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Diaspora
Myths of Radicalisation
The author excerpts Frank Furedi’s Spiked piece on the Bradford sisters who took their children to Syria, which argues that the language of ‘radicalisation’ reflects a failure to understand the…
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Ajmal Kamal Reviews Alakh Nagri: The Babas who really run Pakistan (and the world)
The author reposts Ajmal Kamal’s Urdu review of Mumtaz Mufti’s autobiography Alakh Nagri, calling it brilliant, and explains for non-Urdu readers the background of Qudratullah Shahab’s nationalist autobiography that Mufti’s…
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Society
Transgender surgery. A civil rights issue?
The author quotes psychiatrist Paul McHugh’s Wall Street Journal argument that transgender identity is a mental disorder of ‘assumption’ rather than a civil rights issue, without adding extended comment.
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Brown Pundits
Dual Rule to End Soon? And then??
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Ismaili Shias Massacred in Karachi. Iron Hand Promised
After the massacre of Ismaili Shia passengers on a Karachi shuttle bus, the author describes the community’s quiet prosperity, its well-kept Al-Azhar Gardens housing society and its low profile, and…
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Should Pakistan and India Play Cricket?
On renewed talk of cricket ties between India and Pakistan, the author sets out numbered thoughts, starting with extreme Hindutva and jihadi positions that allow no compromise, and asks where…
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Killing Atheists. A Wedge Issue in Bangladesh
After a third blogger was hacked to death in two months in Bangladesh, the author argues the killings are a systematic campaign, not random fanaticism, and a near-perfect wedge issue…
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The Pakistan China Economic Corridor
The author recommends Ali Minai’s 3 Quarks Daily post on the Pakistan-China economic corridor, adding that economic geography may reassert itself over time but ideological clashes and war can cut…
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History
World War One Indian Soldiers Write Home
The author links an article on letters written home by Indian soldiers in the First World War, quoting extracts from hospital patients in Brighton and Rouen.
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An Embarrassment at PEN
Responding to the PEN American Center’s courage award for Charlie Hebdo, the author defends the magazine’s right to satirise every subject, including Islam, despite violent threats and the killings of…
