February 5 is traditionally observed as Kashmir Day in Pakistan. This year it was no different although it was somewhat overshadowed by the just-concluded elections in Pakistan.
When a former senior bureaucrat in Pakistan was waylaid recently (this being the second time that this misfortune was befalling him and his family) his daughter-in-law who was sitting with him in his BMW asked one of the dacoits who had seized them as to why he had taken to this profession.
Pakistan appears to be repeating its three-year cycle of political instability. On July 21, Karachi, Lahore and a number of other cities were virtually paralyzed over a transport strike organised by the opposition parties protesting against massive taxes imposed in the June 13 budget.
Whatever else one may say about the state of affairs in India, there is one thing for which Indian policy makers deserve credit. No matter who is in power, the policies of State have a consistency about them, unlike in neighbouring Pakistan.
This book can be seen as having a particular significance in Dr Kalim’s intellectual development. It was both the culmination of one phase of his life – with a focus on Pakistan – and the starting point of another, which led to the establishment of the Muslim Institute. Conflict, Crisis and War in Pakistan is a product of this personal experience. It combines the insight of his academic work and the passion of his commitment to Pakistan as a cause and a project, rather than a nation-state. This is well expressed in his preface to the book, included in the section attached below. Also included is the first chapter, on the legacy of the colonial period.
A book like the present one, which has not been written in the common textbook style, may not cater to all the academic needs of a student or Islamic Law and Constitution, who wants to study the subject in all its multifarious details, but I do hope, it will prove of immense help to all those persons who want to study the nature of the Islamic State, its theory, form and underlying principles, and who wish to understand how the Islamic Law can be implemented in a modern state. Today there are many countries whose Muslim population is, after attaining independence, naturally eager to base its polity on those principles and traditions of Islam which are a demand of its faith and conscience.The people want that the Islamic Law should be introduced in their respective countries so that they may follow a law which they owe their honest and sincere allegiance.
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