Language question in education

Education, Language

By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn

LANGUAGE controversies have been a sensitive issue in Pakistan. Half the country was lost in 1971 when, among other things, we could not concede the right to the people of East Pakistan to use Bangla, their own language, in the affairs of the state.

In 1972, language riots took place in Karachi when the “new Sindhis” were unwilling to recognise the right of the people of Sindh to use Sindhi as the language of the government. The alienation that was caused ran deep and has still not been bridged.
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Female militants’ show of force

Education, Islamisation

By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn

IN ITS latest issue, the Time magazine titles its cover story as “The truth about Talibanistan” which it claims is gathering strength in Pakistan’s “wild borderlands”. Last week events took a new turn.

The show of force by the Lal Masjid strongmen and the Hafsa madressah’s female guardians of morality in Islamabad was an indication that the tentacles of the Taliban are spreading rapidly to the heart of the federal capital.
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With a sense of déjà vu

Politics

By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn

IS THIS the turning point? As the events in Islamabad unfold, it becomes instantly clear that the filing of the presidential reference against the chief justice has come as the proverbial spark in a tinderbox that was waiting to explode. Had it not been the reference, it would have been something else.

That is why people are interpreting the happenings of the last 12 days as the lawyers’ revolt, the public’s outrage, a storm on the political horizon and an attack on the fourth estate and so on. What is clear is that the discontent that was building up has now burst into the open.
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How Afghanistan was lost

Book Reviews, Islamisation

Reviewed By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn

THE message that emerges powerfully from this nondescript looking but informative book is that for Pakistan the chickens of its Afghan policy are coming home to roost. The author, Dr Fazal-ur-Rahim Marwat, who is associate professor at the Pakistan Study Centre in Peshawar, packs so much information in From Muhajir to Mujahid that it is not easy to assimilate it in one reading. There are so many details, names and events thrown together randomly that it takes some time for the reader to get accustomed to the writer’s style. As one wades through the book, all the pieces fall in place like thatof a jigsaw puzzle.
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