Once again the axe of prohibition has fallen on a culturally and aesthetically most gratifying festival of spring - Basant. Playing to the tunes of clerics, the Punjab government earned the stigma of banning the colourful festival of kite flying.
Professional manipulators of Religion on the one side, and the Generals and the establishment (aided by Uncle Sam) on the other have heavily contributed to sour the dreams of Pakistan's silent majority and spread mayhem elsewhere too.
Prominent women’s rights icon and political activist Tahira Mazhar Ali Khan stressed the importance of education, revival of political activism and equality of rights for the country to progress in an interview on international women's day.
Four bills directly relating to women were introduced in the National Assembly. The most important of these was the one moved by the PPP (Parliamentarians) simply titled the Hudood Laws (Repeal) Bill 2005.
Recent reports of clashes between Muslims and Buddhists in Ladakh triggered off by the alleged desecration of the Qur'an in a village in Kargil are an ominous reminder.
"Of course this isn't about freedom of speech." I've heard that line countless times in Karachi lately about the Danish cartoon controversy, including from journalists who fiercely guard their own right to work without censorship.
According to reports, Western relief agencies, including those run by the United Nations and the United States government, have complained of “perceptible harassment by ‘Jihadi elements’ working in the quake hit-areas in Azad Kashmir and the NWFP”.
