Imran Khan’s victory in Pakistan’s general elections in July has broken the monopoly of the Sharif-Zardari mafia families raising great hopes among the people.
Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-e Insaf has shaken the foundations of old alliances but not enough to change the political dynamics in the country, yet.
பலவீனமாகி நொறுங்கிக் கொண்டிருந்த ஒரு கருத்தியலால் சிக்கலுற்றிருந்த முஸ்லிம் உலகின் பழுதடைந்த அரசியல் கட்டமைப்புகளை வாய்ப்பாக்கி, அதன் வளங்களைச் சுரண்டுவதற்காக ஐரோப்பியக் காலனியவாதிகள் பதினேழாம் நூற்றாண்டு வாக்கில் முஸ்லிம் உலகின் கதவுகளைத் தட்டினர். அதிலிருந்தே முஸ்லிம் வரலாற்றின் இரண்டாம் கட்டம் துவங்கியது. முஸ்லிம்களின் அரசியல் திறன்கள் அப்போது சகல கோணங்களையும் அல்லது வருங்கால விளைவுகளையும் நுணுகியுணரும் திறன்படைத்தவையாக இருக்கவில்லை; அவர்களின் இராணுவங்கள் ஒழுங்கு குலைந்து பிளவுபட்டுக் கிடந்ததுடன், அதிக விலைதரும் எவருக்கும் தமது விசுவாசத்தை தாரைவார்க்கவும் தயாராக இருந்தன.
In Part 1 of his article on the acquisition of political power, Dr. Perwez Shafi examines the peculiar evolution of Sunni political thought and its crippling impact on the contemporary Islamic movement.
முஸ்லிம் நாடுகளில் (குடிமை அல்லது இராணுவப் பின்னணி கொண்ட) சில குறிப்பிட்ட தனிநபர்களோ குடும்பங்களோ இப்படியொரு நீண்டநெடுங்காலம் ஆட்சிசெய்ய முடிவது எப்படி? அதிகாரத்தில் இருப்பவர்களாயினும் அவர்களை எதிர்ப்பவர்களாயினும் வன்முறை மற்றும் பலாத்காரத்தையே சார்ந்திருப்பது ஏன்? பிரபுத்துவ அல்லது சர்வாதிகார ஆட்சிமுறைகளுக்குள் அவற்றை விழச்செய்யும் பிரத்யேகமான எதுவும் அவற்றின் வரலாற்றுப் பரிணாமத்திலேயே இருக்கின்றதா?
Pakistan’s relations with the US can be compared to a boy befriending a baby python. They played with each other and enjoyed scaring other villagers. Over the years, while still playing with the boy curling all around him, the snake grew bigger and stronger, as pythons do, with his curls and squeezes becoming tighter.
In Part 1 of his analysis of the Islamic political and decision-making apparatus, Dr. Perwez Shafi, a director of ICIT stationed in Pakistan, offers some thoughts on the question of legitimacy and its relationship to political and social change brought about by a revolutionary Islamic movement.
The prerequisites for large-scale social change in the Muslim world, particularly in the Middle Eastern and North African countries have existed for several decades. Finally there is a movement for change as the masses have gradually shed their psychological fear. The entire Arab world, conceived and carved up by the US and the West during World Wars I and II, is shaking to its foundation by the rage of the Muslim masses who desire to get rid of the US- and Western-imposed dictators-for-life and their political systems.
The assassination of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer on January 4 at the hands of his own bodyguard has exposed the numerous fault lines criss-crossing the social fabric of Pakistani society over the blasphemy law. It has pushed the country toward two extremes drowning out rational and knowledge-based discussion.
(Paper presented at the Islami Wahdat Conference, Tehran) The unity is one of the most important value not only of Islam but of all other religions as well as of man-made secular ideologies. It is considered as a fundamental building block in human and social relations without which no higher purpose or lofty goal can be achieved. This is recognized and acknowledged by all of humankind.
One of the original US goals of the controlled demolitions of 9/11 was to target Pakistan to destroy its nuclear capability and ultimately destroy Pakistan itself, a State created in the name of Islam. The CIA-imposed civil war in the tribal areas since 9/11 is being not only accelerated, it has also assumed multi-dimensional roles to destroy the state and society in the manner ofIraq.
The days of the American empire are over; even US elites are writing its obituaries. The world Capitalist System was established on such factors as greed, living beyond means, using other people’s wealth, compound interest and a rigid focus on short-term profit.
The siege at the Lal Masjid in Islamabad, which ended with a massacre of its occupants on July 10-11, has been widely portrayed as part of a global war between pro-Western moderation and extremist terrorism. Here, DR PERWEZ SHAFI of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT) locates it more accurately in the context of a different historical trajectory.
As the political trouble sparked by the sacking of Pakistan’s chief justice in March shows no sign of abating, DR PERWEZ SHAFI of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT) tries to understand it using a model of political behaviour proposed by the late Dr Kalim Siddiqui.
President Pervez Musharraf’s dismissal of the country’s Chief Justice last month has developed into a major political crisis. DR PERWEZ SHAFI of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT) in Pakistan discusses the implications of the crisis.
DR PERWEZ SHAFI, director of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought in Pakistan, examines the reasons for the spectacular difference of opinions between the US and major European powers over the US’s plans for war war against Iraq...
DR PERWEZ SHAFI, director of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought in Pakistan, examines the regional and geo-strategic thinking behind the US’s plans to attack Iraq, in the context of both its drive for oil and its commitment to zionism
The sudden collapse of the Taliban under the attack of the US surprised and disappointed many Muslims. Dr Perwez Shafi, of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought in Karachi, discusses the reasons of the Taliban’s failure in Afghanistan
