By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn
IN her latest book, The Case for God, Karen Armstrong describes music as `the limit of reason`. She finds it inseparable from religious expression when religion is at `its best`.
We do not get the best demonstration of this connection in the Taliban brand of Islam. The faith practised by the Sufis, however, shows an intrinsic link between the two.
Continue reading The Taliban and music
By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn
India-Pakistan relations do not move in a straight line. They zigzag from crisis to crisis.
In the interregnum the two countries either engage in negotiations or struggle to revive an interrupted dialogue. This is not something new. It has always been the case.
Continue reading The Caux dream
By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn
WHAT has struck me most during my holiday in France — a country I am visiting after 25 years — is that today communication is much easier for someone who cannot speak the French language.
You come across quite a few French men and women who speak and understand English. In fact a number of them are very fluent in the language which previously they had shunned out of national pride.
Continue reading The French speak English
By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn
Last week the deputy attorney general told the Lahore High Court that the federal government had appointed 1,386 people with disabilities to various posts against the two per cent quota for them provided by the law.
Continue reading Rights not charity
By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn
IN its recently released State of Human Rights 2008 report the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has devoted considerable space — the most number of pages — to the education sector in the country.
It is not a coincidence that the most backward, underprivileged and impoverished people who are denied their basic rights also happen to be illiterate and uneducated.
Continue reading Education – tool for oppression