverie to state, unequivocally, that Ramchandra Guha’s oped in today’s NYT, India’s Internal Partition, is very, very strange. Seriously. Read it one sentence at a time.

{ 22 comments }

The July/Aug 2007 issue of Foreign Affairs contains Daniel Markey‘s A False Choice in Pakistan. It is a clear-eyed assessment of Pakistan – and US options going forward. I highly recommend it. I don’t necessarily agree with everything – Markey’s analysis has no place for non-Army actors and I am not entirely satisfied with his [...]

{ 8 comments }

I just found out about it, though it had been announced back in March. In Fall 2007, Georgetown’s School of Continuing Education will begin a seminar, The Pearl Project, to “investigate motive and attempt to determine who really killed Pearl. They will also examine the wider relationship between the Muslim world and the press and [...]

{ 6 comments }

Have you heard the good news? For those of us who may have lost hope– expect the worst from humanity– no end to war, pollution and the like– the world has been handed an inspiring example in the form of the eradication of everyone’s favorite parasite, the guinea worm. In a recent article in the [...]

{ 5 comments }

Days of Rage by William Dalrymple looks at Asma Jahangir – and Lal Masjid – in the NYer. The piece lacks his usual narrative flair but maybe because the Lal Masjid stuff seems a late add-on. Worth a read just for the profile of Asma Jahangir whom I have admired for a very long time.

{ 3 comments }