Books and Research Materials

Saiyan0321

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I am making this thread a Sticky so that we can share Reading material of any kind amongst ourselves and provide Reviews and Suggestions for Books. This Thread will also include Research materials which can help our understanding and expand our horizons. Again it is not limited to Non-Fiction works. Fiction works are welcome here as well.
 

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OK So let me get the ball rolling. I am currently reading 'Shariah and The State' by Farhat Haq and i would definitely recommend it. It talks about the politicizing of the religion in the region and how Pakistan has struggled with its identity as a modern state and an Islamic state. It also takes into account the rise of TLP and how Religious politics especially barelvi politics has evolved.

Definitely 5/5 and recommend it
 

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Plaint under CPC: Particulars, Procedure, Admission & Rejection



A plaint is a legal document which contains the written statement of the plaintiff’s claim. A plaint is the first step towards the initiation of a suit. In fact, in the very plaint, the contents of the civil suit is laid out.

Through such a plaint, the grievances of the plaintiff are spelled out, as well as the possible causes of action that can arise out of the suit. A plaint which is presented to a civil court of appropriate jurisdiction contains everything, including facts to relief that the plaintiff expects to obtain.

Although it hasn’t been defined in the CPC, it is a comprehensive document, a pleading of the plaintiff, which outlines the essentials of a suit, and sets the legal wheels up and running.

Order VII of the CPC particularly deals with a plaint. A few of the essentials of a plaint implicit in itself are those only material facts, and not all facts or the law as such is to be stated, the facts should be concise and precise, and no evidence should be mentioned.



PARTICULARS OF A PLAINT:

The name of the particular court where the suit is initiated.Name, place, and description of the plaintiff’s residenceName, place, and description of the defendant’s residence.A statement of unsoundness of mind or minority in case the plaintiff or the defendant belongs to either of the categories.The facts that led to the cause of action and when it arose.The facts that point out to the jurisdiction of the court.The plaintiff’s claim for relief.The amount allowed or relinquished by the plaintiff if soA statement containing the value of the subject matter of the suit as admitted by the case.



ADDITIONAL PARTICULARS:

Order VII, Rule 2 states that the plaintiff shall state the exact amount of money to be obtained from the defendant if the case is so. On the other hand, if the exact amount cannot be arrived at, as is then case with mesne profits, or claim for property from the defendant, an approximate figure must be mentioned by the plaintiff.Order VII, Rule 3 states that when immovable property is the subject matter of the plaint, the property must be duly described, that is sufficient in the ordinary course to identify it.Order VII, Rule 3 states that when the plaintiff has initiated the suit in a representative capacity, it has to be shown that he/ she has sufficient interest in doing the same as well as has taken the required steps to ensure the same.The plaint should adequately show the involvement of the defendant, including his/ her interests in the same and thereby justifying the need to bring him/ her forward.If the plaintiff files the suit after the expiration of the period of limitation, he/ she must show the reason for which such an exemption from law is being claimed.



PROCEDURE FOR ADMISSION OF THE PLAINT:

When the court serves the summons for the defendant, according to Order V, Rule 9, the plaintiff must present copies of then plaint according to the number of defendants, and should also pay the summons fee, within seven days of such a summons.

THE PARTICULARS OF A PLAINT CAN BE DIVIDED INTO THREE IMPORTANT PARTS SUCH AS HEADING AND TITLE, BODY OF THE PLAINT, AND RELIEF CLAIMED.



HEADING AND TITLE:



NAME OF THE COURT:

The name of the court should be written as the heading. It is not necessary to mention the presiding officer of the court. The name of the court would be sufficient. Eg. In the Court of District Judge, Kolkata.

PARTIES TO THE SUIT:

There are two parties to every suit, the plaintiffs and the defendants. For the purpose of the suit, the name, place, and description of the residence of both the plaintiffs and the defendants have to be mentioned in the particular plaint.

When there are several plaintiffs, all of their names have to be mentioned and have to be categorically listed, according to their pleadings, or in the order in which their story is told by the plaintiff.

Minors cannot sue nor can be sued. So if one of the parties is a minor or of unsound mind, it will have to be mentioned in the cause title.

TITLE OF THE SUIT:

The title of the suit contains the reasons for approaching the court and the jurisdiction before which the plaint Is initiated.

BODY OF THE PLAINT

This is the body of the plaint wherein the plaintiff describes his/ her concerns in an elaborative manner. This is divided into short paragraphs, with each paragraph containing one fact each. The body of the plaint is divided into two further parts which are:

FORMAL PORTION:

The formal portion contains the following essentials.



A statement regarding the date of cause of action. It is necessary for every plaint to contain the date when the cause of action arose. The primary objective behind this is to determine the period of limitation.There should be a statement regarding the jurisdiction of the court. The plaint must contain all facts that point out the pecuniary or territorial jurisdiction of the court.The value of the subject matter of the suit must be stated properly in this part of the plaint.Statement regarding minority.The representative character of the plaintiffThe reasons why the plaintiff wants to claim exemptions under the law if the suit is initiated after the period of limitation.



SUBSTANTIAL PORTION:

This portion of the plaint must contain all the necessary and vital facts, which constitute the suit. If the plaintiff wishes to pursue a course of action on any other grounds, such grounds must be duly mentioned.

It should be shown in the plaint that the defendant is interested in the subject matter and therefore must be called upon by the court.If there is more than one defendant, and if the liability is not joint, then the individual liability of each and every defendant must be shown separately.In the same way, if there is more than one plaintiff, and their cause of action is not joint, then too, the same has to be mentioned separately.



RELIEF:

The last part of the plaint is the relief. The relief claimed must be worded properly and accurately. Every plaint must state specifically the kind of relief asked for, be it in the form of damages, specific performance or injunction or damages of any other kind. This has to be done with utmost carefulness because the claims in the plaint cannot be backed by oral pleadings.



SIGNATURE AND VERIFICATION:

The signature of the plaintiff is put towards the end of the plaint. In case the plaintiff is not present due to any legitimate reason, then the signature of an authorized representative would suffice.

The plaint should also be duly verified by the plaintiff. In case the plaintiff is unable to do so, his/ her representative may do the same after informing the court.

The plaintiff has to specify against the paragraphs in the pleadings, what all he/ she has verified by his/ her own awareness of the facts, and what has been verified as per information received, and subsequently believed to be true.

The signature of the plaintiff/ verifier, along with the date and the place, at the end of the plaint is essential.

The verification can only be done before a competent ourt or in front of an Oath Commissioner.

Where the language of the plaint is beyond the comprehension of the plaintiff, the same has to be translated, or made known to the plaintiff, and only after that can he/ she put his/her signature and get the plaint verified by the Oath Commissioner.
 

Saiyan0321

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1956 Constitution Preamble

2nd March, 1956​
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

Whereas sovereignty over the entire Universe belongs to Allah Almighty alone, and the authority to be exercised by the people of Pakistan within the limits prescribed by Him is a sacred trust;

Whereas the Founder of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, declared that Pakistan would be a democratic State based on Islamic principles of social justice;

And whereas the Constitution Assembly, representing the people of Pakistan, have resolved to frame for the sovereign independent State of Pakistan a constitution;

Wherein the State should exercise its powers and authority through the chosen representatives of he people;

Wherein the principles of democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance and social justice as enunciated by Islam, should be fully observed;

Wherein the Muslims of Pakistan should be enabled individually and collectively to order their lives in accordance with the teachings and requirements of Islam, as set out in the Holy Quran and Sunnah;

Wherein adequate provision should be made for the minorities freely to profess and practise their religion and develop their culture;

Wherein the territories now included in or in accession with Pakistan and such other territories as may hereafter be included in or accede to Pakistan should form a Federation, wherein the Provinces would be autonomous with such limitations on their powers and authority as might be prescribed;

Wherein should be guaranteed fundamental rights including rights such as equality of status and of opportunity, equality before law, freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith, worship and association, and social, economic, and political justice, subject to law and public morality;

Wherein adequate provision should be made to safeguard the legitimate interests of minorities and backward and depressed classes;

Wherein the independence of the Judiciary should be fully secured;

Wherein the integrity of the territories of the Federation, its independence and all its rights, including its sovereign rights over land, sea and air should be safeguarded;

So that the people of Pakistan may prosper and attain their rightful and honoured place amongst the nations of the world and make their full contribution towards international peace and the progress and happiness of humanity.

Now therefore, we the people of Pakistan in our Constituent Assembly this twenty-ninth day of February, 1956, and the seventeenth day of Rajab, 1375, do hereby, enact and give to ourselves this Constitution.​



1962 Constitution Preamble
(In the name of Allah, the Beneficient, the Merciful.)​

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF PAKISTAN

Preamble

Whereas sovereignty over the entire Universe belongs to Almighty Allah alone, and the authority exercisable by the people is a sacred trust:

And whereas the founder of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, expressing the will of the people, declared that Pakistan should be a democratic State based on Islamic principles of social justice:

And whereas the territories now and hereafter included in Pakistan should be a form of federation with the Provinces enjoying such autonomy as is consistent with the unity and interest of Pakistan as a whole:

And whereas it is the will of the people of Pakistan that -
(a) the State should exercise its powers and authority through representatives chosen by the people;
(b) the principles of democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance and social justice, as enunciated by Islam, should be fully observed in Pakistan;
(c) the Muslims of Pakistan should be enabled, individually and collectively, to order their lives in accordance with the teachings and requirements of Islam;
(d) the legitimate interests of the minorities in Pakistan (including their religious and cultural interests) should be adequately safeguard;
(e) the fundamental human rights (including the rights of equality before law, of freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith and association, and of social, economic and political justice) should, consistently with the security of the State, public interest and the requirements of morality, be preserved; and
(f) the independence of the judicature should be ensured:
NOW, THEREFORE, I, FIELD MARSHAL MOHAMMAD AYUB KHAN, Hilal-I-Pakistan, Hilal-I-Jura'at, President of Pakistan, in exercise of the Mandate given to me on the Fourteenth day of February, One thousand nine hundred and sixty, by the people of Pakistan, and in the desire that the people of Pakistan may prosper and attain their rightful and honoured place amongst the nations of the World and make their full contribution towards international peace and the progress and happiness of humanity, do hereby enact this Constutution.

Dated this first day of March, One thousand nine hundred and sixty-two, being the twenty-third day of Ramazan, One thousand three hundred and eighty-one.

MOHAMMAD AYUB KHAN
President​

The 1973 Constitution

In the name of Allah, the most

Beneficent, the most Merciful.

*THE CONSTITUTION OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF PAKISTAN

[April 12, 1973]

Preamble

Whereas sovereignty over the entire Universe belongs to Almighty Allah alone, and the authority to be exercised by the people of Pakistan within the limits prescribed by Him is a sacred trust;

And whereas it is the will of the people ofPakistanto establish an order—

Wherein the State shall exercise its powers and authority through the chosen representatives of the people;

Wherein the principles of democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance and social justice, as enunciated by Islam, shall be fully observed;

Wherein the Muslims shall be enabled to order their lives in the individual and collective spheres in accordance with the teachings and requirements of Islam as set out in the Holy Quran and Sunnah;

Wherein adequate provision shall be made for the minorities freely to profess and practise their religions and develop their cultures;

Wherein the territories now included in or in accession with Pakistan and such other territories as may hereafter be included in or accede to Pakistan shall form a Federation wherein the units will be autonomous with such boundaries and limitations on their powers and authority as may be prescribed;

Wherein shall be guaranteed fundamental rights, including equality of status, of opportunity and before law, social, economic and political justice, and freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith, worship and association, subject to law and public morality;

Wherein adequate provision shall be made to safeguard the legitimate interests of minorities and backward and depressed classes;

Wherein the independence of the judiciary shall be fully secured;

Wherein the integrity of the territories of the Federation, its independence and all its rights, including its sovereign rights on land, sea and air, shall be safeguarded;

So that the people ofPakistanmay prosper and attain their rightful and honoured place amongst the nations of the World and make their full contribution towards international peace and progress and happiness of humanity:

Now, therefore, we, the people ofPakistan,

Conscious of our responsibility before Almighty Allah and men;

Cognisant of the sacrifices made by the people in the cause ofPakistan;

Faithful to the declaration made by the Founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, thatPakistanwould be a democratic State based on Islamic Principles of social justice;

Dedicated to the preservation of democracy achieved by the unremitting struggle of the people against oppression and tyranny;

Inspired by the resolve to protect our national and political unity and solidarity by creating an egalitarian society through a new order;

Do hereby, through our representatives in the National Assembly, adopt, enact and give to ourselves, this Constitution.



The wording of the three is impressive and you can feel the difference between the three where one did not find power in what will be Pakistan, one was a dictator who was giving the constitution to himself and one was from the representatives elected by the people of Pakistan. The objective resolution, ofcourse was the center of the preambles.
 

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Constitutional and Political History of Pakistan​

By Hamid Kjhan

This book is pretty good and is written by a senior Supreme Court Advocate of Pakistan. The book is a good overview of the constitutional and political history of Pakistan and takes a critical view of the judgments of Pakistani courts and their impacts. A fine read for a good basic understanding Pakistan.

P.S Apparently there is a cap on the file limit otherwise i would have uploaded it here
 

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The shariazation of extremist politics By the late 1990s, ‘sharia’ had become a term coopted by variety of fringe groups in Pakistan as a means to distinguish themselves from the crowded marketplace of Islamist politics. In the 1970s, some Muslim authoritarian states implemented hudud (Quranic-prescribed punishments), such as public fl ogging for consump-tion of alcohol or cutting off hands for stealing, to show their resolve to Islamize their societies. It is not surprising that Pakistan, Sudan, and Libya, ruled by three military dictators, were at the forefront of this search for legitimacy by accentuat-ing the punitive measures in Islamic laws, which played a signif i cant role in cre-ating what Khaled Abu Fadl calls the ‘culture of ugliness’ frequently associated with sharia.35 In Pakistan, there was some public fl ogging during Zia-ul-Haq’s period, but stoning adulterers or cutting hands off thieves did not happen. It was the Taliban in Afghanistan who emerged as the model of an Islamic state for many extremist fringe groups in Pakistan. The Taliban’s insistence on limiting women’s movement, surveilling men’s facial hair and publicly fl ogging or killing adulterers despite strong opposition from most governments, international organizations and NGOs made them a model for extremist groups in Pakistan.
The ‘shariazation of politics’ is occurring in countries that face weak state structures, declining economic opportunities and intractable social conf l icts.
Noah Feldman argues that in places where we see a “quasi-Hobbesian environ-ment,” local communities have shown a “willingness to turn to self-established shari’a courts to engage in the most basic form of dispute resolution.”36 Quick and def i nitive justice is often the justif i cation given for the imposition of sharia. In the parliamentary debates on sharia I discussed earlier, many bemoaned the delayed and expensive judicial processes that emboldened predatory practices like rape and murder. For many communities in Pakistan, the traditional mechanism of con-f l ict resolution based on customary laws often produced better results. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), groups like Tehreek Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) in the Swat district and TTP in both FATA and Swat mimicked the Taliban’s practice of blowing up girls’ schools, forcing barbers to stop shaving young men’s beards, and publicly fl ogging those accused of crimes, all in the name of sharia. When the proponents of blasphemy statutes argue that showing any mercy to the accused is ‘against sharia’ they mean it in the sense of a ‘Talibanized’ conception of Islamic laws that brook no equivo-cation, since it is assumed that the laws are clear-cut.
What is the status of blasphemy laws in light of sharia? The Pakistan Sunni Therik statement I outlined earlier argued that showing leniency to Aaysia Bibi would be against sharia. The assertion is problematic because there is no clear-cut position taken in ‘sharia’ about imposing the death penalty for insulting the Prophet. I take up this issue in greater detail in the next chapter, but suff i ce it to say here that the term ‘sharia’ used in the statement is meant to signal the impossibility of compromise over blasphemy statutes and an implicit threat that if such a compromise is made the ST would become as radical as the TTP in challenging the state. I move next to a debate between a lawyer who argues in 88 Debating blasphemy favor of the death penalty for those guilty of insulting Prophet Muhammad and an Islamic scholar who argues against such punishment to show that the ground in which blasphemy statutes grow is fertilized more by nationalist passion than by sharia.
A lawyer’s passion for the Prophet Muhammad Ismail Qureshi is one of the pivotal fi gures in the movements Khatam-e-Nabuwat (Muhammad as the fi nal Prophet of God) and Namoos-e-Risalat (Movement for Protection of Prophet’s Honor). As an attorney, he has appeared in front of High Courts, the Supreme Court, and the Shariat Appellate Bench to argue in favor of declaring Ahmadis to be non-Muslims and to ensure that the only acceptable punishment for blasphemy against the Prophet Muham-mad (under Pakistan Penal Code 295-C) is the death penalty. Qureshi published a book entitled Namoos e Risalat aur Qanoon e Toheen e Risalat,37 which purports to make a def i nitive case that death is the only just punishment for any insulting remarks against Prophet Muhammad (shatim-e-Rasool).
Qureshi narrates the circumstances that made defending the sanctity of the Prophet (Namoos) the central goal of his adult life:
“A quarter century ago in Lahore I was living on Ghazi Ilum-ud-Din Shaheed road in Lahore opposite a mosque and used to go pray there often. One Friday I heard Sheikh-al Hadees, Maulana Moosa Khan, give the Friday sermon. He was wearing spotless white outf i t which made me wonder about the hypoc-risy of contemporary ulama, who claim to be following the example of the Prophet and his companions, but the Prophet lived a simple life among the growing wealth of the Islamic world and here is this famous alim, wearing an expensive outf i t. . . . I was so disheartened that I left the mosque with-out greeting him. Shortly afterwards I had a dream in which among a huge gathering of humanity I saw the Prophet Muhammad appearing on a horse (isep-esaba), he was wearing a pristine white outf i t and there was such holy light that despite my intense desire I could not gaze at his sacred face. . . .
Eventually I was able to touch his feet.”38 Qureshi goes on to say that for a long time he did not tell anyone of his dream but eventually conf i ded in an attorney friend who told him: “brother you are very lucky, you will be asked to render a great service.”39 In 1992, while performing Umrah in Medina, he met Maulana Moosa Khan, who was ecstatic to fi nd out about his dream. During that meeting Qureshi had an epiphany that made him apprehend a Quranic verse that no one ought to begrudge others’ blessings and luxuries that God had provided for his people, which made him regret his fi rst reaction to Maulana Moosa’s immaculate outf i t. Qureshi concludes his preface by saying that now it is clear to him that he was given a second life after a seri-ous car accident in 1976, because he had to make his dream a reality. That dream was realized when the Federal Shariat Court, in its historic decision, Muhammad Debating blasphemy 89 Ismail Khan V. Government of Pakistan, conf i rmed death as the only penalty for the crime of blasphemy against the Prophet.40 The rest of Qureshi’s book is devoted to establishing the unique status of the Prophet Muhammad, not only for Muslims but for humanity, and making an air-tight case that death is the only penalty for insulting the Prophet, and that such a crime was clearly understood and prosecuted wherever Muslims had political control. Qureshi takes up various questions surrounding the crime of insulting the Prophet: what kind of transgression is “insulting the Prophet?” Could it be forgiven if the accused did not actually have the intention to insult? Could it be forgiven if the accused repents? Is it a crime only for Muslims in that this will lead to irtad – leaving the faith or apostasy – and if that is the case, then what about the possibility that it is a crime against God, for which the punishment would fall in the afterlife? Are women exempt from the death penalty? To all of these questions Qureshi’s answer is: no mercy for anyone who is accused of insult to the Prophet.
Qureshi points to Maududi’s argument that Islam cannot be measured accord-ing to the modern conception of religion, in which religion is a private affair and meant to concern itself only with salvation in the afterlife. As a comprehensive ideological framework implemented by the state, an Islamic system cannot allow traitors to destabilize the very foundation of Islamic society. If a recruit leaves the army, he can be court-marshaled and shot to death; if a member leaves a revo-lutionary party, he can be killed; thus, those who join the party of Islam should know that if they leave they will be facing the prospect of the death penalty.41 Qureshi starts the section entitled ‘295-C’ with an international and compara-tive perspective by outlining what he deems to be the key sources of the Western notion of human rights: the English Magna Carta, the French social contract via Rousseau, the American Declaration of Independence, and the United Nations Human Rights Charter. He tells the reader that his in-depth study has made it clear to him that “these documents are an incomplete realization of the Quranic instructions and a faint echo of the last sermon on the Mount given by the Prophet Muhammad.”42 In Islam, he argues, humans are given greater rights to dignity than in the West, while the most important difference is that in Islamic states these rights are not under the control of governments – because they are God’s commandments, which no one has the right to amend or revoke. Qureshi points to the inadequacy of the Western human rights discourse in protecting vulnerable minorities in Bosnia, Kashmir, Palestine, and Kosovo because, he argues, “the UN is the minion of the United States,” which is why it has shown such quick action when it comes to putting sanctions on Iraq or Libya but is powerless to do anything when the U.S. violates international law.43 Quoting the Quranic verse that warns believers that killing one person is like killing all of humanity, while saving the life of one person is akin to saving the whole of humanity, Qureshi argues that a believing Muslim can never even con-template unjustly killing anyone because of fear of punishment not just in this life but the afterlife too. He argues that worries about blasphemy laws being abused are without foundation. Muslims love their Prophet so much that they would not hesitate to sacrif i ce their wealth, parents, or children to protect his honor, which is 90 Debating blasphemy why a blasphemy law against insulting the Prophet is the best way to ensure that no innocent lives are lost.44 For Qureshi, the blasphemy laws in the West are the fi nal nail in the coff i n of those who argue that PPC 295-C conf l icts with freedom of expression or freedom of religion. Qureshi cites British blasphemy law which prescribes “civil death rather than the death penalty.” He cites the 1978 blasphemy conviction against the UK newspaper Gay News to make the point that a lack of intention to cause harm cannot be considered a valid defense: “when the defendant’s attorney argued that there was no intention to commit blasphemy,” the “jury in a unanimous decision rejected that defense” because “in a blasphemy case against Jesus, ‘intention’ or ‘objective’ are irrelevant, thereby conf i rming what has been the Islamic stance all along; intentions do not matter in blasphemy conviction.”45 For Qureshi, the case that gives the best and fi nal word on blasphemy is a 1922 American court case, State v. Mokas,46 which he included in his testimony to the Pakistan Supreme Court in Zaheer-ud-Din v. the State. He provides detailed excerpts from the deci-sion without translating it into Urdu and at the end concludes: “No more argument is required after the irrefutable reasoning of American Supreme Court to prove the law of contempt of Holy Prophet (PBUH) to be justif i able in Pakistan.”47 He dwells on the following portion of the decision: “it may be truly said that, by reason of the number, inf l uence, and station of its devotees within our territorial boundaries, the religion of Christ is the prevailing religion of this country and of this state. With equal truth may it be said that from the dawn of civilization, the religion of a country is a most important factor in determining its form of gov-ernment, and that stability of government in no small measure depends upon the reverence and respect which a nation maintains towards its prevalent religion.”48 He then explains to his readers that European lawmakers justif i ed blasphemy laws on the grounds that an attack on religion is actually an attack on the state, which is why even secular states have made blasphemy a criminal offense. He argues that American Supreme Court decisions leave no room for debate: insulting the Prophet with impunity would mean destroying the very foundation of the Paki-stani state.49 He concludes the section by once again highlighting what he sees as the hypocritical attitude of the West towards blasphemy laws in Pakistan: “West-ern countries have established secular (irreligious) systems of Government, but their desire to worship has not gone away. Now rather than worshipping Jesus, the state has been fetishized as an object of worship. Wherever there are secular governments, the rebellion against the state is considered a most serious crime with capital punishment.”50 In the preface to the second edition of the book, published in 1999, Qureshi wrote that he had made a few additions to add to the force of his argument, and one such addition is to provide a rebuttal to what he calls a misguided defense of Rushdie and a denial of the severity of shatim-e-Rasool, which had been advanced by an Indian, Maulana Wahiduddin Khan (henceforth referred to as Maulana).
Maulana is a well-known Islamic scholar who has written inf l uential commentary on the Quran and various books about Islam. This debate between Qureshi and Debating blasphemy 91 Maulana is worth exploring in more detail. Below I will fi rst provide Maulana’s key arguments, and then I will discuss Qureshi’s critique of his book.
The Prophet’s way: dawa versus law For Qureshi, an airtight law ensuring prosecution and the death penalty for any-one who dares to insult the Prophet was the fundamental pillar of the integrity of the Muslim ummah; for Maulana, dawa (invitation to Islam) constituted the foundation of Islam because that is, he argued, the Prophet’s way. “Islam is an invitation to do good, it is not a mere set of criminal laws. The central purpose of Islam is not to make criminals out of humanity and then whip them, shoot them or hang them; instead it is to make people love God.”51 Maulana argues that law and dawa employ two very different methodologies. Law does not care what people think of it, while those interested in dawa must make friends out of enemies, which will require patience, persistence, and the ability to forgive those who mock you. He argues that this is the Prophet’s way because he was the “blessing for humanity (rehmat-e-alam) and not the murderer of humanity (qatal-e-alam).”52 Maulana says that Rushdie’s book is malicious propaganda against the Prophet and his family, but argues that this is not the fi rst time that the Prophet Muhammad has been vilif i ed – history is full of examples of horrif i c propaganda against the Prophet. The protection of the Prophet Muhammad’s reputation and the integrity of his message has been promised by God because Muhammad, as the last Prophet, must be a source of guidance for humanity until the end of time.53 He argues that the duty of Muslims is to engage in calling others to Islam by living an exemplary life. He characterizes Imam Khomeini’s 1989 fatwa, which promised a reward to anyone who killed Rushdie, as a disaster for dawa because it makes Muslims appear intolerant and vengeful. Quoting reviews of The Satanic Verses, he asserts that the book was shallow, defective, and without any literary merit; as such, it would have been ignored if it was not for the overreaction of Muslims, particularly from South Asia, that made the book famous and Rushdie rich.54 Citing several examples from the life of the Prophet, Maulana argues that the Prophet showed mercy or tried to convince with logic those who taunted him with satirical poems, accused him of being a false prophet, or even attempted to malign the reputation of his favorite wife Ayesha.
By writing the book, Rushdie may have injured the feelings of Muslims, but there is no Islamic criminal punishment for ‘injury of religious feelings,’ argued Maulana.55 He pointed out that the overreaction to Rushdie’s book, which included rioting that led to the deaths of several protestors and the damage of property, has made the central mission of Islam, dawa, much harder for Muslims. He counsels Muslims to understand the reason for the strong reaction of the West to the death fatwa against Rushdie. Rather than seeing the West’s reaction as anti-Islamic, Maulana, quoting Edward Mortimer, argues that free speech has become a cen-tral part of the Western belief system.56 We should respect the importance of free speech, says Maulana, because it enables us to do the work of dawa in the West.
92 Debating blasphemy He quotes from a letter by an English convert to Islam who complains that after the Rushdie affair she fi nds much greater hostility to Islam among her friends and neighbors.
Maulana devotes a chapter to a critical analysis of Ibn Taymiyya’s (1263– 1328) As-Saarim al-Maslul ala shatim ar-Rasul, because it is the central source for those who argue that insulting the Prophet should be punished with death. He praises Ibn Taymiyya for collecting important information about Islam, but faults him for defective analysis based on weak evidence.57 Ibn Taymiyya’s argument is that even though the Prophet forgave those who transgressed against him, now that he is not present in the world his followers cannot do the same. Quoting one Hadith in which the Prophet instructed his companion not to kill a person who had insulted him by saying, “do not give others the chance to say that Muhammad killed his companion,” Ibn Taymiyya concludes that killing is the right punish-ment for insulting the Prophet. Maulana calls this ‘childish logic’ that clearly conf l icts with the Prophet’s intent, which was to protect the reputation of the religion, since that is central to the success of his message.58 Another instance of such faulty logic in Ibn Taymiyya’s work, according to Maulana, is that the Prophet’s saying, in reference to satirical poems, that “words may be sharper than a sword” led Ibn Taymiyya to argue that non-Muslims who insult the Prophet with satire should be considered as guilty as those who attack him with the sword, which makes such transgressions punishable with death. “Ibn Taymiyya should have said that ‘words’ could be more lethal than the sword and more effective in changing people’s minds, which is why we need to respond to words with words.
Prose and poetry would be a powerful response to destroy that ‘f i tnah’ (sedition) of those who mock the Prophet. To do so would be exactly like following the Prophet’s way.”59 Maulana further argues that the many verses from the Quran used by Ibn Taymiyya to support death as the penalty for insults to the Prophet never mention punishment in this world; instead they refer to eternal punishment in afterlife.
Maulana concedes that the majority of ulama over the years have agreed that shatim must be punished with death, but says that two points need to be kept in mind – fi rst, nothing in the Quran or Hadith supports this punishment, and second, the consensus def i nition of shatim is not limited to insult to the Prophet Muhammad; it includes insult against God and all of the prophets. But he points out what constitutes shatim is so extensive – making fun, criticizing, accusing, cursing – that if we apply it to our contemporary world almost all might be accused of insult. Maulana continues, “Jews consider Jesus to be a child of an unwed mother, Christians consider the Prophet Muhammad to be a false prophet, then there are those who do not believe in one God, and socialists and communists who consider religion to be an opiate for the mind” – this makes the list of trans-gressors so long that eventually all of humanity would be considered worthy of death.60 Maulana faults Muslim intellectuals and ulama of reacting unthinkingly to perceived provocations, rather than investigating events thoroughly. He points to several instances where prominent religious and political leaders agreed with Khomeini’s call for Rushdie’s assassination but later, when their ‘jihad of word’ Debating blasphemy 93 had created a toxic environment for Islam, they moderated their stances, as the Iranian Government did, by removing the fatwa against Rushdie.61 In his response to this book, Qureshi dismisses Maulana’s arguments based on the Quran and the Hadith as a waste of time because “in the face of unanimous agreement among the ulama, a self-proclaimed maulvi’s confused musings have no value.”62 Instead, Qureshi focuses on two pages in which Maulana argues that free speech has become a cherished value in the West, and that that might be a good thing for Muslims interested in dawa. Qureshi begins his response by say-ing “India’s self-proclaimed Maulana has written a book on the issue of shatim-e-Rasool in 1996 in which he has relied on deceptive phrases such as liberty, tolerance, freedom of expression, and freedom of thought to fully litigate the case of the devilish Rushdie.”63 Qureshi argues that Maulana does not understand the concept of liberty, the danger that libertarianism will turn into licentiousness, or the West’s duplicitous attitude toward free speech. In Qureshi’s view, historical evidence shows that Rousseau learned about the concept of liberty from Islamic sources. He says that Maulana does not understand the fact that the necessity for public order limits the exercise of freedoms in every country, including India, where the integrity of the state and the boundaries of decency are some of the standards by which free speech is regulated.64 By calling Maulana secular, insinu-ating that his Indian origin makes him untrustworthy, and quoting passages from his writing out of context, Qureshi attempts to dismiss Maulana Wahiduddin Khan’s arguments about shatim-e-Rasool without ever addressing the central contention of Maulana: God has guaranteed Namoos-e-Risalat, and this has set Muslims free to focus on dawa.

An excerpt from shariah and state.

I really liked this comparison and the contrasting viewpoint
 

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There is another book ( and i can upload it :p :p) and its written by Shuja Nawaz, The book is titled

The Battle for Pakistan: The Bitter US Friendship and a Tough Neighbourhood​



It is a very fine piece of work on the relations between Pakistan and US and although it points to the US concerns and Expectations, and explains the dynamics between the Civilian governments in Pakistan and the military and how they formed a relationship with the US. The military involvement in foreign policy is also a great read.

@Nilgiri giri @Joe Shearer @Kaptaan @Yankeestani @VCheng @Saithan @Webslave @Waz
 

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One of the most searched books for sometime for me was this one, which i finally found today. This book is an absolute recommendation.

Surkh Salam: Communist Politics and Class Activism​

In Pakistan 1947-1972​


The book analyzes communism within Pakistan and this is a very important read because most of western Pakistan is very much into Socialist principles and marxist ideologies. As the chasm between the classes within Pakistan widens and there is a growing discontent between the "People of Pakistan" and "Elite of Pakistan", the origins of such feelings must be understood and frankly, we cannot ignore the socialistic principles of Islam and the Ideal Image of the Islamic State within the people of Pakistan where they hold that in such an ideal state there existed wealth equality and this ideal state ofcourse finds its basis in the Rashidun Caliphate, which by the way had pious leaders but we cannot say that it had absolute Wealth Equality (Hazrat Uthman R.A wealth was very different to the the First, Second and ofcourse the Fourth and even the fifth Rashidun Caliph Hazrat Hasan R.A) and while the land reforms of Hazrat Umer R.A are a very important read especially the shocking policy ( in contrast to the Byzantine and Sassanian policy) of not giving private land holding to the Soldiers and generals who had captured the extremely rich regions of Levant, Euphrates, Tighiris, Nile e.t.c and this did not make them happy. Not at all.

For a Pakistani, the struggle of Class, of Islamic Equalism and the Notions of Ideal state are the driving factors that i personally believe, will always have a red impact on Pakistan and while Pakistanis will vehemently deny communism as Godlessness but by the next breath, they will speak more to the Red Ideals than you could imagine.

Ofcourse while i say this, let me also highlight the hypocritic nature of the people that they will enjoy the houses of generals and judges and politicians being sold and laugh but the moment, it is their turn, they will denounce. These are the same guys that make corruption excuses and remove cash from banks at the end of the Fiscal year to avoid State mandatory Zakat Cuts.

Anyhow fully recommend it.
 

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Another Recent Release that is much sought after and many have ordered it beforehand. Enjoy as it tells basically his story with changed names. Caused quite a stir in the military and Durrani is not loved by the patriots. :D

Honour Among Spies​

Book by Asad Durrani
 

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Saithan

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@Nilgiri @Kaptaan @VCheng @Joe Shearer @T-123456 @Webslave @Saithan

One of the most searched books for sometime for me was this one, which i finally found today. This book is an absolute recommendation.

Surkh Salam: Communist Politics and Class Activism​

In Pakistan 1947-1972​


The book analyzes communism within Pakistan and this is a very important read because most of western Pakistan is very much into Socialist principles and marxist ideologies. As the chasm between the classes within Pakistan widens and there is a growing discontent between the "People of Pakistan" and "Elite of Pakistan", the origins of such feelings must be understood and frankly, we cannot ignore the socialistic principles of Islam and the Ideal Image of the Islamic State within the people of Pakistan where they hold that in such an ideal state there existed wealth equality and this ideal state ofcourse finds its basis in the Rashidun Caliphate, which by the way had pious leaders but we cannot say that it had absolute Wealth Equality (Hazrat Uthman R.A wealth was very different to the the First, Second and ofcourse the Fourth and even the fifth Rashidun Caliph Hazrat Hasan R.A) and while the land reforms of Hazrat Umer R.A are a very important read especially the shocking policy ( in contrast to the Byzantine and Sassanian policy) of not giving private land holding to the Soldiers and generals who had captured the extremely rich regions of Levant, Euphrates, Tighiris, Nile e.t.c and this did not make them happy. Not at all.

For a Pakistani, the struggle of Class, of Islamic Equalism and the Notions of Ideal state are the driving factors that i personally believe, will always have a red impact on Pakistan and while Pakistanis will vehemently deny communism as Godlessness but by the next breath, they will speak more to the Red Ideals than you could imagine.

Ofcourse while i say this, let me also highlight the hypocritic nature of the people that they will enjoy the houses of generals and judges and politicians being sold and laugh but the moment, it is their turn, they will denounce. These are the same guys that make corruption excuses and remove cash from banks at the end of the Fiscal year to avoid State mandatory Zakat Cuts.

Anyhow fully recommend it.
Does Pakistan have real Social Democratic parties ? Marxism/Communism isn't necessarily the same as Socialism, and while you can have elements of them in your governance form, political parties have a need to identify themselves as either left, center or right.

E.g. AKP ended up defining themselves as Moderate Islamic movement, but in reality some of the former party members who established their own political party said, there was no need for such labelling as what they basically did was proper governance without involving islam/sharia. (Ali Babacan was the person who said that).
 

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For a Pakistani, the struggle of Class, of Islamic Equalism and the Notions of Ideal state are the driving factors that i personally believe, will always have a red impact on Pakistan and while Pakistanis will vehemently deny communism as Godlessness but by the next breath, they will speak more to the Red Ideals than you could imagine.

Here's the issue though. There is some intersection between the ideals and larger objectives etc...but the processes are very different, and the process really matters.

Islam for example still (ideally) honours there can be no compulsion in belief given free-will...the story of the Garden of Eden is the first for a reason after the creation itself in the abrahamic faiths, and posits (depending on your interpretation) why this is.

Communism overrides that by the state intervening and compelling the individual by force to act (in the way it interprets the greater good, which also is not up for any real debate in communism).

The state acting like this would be Shirk as it assumes/poses as the ultimate absolute repository (when it is clearly made of imperfect human beings too, often grossly imperfect given the corruption power brings),

Contrast this to religion where such is given to a supernatural source, often specifically above the human realm and clearly removed from it (and thus relies on the individual's ultimately personal and free-will connection to that)...for a very important reason (ultimately to keep us cognizant to a larger humility and that we are eternally imperfect, though we can try to improve and better our conditions and those around us).

I can see maybe an Islamo-marxism concept (since you get closer to fountainhead before the state solution) but not Islamo-communism....communism is simply too downstream to merge with any other major ideology.

This ties into what @Indos and I discussed elsewhere about what is the state's role in society in the end (however and whichever legal system a society develops or assigns to itself).

My rights end where another's start....this concept is very frivolous, cursory or completely ignored in the end in communism, as effectively the state owns, assigns and interprets all rights ( and those may not align at all with an individual's rights by a more heritage system of morality) and thus the state acts as God for "the greater good". It is anathema to Islam or pretty much any other religion or belief system relying on absolute morals.
 

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Here's the issue though. There is some intersection between the ideals and larger objectives etc...but the processes are very different, and the process really matters.

Islam for example still (ideally) honours there can be no compulsion in belief given free-will...the story of the Garden of Eden is the first for a reason after the creation itself in the abrahamic faiths, and posits (depending on your interpretation) why this is.

Communism overrides that by the state intervening and compelling the individual by force to act (in the way it interprets the greater good, which also is not up for any real debate in communism).

The state acting like this would be Shirk as it assumes/poses as the ultimate absolute repository (when it is clearly made of imperfect human beings too, often grossly imperfect given the corruption power brings),

Contrast this to religion where such is given to a supernatural source, often specifically above the human realm and clearly removed from it (and thus relies on the individual's ultimately personal and free-will connection to that)...for a very important reason (ultimately to keep us cognizant to a larger humility and that we are eternally imperfect, though we can try to improve and better our conditions and those around us).

I can see maybe an Islamo-marxism concept (since you get closer to fountainhead before the state solution) but not Islamo-communism....communism is simply too downstream to merge with any other major ideology.

This ties into what @Indos and I discussed elsewhere about what is the state's role in society in the end (however and whichever legal system a society develops or assigns to itself).

My rights end where another's start....this concept is very frivolous, cursory or completely ignored in the end in communism, as effectively the state owns, assigns and interprets all rights ( and those may not align at all with an individual's rights by a more heritage system of morality) and thus the state acts as God for "the greater good". It is anathema to Islam or pretty much any other religion or belief system relying on absolute morals.

Thanks you for tagging me, I like to contribute, just try to find enough free time to write some deep though on this.
 

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Does Pakistan have real Social Democratic parties ?

Actually we have a vibrant history of Social Democratic parties and this was especially true in the 60s-70s. The Slogan Roti Kapra Makan aka Bread, Clothes and House, and partioes like NAP, ANP for KPK and most prominent of all Pakistan People's Party rose to central prominence by showing stiff stances against the zamindar landlord class.


Here's the issue though. There is some intersection between the ideals and larger objectives etc...but the processes are very different, and the process really matters.

Obviously process is the major problem and the biggest problem between the two was how the two major examples of communism in the world were the USSR and China and both were extremely hostile to religion and were centered around the state and to the clergy which was against interference of state in religion (Off-topic here but ever wonder why the clergy was so against Pakistan? It was not because they loved India all and all. Between the promise of a Secular state not involved in religion and a state that would be imaged in Islam, their choice was obvious) and to the people who were very religious, this was not an attractive option at all and we actually see communism in Pakistan often being portrayed as an Islamic solution. I talked about the land reforms of Hazrat Umer R.A and this was a major argument for Communism in Pakistan however as you know, this was also portrayed wrongly to give communism an Islamic spin and the major difference was that Islam recognizes right of personal property and the actions of the second caliph were centered around making sure that a new feudal class would not rise and there wont be a new system of wealth inequality where the conquering generals and commanders and soldiers would become the land owner class, oppressing their new conquered citizens. His action, very unpopular among those who wanted the Byzantine and Sassinian system of benefits to such generals, was meant solely for the newly conquered fertile arable lands and not for private property. This is not inline with Communism where the state controls the entire property through collective ownership. This was just one of the paralels that communism tried to sell to the people of Pakistan but was it bought well amongst the well? Weirdly enough yes it was. The peasant class seriously bought it up and they repeatedly held clashes with the PML during the 1950s and as Pakistan was entering the US sphere, Pakistan cracked down hard but it was not just for the US interests but largely for the interests of the ruling class, which in 1950s was composed largely of the Feudal of Pakistan and the Muhajir class. The banning of the Communist Party, formed before 1947, i think, was largely due to them posing a threat to the ruling class. Their slogans were very attractive amongst the populace and today, it may seem shocking that once upon a time, there was any grounds for communism in Pakistan and your shock would be right since we have erased alot of that history however there is documentation of such through some books.

For example in the book 'Class of Fundamentalism' by Tariq Ali, he points to the historical fact that all political parties, apart from the Pakistan Muslim League aka PML, favored an immediate general election and you can figure out why a party whose political power and home base was now in India and its alliance with the feudal class in Punjab and the Religious Class through the 1950 Objectives Resolution, had earned them the ire of the remaining regions. The Military and bureaucratic cables trying to weaken their hold and create a 'Counter League' note that while the PML would win in Punjab, they would lose everywhere else and the Left and Nationalist parties, if provided a united front, could lead a definite blow to them and thus you can see why the constituent assembly was happy in doing everything apart from making a constitution. He holds that the first litmus test were the 1954 general elections for provincial seats and the biggest worry was East Pakistan where the elite worried that this 1000 mile away province, completely separated from the sphere of influence that the league held in West Pakistan, would provide a crushing defeat to the League and by doing so create a domino effect that would see the remaining province and their nationalist and left parties, many socialist in nature, would defeat the power of the ruling class who didnt have the power from the people to rule Pakistan and the now rising Punjab bureaucracy and the feudal class was now starting to get worried. I must clarify that the bureaucracy was not the fan of PML. Quite the Opposite. They detested them however for them, it was better to have a power struggle with PML rather than see their power and influence fall to the ground by these new parties who were going to be very harsh on them. Unnatural alliances, you could say. Anyhow East Pakistan with its muslim majority and sizeable hindu minority entered the election and the result was that their fear came true. East Pakistan voted for the United Front, inflicting a severe defeat to the League where out of 309 seats, they only won 10 seats and while the communist party contested on only 10 seats, they won 4 but other communist parties and communists in other parties won 22 seats, bringing the united communist alliance to a 26 seats which was more than the league itself. So communism in Pakistan is a great history to study and taking it from there, the Jammat e Islami had completely lost the election by the way and then ofcourse the time when Pakistan went to sign the Alliance with the US. This was venomously opposed in the provincial assembly and 162 members signed a document denouncing such a step. Their opposition along with the election result was enough for PML to take action and action they took by dismissing the assembly and imposing governor rule and post that Pakistan signed the pact a week later. The new governor was Iskander Mirza, he would be the first President of Pakistan and the fourth Governor General, in 1955-56 till 1958, Ayub's Coup. PML used the Communist scare to target political enemies and this was by cracking down on the United Front, not just Communist party but the entire alliance and this included your left leaning Marxists and socialists. While the ban was for communist parties but hundreds of the workers of the United Front were arrested and specific guidelines were given to all private and public business and state business to remove any communist related groups or individuals. The owners went one step ahead and removed even non-communist groups and unions and weakened the power of the worker class and increase the deprivation of the lower cadre of the society. However it didnt stop there, the league candidates were being defeated and even in Punjab, their support was dwindling. Tariq Ali, argues that there was general fear amongst the US and the Military, that an elected government could very well leave those Cold War alliances and a dictator could be far more useful in curbing communism and making sure that the country remains allied to the US. Ayub's Speech does not help the case where he states, "That Democracy is for Cold Climates like Britain and for Hot Climates like Pakistan, Democracy is not suitable.." This was him using metaphors in the worst possible way but it displays that the guy that came on the basis of restoring democracy and power to the people. was going to do the exact opposite.
Ustad Daman wrote a couplet to that
"Now each day is sunny and fair, for wherever you look; The army." Its alot better in Urdu. Mirza was no different. He gives the same literacy speech that Liaqat had once given that Pakistan with a 15% literacy rate was not conductive for democracy.

Newyork times on 12th October 1958 would write a piece where it would state
"In Pakistan, Both President Mirza and the army's head General Ayub Khan, have stated it clearly that what they propose and wish to do is establish, in due course, a fine, honest and democratic government. There is no reason to doubt their sincerity."
2 weeks later, one of those men of sincere honesty would exile the other. Side note, Asghar Khan played a very leading role in the fall of Mirza and he would later on write such scathing scholarship against military intervention in political affairs and would be instrumental in calling the army out.

Coming back to Communism in Pakistan, East Pakistan repeatedly plays a leading role when we talk about communism in Pakistan, explanation that leading role does not mean that they were in power but that their activities were mostly in that province and we can argue whether this was largely due to the conductive environment of East Pakistan, which repeatedly saw itself as being rule a 1000 miles away or was it due to the political and democratic awareness it held. Either way, the communist party in East Pakistan would become the first party to declare that Pakistan had not attained economic nor political freedom and they must fight for such and this was in 1949-1950. Infact the CM and the language committee would blame the language riots on them as well, such was their outreach. whereas the remainder of provinces with the exception of Punjab, see marxist and socialist parties. Nair Bhasakran in "Politics in East Pakistan; A study of Awami League 1949-1958" Is a good read on this subject of political alliances and political parties in that period. Reading does help. Nairt argues that the role of the Communist party in the formation of Awami league was extremely important. The communist party was operating underground and was not the fan of Awami league however they supported them for the fact that the Awami league was fighting for the democratic rights of the people of Pakistan and this is very important to understand that the communist parties in Pakistan had democratic outlook. In their books they were fighting for people's representation. Infact Adbul Hamid Khan Rashanhi was an influential player and his popularity held sway over the communist party.


I understand the process differences but we must also understand that Conductive political environments and factors shapes the politics that is practiced in the said region which holds those factors. Communism in Pakistan could not be preached as Absolute removal of Islamic principles since in Pakistan the most moderate opinion was, and this was the most left, that religion should not be mixed with state and be a personal affair. Mixing the two was seen as an imposition of the state in an individual and its freedom which was alot like the communist ideal of the state imposition on the individual. They were a bit similar but here you have communist parties fighting for democracy and secularism and allying themselves to democracy and secularism and the impact was such that when Bhutto was saying the same things, people called him and PPP communist and alot of them did not mind being called as such and he would reject such notions, my personal favorite is when an interviewer asks him whether he was a believer of communistic ideals, Bhutto points to his cuff and says
"These are Diamond cufflink. They are my favorite and i do not wish to part with them." Basically he was saying that he doesnt support communism.

Communism in Pakistan cannot be seen as Communism of USSR or Communism of China, whether they would have become that, if they had ever come to power, is up for argument, however for the time, they offered a very different solution which seriously captivated the rural class and offshoot ideals and branches allowing for a very conductive and fertile ground for socialist democratic parties, which to this day are a major player in politics.

the thing is that the people of pakistan are looking for a relief and an end to the growing classism in Pakistan. We see this with Marxism in KPK and Baluchistan. KPK was such a ground for Marxists and Socialist that not party could hope to win an election, unless they held candidates that were involved in those ideals. One of the things i have noticed is whenever a protest happens, it immediately turns into an elitist struggle where the protestors start attacking anything they feel has any relation to the elite. Large cars, fashionable business stores, large business stores, mega grocery stores, foreign branches, food outlets (outlets located in Mall road, a popular place for protest, have a policy to not deliver nor leave the premises when a protest is happening, no matter how far away, no matter how small). why does this happen? Why every protest turns into this whether they are protesting voting rights or religious rights, the elite is the enemy. Why? The people of Pakistan are asking for some form of wealth equality and bridging of this widening chasm since forever actually, i am not going to say 1947 since before that, the system of oppression was in place. This is why parties which offered non-elite routes, or austerity are seeing growing support and PDM is insane, if they think they can ignore this and get re-elected. Never the less the system in place is iron so you need the elite to get to power thus you see the lies, hypocrisy and the growth of VIP culture rather than its promised end.


Anyhow i think i deviated alot but all of this is important and it is also important to understand the complicated and often headache giving political aspects of Pakistan.
 

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if you guys are interested in the book i mentioned above.

@Webslave my brother we need to allow Epub and more MB space for attachments. :D :D
 

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if you guys are interested in the book i mentioned above.

@Webslave my brother we need to allow Epub and more MB space for attachments. :D :D

Good work.

I wonder if you are a communist.

Why would a Pakistani favour Communism? Nothing good or worthwhile of note has emerged from that ideology.

Chinese are usually a pragmatic bunch. More inclined towards business rather than ideology at the personal level. At a national level, their policymakers are not too different.

They try to further Chinese national interests rather than the interests of Vietnam, North Korea, Cuba or whatever other Communist regimes may be in existence.
 

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I wonder if you are a communist.

absolute not. Its a failed ideology as you have way too much state intervention and there are a few things states simply cant do.
First you cannot force single concept of a perfect citizen on a variety of people. The USSR version of Soviet Citizen and the Han version of China, are evidence of how Communism is absolutely undesirable especially for countries with multi-ethnic diversity and background. Its that diversity that makes them beautiful. So there cant be a single Pakistani Citizen. A Pashtun with his diversity, a Kalashi with its ethnic and cultural and religious diversity is as much a Pakistani in perfect as the rest of Pakistan.
Secondly states make poor businessmen. You cannot nationalize every single thing and must provide fertile ground for private business and investments. As a consumer, i would hate it and hate it extremely when i am feed inferior products in the name of nationalism or patriotism. As a consumer, i have every right to purchase any product i want and if you cannot compete, then get out. Infact abolishment of private property is one of the worst ideas ever. You can Cap private property to control Feudalism like land reforms that Cap 300 Acres of land at maximum holding but you cannot abolish private property nor can you penalize the rich for being rich. You can tax them, tax them to hell but you cannot confiscate their well. When Saqib Nisar, our CJP threatened Malik Riaz, a business tycoon, that he would confiscate his wealth to build a Dam, during a hearing, i was disgusted, not just on his lack of professionalism but on the fact that such open robbery could even be spoken of, was an act that deserved absolute condemnation.



I simply like studying various subjects and having knowledge on them and one of them is the political history of the country and its political parties and the ideologies that were part of the country and why have they ceased to be part of the country and what ideologies now remain and how the end of one ideology could be analyzed to see how other ideologies would end.

Why would a Pakistani favour Communism? Nothing good or worthwhile of note has emerged from that ideology.

As i mentioned above, in the 50s and 60s, communism in Pakistan was basically seen as a liberation of the working class from the yoke of the growing feudal class. It had supporters from activists who wanted political power for the people and it had people who wanted nationalism for various ethnicities in Pakistan. Communist parties in Pakistan favored as such. I remember reading about a fringe group that was vehemently against the formation of Pakistan since they saw it as the continuation of the elite rule and that with the Red USSR and Red China and Red United India, Communism could offer a stiffer resistance to the "Evil" Capitalism. That is what the Communist party elements in Punjab thought.

Chinese are usually a pragmatic bunch. More inclined towards business rather than ideology at the personal level. At a national level, their policymakers are not too different.

They try to further Chinese national interests rather than the interests of Vietnam, North Korea, Cuba or whatever other Communist regimes may be in existence.
No argument there however the USSR was not that different as the concept of Commintern Communist International was a way for the USSR to actually exert its influence across the world through communism. We saw this in Eastern Europe and ofcourse Afghanistan. By doing so, they made sure that the ideology would be an absolute failure especially due to its rigid nature in determining what is the perfect citizen and the imperfect ones being expunged.
 

Nilgiri

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@Saiyan0321 Like I could really launch into the difference between Marxism, Socialism and Communism...but it would take a really long time to get into that. Let me try answer the gist of your post.

Suffice to say communism is not compatible with Islam, in the very root definition and application of it.... given it for all practical political forms in the 20th century has always been one-party state authoritarianism or even totalitarianism....that requires compulsion and total obedience to the ideology made (in living memory at the time even) by humans (not God).

Not one communist state allowed the application of the human rights in their constitutions to actually be applied on their citizens at the individual rights level (taking precedence over some grandiose collectivisation).

This in contrast to marxism and socialism. The latter can be done democratically...the former is just the fountainhead theory with a few open ended suggestions (including bad ones that are proven failures in application and morality)...so it is still a clay to be shaped as you want in some way...but dependent on your intent.

I mean PRC still does not (and will not for foreseeable future given what happened to the last bunch of lawyers who merely investigated this as an option for legal reform) apply its constitution as the basis for an individual in court...though it seemingly has abandoned Communism's economic process and goals....ever since Deng outmaneuvered Mao's chosen one.

That in itself should tell you everything you need to know about the appeal of Communism (given what the PRC has stripped away and what it has left standing), it stands in parallel with the appeal of Fascism and every other authoritarian extremist movement (these exist in religions too for same reasons in human psychology).

Purported Islamic states are also inherently flawed for this reason too given they have humans in the end that have developed the power and law structures in their interpretation. You have to take their word on it, not God's essentially.

Leaders and political movements in South Asia were incredibly stupid, naive and/or compromised (or all of this) on lot of these matters in general (communism or otherwise).

Regarding communism specifically, they either did not understand what communism specifically was or called for, or they applied some filter of theirs or catchphrase need....or they were just lackeys for another type of foreigner/outsider. Take your pick. I don't sympathise with evil, stupid, ignorant or combination of those 3...that goes for past and present.

It is literal repackaging of the same snake oil that destroyed so much in this region over centuries and millenia and the psychology and action that continues to consume and destroy so much (that which exists or the potential to exist)....here, there and everywhere in the world more broadly.

The parties that do have "Communism" in their name in India for example are clearly socialist in my definition, not communist. But they are too stupid or stuck in their ways to just change their name.

More broadly worldwide, Every party/leader that did not change their name away from communist to something like Socialist...and still for example participated like seals-clapping in COMINTERN/COMECON after the Holodomor was clearly established as fact.... are abject dimwits of the highest order. Then they continued the same after Mao casually starved 30 million or more innocent people to death.

I'm sorry but for some reason Communism as a name still gets a pass in parlance (and even acceptance in so called educated circles) compared to Nazism...it is ridiculous. If you are evil, but as long as you arent racist evil, its ok?
 

Saiyan0321

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He Reported on Pakistan’s Volatile Politics. Then He Became a Story Himself.​


THE NINE LIVES OF PAKISTAN
Dispatches From a Precarious State

By Declan Walsh

The question has confounded many: How does Pakistan stay alive?

The 73-year-old nation born of a bitter postcolonial divorce has heaved through humiliating defeats, careened from coup to coup and stubbornly endured despite relentless forces working to unweave it.

How?

The New York Times foreign correspondent Declan Walsh is the latest to try to answer that question. In his new book, “The Nine Lives of Pakistan: Dispatches From a Precarious State,” he pulls from years of contact with sources on the ground, presenting nine narratives — each given its own chapter — to paint a vivid, complex portrait of a country at a crossroads.

This nuclear-armed nation is today the fifth most populous in the world. Its subcontinental perch grants it strategic geopolitical importance. And though its past wars with India seem to consume Pakistan’s almighty army leaders, for the past two decades it’s largely been America’s war in neighboring Afghanistan that’s demanded their attention.


merlin_77510099_a7a01181-8495-45ef-9610-491938c3bcd3-articleLarge.jpg

Image
Chaudhry Aslam, a Karachi policeman whom Declan Walsh profiled as “Pakistan’s toughest cop.” Walsh’s elegant and expressive writing “does what the best foreign correspondence should: transport the reader,” our reviewer, Amna Nawaz, writes.

Chaudhry Aslam, a Karachi policeman whom Declan Walsh profiled as “Pakistan’s toughest cop.” Walsh’s elegant and expressive writing “does what the best foreign correspondence should: transport the reader,” our reviewer, Amna Nawaz, writes.Credit...Shakil Adil/Associated Press
Walsh spent nearly a decade living in and covering Pakistan, first for The Guardian, then for The Times. His tenure coincided with some of the country’s most turbulent modern years: fraught elections, assassinations and military rule; a war next door and within; and a tenuous alliance with the United States fraying to the breaking point, particularly after American Special Forces found Osama bin Laden hiding inside Pakistan, and killed him.

During Walsh’s years in Pakistan, he produced news story after news story, until, in 2013, he became one himself.
He was unceremoniously kicked out of the country by the government, presented the decision by police officers who showed up at his Islamabad home in the middle of the night. Among the group was a bearded man in civilian clothes, who handed him an envelope marked “By Special Messenger,” containing a letter giving him 72 hours to leave. “The Special Messenger,” Walsh writes, “flashed me an awkward smile and then, in the finest tradition of subcontinental bureaucracy, politely asked me to sign for my own expulsion order.”
It’s here that Walsh begins his book, with his own departure, a personal mystery that needs solving: What was it about his work that led the authorities to throw him out?
ADVERTISEMENT

Most of the “nine lives” he goes on to profile were previously subjects of Walsh’s reporting. The two exceptions are an intelligence source he tracks down to try to understand his expulsion, and the country’s founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Jinnah is Pakistan’s original enigma: a thoroughly westernized, secular barrister who fought for a Muslim homeland after Partition. Walsh offers Jinnah’s vision of what Pakistan could be — a nation of faith, unity and discipline — and then proceeds to document just how far from that vision it has moved.


Nawaz2-articleLarge.jpg

Image
Nawaz2-articleLarge.jpg

[ Read an excerpt from “The Nine Lives of Pakistan.” ]
Walsh’s writing is elegant and expressive. It does what the best foreign correspondence should: transport the reader. Chaudhry Aslam, a Karachi policeman profiled in 2011 by Walsh as “Pakistan’s toughest cop,” along with the teeming city of 20 million he policed, takes robust form through Walsh’s words. He writes of the city at night after “the last rickshaws skittered home along streets bathed in flickering amber light” and of Aslam’s office, which “had the gleam of a mortuary and the furtive bustle of a mobster’s den.”
In Lahore, Asma Jahangir, a diminutive human rights lawyer with a reputation for speaking unvarnished truth to power, comes alive through Walsh’s precise, observational reporting, her “rapid-fire sentences flicking between plain English and legalese as she pulled on beedis — thin, hand-rolled cigarettes of a kind typically used by poor Pakistanis.”
Deep in the restive Balochistan Province, home to a separatist movement that still bedevils Pakistan’s powerful military, Walsh introduces us to a local chieftain, Nawab Akbar Shahbaz Khan Bugti — “a tribal aesthete, poetry lover and insufferable snob,” who, “in this lost corner of Pakistan … was as close to a deity as you could get.”
War is a constant. Aslam’s war against surging Taliban forces in Karachi. Jahangir’s war against the powerful elite. Bugti’s war against Pakistan’s military (and the army’s brutal campaign to stop it). Every character is fighting on his or her own front line in some way. But a nation is surely more than the wars it fights, and the focus on these particular voices presents a somewhat limited picture.
The selection of overwhelmingly male subjects, most of them in positions of relative privilege and power, further narrows the scope. Pakistan is a country of more than 200 million people. Nearly half are female. By some estimates, almost one-quarter of Pakistanis live in poverty. Except for Jahangir, no woman is given more than a supporting role in the book, and the poor remain largely in the background.

Even the chapter featuring the story of Asia Bibi — a Christian woman who is sentenced to hang for blasphemy, and, after international outrage, later acquitted by the Supreme Court — is told through the lens of a man, Salmaan Taseer, Punjab’s governor, who was murdered by one of his own guards for demanding justice for Bibi.

Walsh beautifully braids in brief history lessons, placing each voice in proper context and feeding a richer understanding for readers coming to the region fresh. To grasp the layered vista on which Aslam operates, Walsh traces Karachi’s growth from quiet backwater to megacity over a full century. He journeys to Punjab Province’s 17th-century Mughal roots before unfurling Jahangir’s fight for justice today. And before diving into Bugti’s battles, he gives us the story of the Balochs’ 12th-century migration and the generations of uprisings that followed.

Peppered throughout are reminders that this work is not easy. It is telling that among the nine profiled in the book, only one subject remains alive; more than half were killed. Walsh functions with the assumption that his lines are tapped, works to avoid intelligence tails and continues to pry into the dark corners that those in power wish he wouldn’t.

Eventually it is that prying that puts him in the cross hairs of Pakistan’s leaders. A supplicant civilian government can’t save him. Diplomatic entreaties fail. The military and its intelligence arm flex their muscles, flick their wrists and have Walsh removed, after a much longer stint than many foreign correspondents in Pakistan.

That investment on the ground is apparent in his book. Despite the fighting, the uncertainty and the sheer degree of difficulty involved in reporting in Pakistan, his familiarity with and fondness for the people and places he covers is clear. Even after he is kicked out, he unsuccessfully petitions officials overseas for one last chance to return: “If nothing else, I wanted closure, an opportunity to say farewell to the country that filled my life for a decade.”



If you guys are interested in the book then do read it.


@T-123456 @Nilgiri @Kaptaan @VCheng @Yankeestani @Webslave @Saithan @anmdt and all the rest
 

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Saithan

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He Reported on Pakistan’s Volatile Politics. Then He Became a Story Himself.​


THE NINE LIVES OF PAKISTAN
Dispatches From a Precarious State

By Declan Walsh

The question has confounded many: How does Pakistan stay alive?

The 73-year-old nation born of a bitter postcolonial divorce has heaved through humiliating defeats, careened from coup to coup and stubbornly endured despite relentless forces working to unweave it.

How?

The New York Times foreign correspondent Declan Walsh is the latest to try to answer that question. In his new book, “The Nine Lives of Pakistan: Dispatches From a Precarious State,” he pulls from years of contact with sources on the ground, presenting nine narratives — each given its own chapter — to paint a vivid, complex portrait of a country at a crossroads.

This nuclear-armed nation is today the fifth most populous in the world. Its subcontinental perch grants it strategic geopolitical importance. And though its past wars with India seem to consume Pakistan’s almighty army leaders, for the past two decades it’s largely been America’s war in neighboring Afghanistan that’s demanded their attention.


merlin_77510099_a7a01181-8495-45ef-9610-491938c3bcd3-articleLarge.jpg

Image
Chaudhry Aslam, a Karachi policeman whom Declan Walsh profiled as “Pakistan’s toughest cop.” Walsh’s elegant and expressive writing “does what the best foreign correspondence should: transport the reader,” our reviewer, Amna Nawaz, writes.

Chaudhry Aslam, a Karachi policeman whom Declan Walsh profiled as “Pakistan’s toughest cop.” Walsh’s elegant and expressive writing “does what the best foreign correspondence should: transport the reader,” our reviewer, Amna Nawaz, writes.Credit...Shakil Adil/Associated Press
Walsh spent nearly a decade living in and covering Pakistan, first for The Guardian, then for The Times. His tenure coincided with some of the country’s most turbulent modern years: fraught elections, assassinations and military rule; a war next door and within; and a tenuous alliance with the United States fraying to the breaking point, particularly after American Special Forces found Osama bin Laden hiding inside Pakistan, and killed him.

During Walsh’s years in Pakistan, he produced news story after news story, until, in 2013, he became one himself.
He was unceremoniously kicked out of the country by the government, presented the decision by police officers who showed up at his Islamabad home in the middle of the night. Among the group was a bearded man in civilian clothes, who handed him an envelope marked “By Special Messenger,” containing a letter giving him 72 hours to leave. “The Special Messenger,” Walsh writes, “flashed me an awkward smile and then, in the finest tradition of subcontinental bureaucracy, politely asked me to sign for my own expulsion order.”
It’s here that Walsh begins his book, with his own departure, a personal mystery that needs solving: What was it about his work that led the authorities to throw him out?
ADVERTISEMENT

Most of the “nine lives” he goes on to profile were previously subjects of Walsh’s reporting. The two exceptions are an intelligence source he tracks down to try to understand his expulsion, and the country’s founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Jinnah is Pakistan’s original enigma: a thoroughly westernized, secular barrister who fought for a Muslim homeland after Partition. Walsh offers Jinnah’s vision of what Pakistan could be — a nation of faith, unity and discipline — and then proceeds to document just how far from that vision it has moved.


Nawaz2-articleLarge.jpg

Image
Nawaz2-articleLarge.jpg

[ Read an excerpt from “The Nine Lives of Pakistan.” ]
Walsh’s writing is elegant and expressive. It does what the best foreign correspondence should: transport the reader. Chaudhry Aslam, a Karachi policeman profiled in 2011 by Walsh as “Pakistan’s toughest cop,” along with the teeming city of 20 million he policed, takes robust form through Walsh’s words. He writes of the city at night after “the last rickshaws skittered home along streets bathed in flickering amber light” and of Aslam’s office, which “had the gleam of a mortuary and the furtive bustle of a mobster’s den.”
In Lahore, Asma Jahangir, a diminutive human rights lawyer with a reputation for speaking unvarnished truth to power, comes alive through Walsh’s precise, observational reporting, her “rapid-fire sentences flicking between plain English and legalese as she pulled on beedis — thin, hand-rolled cigarettes of a kind typically used by poor Pakistanis.”
Deep in the restive Balochistan Province, home to a separatist movement that still bedevils Pakistan’s powerful military, Walsh introduces us to a local chieftain, Nawab Akbar Shahbaz Khan Bugti — “a tribal aesthete, poetry lover and insufferable snob,” who, “in this lost corner of Pakistan … was as close to a deity as you could get.”
War is a constant. Aslam’s war against surging Taliban forces in Karachi. Jahangir’s war against the powerful elite. Bugti’s war against Pakistan’s military (and the army’s brutal campaign to stop it). Every character is fighting on his or her own front line in some way. But a nation is surely more than the wars it fights, and the focus on these particular voices presents a somewhat limited picture.
The selection of overwhelmingly male subjects, most of them in positions of relative privilege and power, further narrows the scope. Pakistan is a country of more than 200 million people. Nearly half are female. By some estimates, almost one-quarter of Pakistanis live in poverty. Except for Jahangir, no woman is given more than a supporting role in the book, and the poor remain largely in the background.

Even the chapter featuring the story of Asia Bibi — a Christian woman who is sentenced to hang for blasphemy, and, after international outrage, later acquitted by the Supreme Court — is told through the lens of a man, Salmaan Taseer, Punjab’s governor, who was murdered by one of his own guards for demanding justice for Bibi.

Walsh beautifully braids in brief history lessons, placing each voice in proper context and feeding a richer understanding for readers coming to the region fresh. To grasp the layered vista on which Aslam operates, Walsh traces Karachi’s growth from quiet backwater to megacity over a full century. He journeys to Punjab Province’s 17th-century Mughal roots before unfurling Jahangir’s fight for justice today. And before diving into Bugti’s battles, he gives us the story of the Balochs’ 12th-century migration and the generations of uprisings that followed.

Peppered throughout are reminders that this work is not easy. It is telling that among the nine profiled in the book, only one subject remains alive; more than half were killed. Walsh functions with the assumption that his lines are tapped, works to avoid intelligence tails and continues to pry into the dark corners that those in power wish he wouldn’t.

Eventually it is that prying that puts him in the cross hairs of Pakistan’s leaders. A supplicant civilian government can’t save him. Diplomatic entreaties fail. The military and its intelligence arm flex their muscles, flick their wrists and have Walsh removed, after a much longer stint than many foreign correspondents in Pakistan.

That investment on the ground is apparent in his book. Despite the fighting, the uncertainty and the sheer degree of difficulty involved in reporting in Pakistan, his familiarity with and fondness for the people and places he covers is clear. Even after he is kicked out, he unsuccessfully petitions officials overseas for one last chance to return: “If nothing else, I wanted closure, an opportunity to say farewell to the country that filled my life for a decade.”



If you guys are interested in the book then do read it.


@T-123456 @Nilgiri @Kaptaan @VCheng @Yankeestani @Webslave @Saithan @anmdt and all the rest

Sounds very interesting. I have this inner feeling that it’s going to confirm our worst fears.

But nine lives tends to run out sooner or later.
 

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