Asia

Build bridges for communal harmony

Source: Tehelka LIFE IS full of paradoxes, and not all of them are upsetting. Some of them give a pleasant cozy feeling too. Recently, on March 25, 2012, people saw the Pakistan Deputy Attorney General Muhammad Khurshid Khan polishing the shoes of devotees in Gurudwara Rakabganj, Delhi. This work is part […]

Forced conversions hike Pakistan minorities’ fears

The Muslim Times Editor for Pakistan Credit:Timesunion.com  KATHY GANNON, Associated Press  Updated 12:19 p.m., Thursday, March 29, 2012 LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — It was  barely 4 a.m. when 19-year-old Rinkal  Kumari disappeared from her home in a small village in Pakistan’s southern  Sindh province. When her parents awoke they found […]

When Home Is No Refuge for Women

Source: The New York Times NEW DELHI — This month, two women’s stories, told courageously, helped to underline the reality of domestic violence in India. Nita Bhalla, a journalist, wrote for the BBC about being physically assaulted by her partner. Meena Kandasamy, a poet and writer on social issues, wrote […]

The Kerala king who embraced Islam

By ALI AKBAR ARABNEWS Published: Feb 9, 2012 For Arabs, Malabar was the most familiar place in the whole Indian subcontinent. The relationship between Arabs and Malabar has a history that dates back centuries. Arab merchants were trading spices such as ginger, pepper and cardamom as well as things like […]

Iraq tests regional muscle with Arab summit

Source: Reuters Author: Patrick Markey Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will seek to showcase his country’s diplomatic return to the region this week when leaders gather for the first Arab League summit in Baghdad in two decades, and the only one hosted by a Shi’ite Arab ruler. With violence from […]

The myth of sovereignty

Credit: Express Tribune: Two aspects stand out. One, the level of concern on such a convergence apprehends a growing pool of common sentiment; and two, the latent capacity that exists within such a group that might just challenge the existing status quo. Speaking plainly, the concern is the military-middle class-Imran […]

Hindu seer advocates inter-religious friendship

Source: Times Of India TOI spoke to Sri Sugunendra Thirtha Swamiji of Sri Puthige Mutt, Udupi, one of the key speakers at an event in Oxford, UK on March 23 to discuss interfaith issues. To elicit his views on the issues, Sugunendra Thirtha said inter-religious friendship means freedom to practise one’s faith without any […]