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Showing posts from December, 2021

Fourth-Year Itch: Will Imran Khan Complete His Term

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Sameer Arshad Khatlani Follow  on Facebook A nother Pakistani prime minister appears to be facing an unceremonious removal from power. Pakistan's media has been abuzz with reports about a possible 'deal' between the country's military establishment and Prime Minister Imran Khan's opponents, including his arch-rival Nawaz Sharif, and the latter's possible return from self-imposed exile in the UK. The speculation has coincided with talk of threats to Khan's government amid anger in the country over price rise and misgovernance. The major reverses Khan's party suffered in its stronghold of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in the local bodies elections and an upbeat mood in the Opposition camp have also fueled the speculation.  ALSO READ: Religion Is Too Important To Be Left To Clerics Shehbaz Sharif, the Opposition Leader in Pakistan's National Assembly, on Thursday reflected the mood when he claimed the end of Khan's government was a matter of time. He

Religion: Too Important To Be Left To Clerics

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Sameer Arshad Khatlani Follow  on Facebook I ndian Islamic scholar Maulana Hussain Madani, who headed the Darul Uloom Deoband seminary for three decades from 1927 to 1957, challenged poet-philosopher Muhammad Iqbal when the latter began pushing his idea of territorial nationalism in the 1930s. Madani held his own against Iqbal, a Cambridge University alumnus and arguably Urdu’s greatest poet, in an informed debate on nationhood. Madani cited Islamic sources to argue for composite nationalism and united India while rejecting Iqbal’s idea. Muhammad Ali Jinnah fleshed out the idea in the shape of Pakistan that was created by partitioning the Indian subcontinent in 1947. He overshadowed people such as Madani as he made Pakistan a reality. The division did not just trigger mass killings and migrations but also led to the Muslim brain drain to Pakistan. The drain accelerated the margination of the Muslims left behind. A decline in clerical quality that scholars such as Madani and Abul Kalam