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The Latest Posts:
The World is Too Big to Fail But…
French Salons and South Asia
Reflections: South Asian Pecking Order
Education: Humanities and Science
Indian Women: A Paradox?
Education: A Critique of Mark Slouka
South Asia – 2: Three Deprivations
Governance in Pakistan – 1
Governance in Pakistan – 2
Governance in Pakistan – 3: More Bad Analysis
Governance in Pakistan – 4: What is Good Analysis?
Governance in Pakistan – 5: An Example of a Good Analysis
Governance in Pakistan – 6: Advantages of Good Analysis
Governance in Pakistan – 7: Which Islam?
What If India Were Not Partitioned?
Assessing Kashmir Policies
To Whom Does India Belong?
The Confusions of Imran Khan
The Peculiarities of Imran Khan
More and Less of Imran Khan
Beyond Anti-Americanism
Dissecting Hoodbhoy’s Logic
Sen’s Idea of Justice: A Puzzle?
Justice, Power, and Truth
Obama in Cairo: Ten Weak Points
Burqa: Principle, Prejudice and Preference
The Sexual Divide
On Sentiments – Individual and Collective
Hearts and Minds
On Cooperation and Competition
On Cooperation and Competition – 2
On Cooperation and Competition – 3
On Cooperation and Individualism – 4
On Cooperation and Team Work – 5
China – 1: Why a Series on China?
China – 2: Making Sense of China
China – 3: Lessons from Tibet
What is the Future of the City in South Asia?
What’s Happening in Small Towns?
Is Singapore a Successful City?
Singapore: The Voice of Citizens
Singapore: Evidence from Bollywood
Ahmedabad: The Power of Labeling
Ahmedabad: Life in the City
The Cultivation of Democratic Governance
The Alternative to Unadulterated Democracy is not Dictatorship
Second-Best Institutions
And then there is China…
The Dilemma of Democracy in Pakistan
Democracy in Sri Lanka
Democracy in Malaysia and the Importance of the Second-Best
Governance in Colonial Hong Kong – Lessons from Experience
Democracy in Japan – Electoral Rules Matter
Building Democracy in Iraq
What’s Happening in Nepal?
Another Country, Another Election
Getting to True Democracy
The Art of Democracy
Democracy – A Historical Perspective
Iran and the Dilemma of Democracy
Democracy in India – 1
Democracy in India – 2
Democracy in India – 3
Democracy in India – 4
Democracy in India – 5
Democracy in India – 6
Democracy in India – 7
Democracy in India – 8: Dissecting the Election
Democracy in India – 9: Who Speaks for India?
The World is Too Big to Fail But…
Is Illiteracy a Cause of Poverty?
Is Poverty the Cause of Illiteracy?
Is Overpopulation the Cause of Poverty?
Corruption and Development
Is Corruption Good or Bad?
Corruption: Counterintuitive Conclusions
Faith and Development
Is Faith Necessary for Progress?
Governance and Morality
Pakistan: A Downward Spiral
Textiles: Can Pakistan Compete?
The Middle Class Myth in India
Education and the Rights of Children
Education: Humanities and Science
Education: A Critique of Mark Slouka
Education in Pakistan: Ten Big Questions
Why is Pakistan Half Illiterate?
Helping Pakistan
Should Pakistan Receive More Foreign Aid?
Hinduism – 1: What is ‘Hinduism’?
Hinduism – 2: Getting to Terms with Religion
Hinduism – 3: Interaction with Muslims
Hinduism – 4: Early Interaction with Muslims
Hinduism – 5: Impacts of Interactions with Muslims
Hinduism – 6: Interactions in the Mirror of Sex
Hinduism – 7: The Wall of Amnesia
On the Emergence of Pakistan
Jinnah, Nehru, and the Ironies of History
Jaswant Singh: What’s All the Fuss?
Jaswant Singh: The Road to Partition
On Emperor Akbar
On Thinking About the Past
History: Lived and Imagined
Indian Women: A Paradox?
The Politics of Identity
The Politics of Identity in Pakistan
Is There an Irrational Voter?
On Diversity
Are We Similar or Are We Different?
How Similar? How Different?
Similar or Different and Does it Matter?
Similar and Different: What Else?
Similar and Different: Why Marriages Fail?
Similar and Different: Common and Problematic
Similar and Different: Good and Evil
Similar and Different: Black and White
Similar and Different: Bengal Revisited
Ghalib – 30: Similarities and Differences
Sri Lanka, Pakistan, South Asia
Yehudi Menuhin: On Nationalism
Obama and his Audience
On Language and Communication
On the Poverty of Indian Muslims
More on the Law of Inheritance
On Treason in the Subcontinent
Laws and the Rule of Law
Dynasty and the Price of Politics: Do We Get the Leaders We Deserve?
Dynastic Succession and the Culture of South Asian Politics
Leadership
It’s the Leadership, Stupid
Pakistan’s Leaders
Pakistan’s Favorite Indians
The South Asian Idea: A Review
What Makes Men Stupid?
What’s With Movie Stars in South India?
Why Indians are Stressed and Unhealthy
Can a Computer be Aware Like a Human?
A Modern Fable
Straws in the Wind
Reflections on a Very Large Cabinet
Elections: Pakistan Style
Cricket and Politics
Time for Apologies
Idée Fixe
There We Go Again…
Ah, New York Times…
The Power of the Idea and the Poverty of the Imagination
Between the Idea and the Reality falls the Shadow
Cricket in the Jungle
How Modern is Modern?
More on Dynasties and Modernity
Dynastic Succession: What is the difference between India and France?
“Modern” and “Stupid”
Monarchy, Religion, Hierarchy and Modernity
Hierarchy, Dependence, Equality and Democracy
Individualism, Social Contract, Governance and Modernity
Equality, Individual Rights, Modernity and Democracy
Is There Such a Thing as a Modern South Asian?
More on the Modern South Asian – 1
More on the Modern South Asian – 2
Ghalib -29: On Being Modern
On Fundamentalism
More on Fundamentalism – 1
Hindu-Muslim or Muslim-Hindu?
The Politics of God
Who Wants Peace in the Subcontinent?
Why are Political Parties Not Issue Oriented?
The Peculiar Nature of India-Pakistan Relations
Perspectives on Kashmir
A Middle Class ‘Revolution’
After the Long March – What Now Comrades?
Pakistan: What is to be done in FATA?
Reflections
Reflections: Delhi – The City Remembered
Reflections: Indian Ink—Literary Insights into Colonialism and Identity
Reflections: Go Mohammedans?
Reflections: Shaped by the Times
An Idiot’s Guide to Music – 1
An Idiot’s Guide to Music – 2
An Idiot’s Guide to Music – 3
Music: An Interview with Arpita Chatterjee
Music: Architecture, Painting, and Wet Clay
Aditya Behl (1966-2009)
September Eleven
Pakistan: What Do You Want?
Reflections: South Asian Pecking Order
French Salons and South Asia
Do Devotion and Brutality Go Together?
Individual or State: Who is Behind Violence?
Has Islam a Place in a Modern World?
On God: Existence and Nature
Kim Aashcharyam? (What is the most amazing thing?)
An Alternate Explanation for Existence
On the Functions of Religion
Islam: Moving On
On God’s Will
Darwin Meets Fresh Teen in Pakistan
U.S. and South Asia: Transformations and Trajectories
How Far Behind is South Asia?
Why Numbers are Important?
More Numbers on Poverty and Education
South Asia – 1: A Region in Trouble?
South Asia – 2: Three Deprivations
Slumland South Asia?
Terrorism – 1: How Do We Respond to Mumbai?
Terrorism – 2: Beyond Mumbai
Terrorism – 3: Turning In
Terrorism – 4: Reaching Out
Terrorism – 5: What’s Your Religion?
May 22, 2008 at 9:14 am |
It is the dialima of our country that we dont have sincere leaders to run the country in a smoother way. I wish we could make our future generation different from us and could be a true Pakistani in accordance with the vision of our Quaid-i-Azam,
M.Adeel Qureshi,
M.A. History,
M.a. International Relations,
M/Phil/PhD in monumental Archaeology (in process)
Lecturer,
University of Karachi
Karachi
0322-2539606
June 2, 2008 at 1:22 pm |
Dear Dr.Samia,
I congratulate you for writing a very nice article entitled “The art of Democracy” which truly reflects that you are a very clear minded, and have a balnce approach about the problems which are currently posing problem for the integrity of Pakistan and its inhabitents. I totally agree with you that there is no harm for the exhibition of nude art in pakistan. Art is art, and it cannot be classified purely on the basis of nudity in it. People who do not like to see it may not see it, and who like to see it let them to see it. You are a great visionary, and a liberal minded person. Pl. keep up writing such things boldly, we like it. thanks.
June 29, 2008 at 5:26 am |
Dear Dr. Altaf:
I wholeheartedly agree with your opinions expressed in today’s “Transformations and Trajectories” appearing in the June 29th DAWN Opinion section. It appears that in India, they are turning the American national motto “E Pluirbus Unum” on its head: Out of One, Many. There is a dearth of strong, transcendant leaders like Nehru and Gandhi (Mahatma and Indira); instead India has too many moral midgets guided by their selfish, communal interests. (Manmohan Singh has the right qualifications and temperament, but is weak.) Look at the cesspool from which many MPs come from – uneducated and unelightened goons and criminals.
Perhaps the communalization started with Mrs. Gandhi with her divisive policies that led to Sikh and Kashmiri separatist movements. Or perhaps it started with the Partition and its politics of division, rather than unity.
Best regards.
June 29, 2008 at 7:28 am |
For Samia Altaf
ref yr piece today..on this subject: India-Pakistan
I suggest that about the only sane solution to this problem as also other problems in the neighbourhood..is for ALL these S. Asian countries to work as quickly as possible towards a Union of Independent States similar to the European Union of today..
An absoutely essential condition is, of course, that ALL Member States should be serious democracies..Pakistan appears to be finally making a start in that direction..I suggest that Pakistani leaders concentrate on making that a success..specifically towards that goal..Instead of continuing to make “poltical” short-term- effect statements which will keep the temperature adverse and high in India, putting backs up..making that goal postponable or even rejectable by India..Thereafter, hopefully, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka will also be motivated, seeing the initial success, and work towards joining..Later, hopefully, perhaps even Afganistan and even Iran.
A.Rajagopalan
July 1, 2008 at 3:39 pm |
Transformations & Trajectories by Dr Altaf
Dr Altaf, Thank you for writing this and making us realize
that our governments have utterly failed us in realizing the genuinely secular & liberal democracies that both the countries’ founding fathers visualized. I hope people like L K Advani in India read your analysis. I have no hope that secularism will triumph or ever thrive in our countries unless we invent latter day Mustapha Kemal Ataturk(s). regards, P. Harimohan
December 16, 2008 at 8:58 am |
There are 2 things. The rot from within and the external influences that take advantage of this.
India is rotting on 2 fronts
a> Governance that has led to corruption and encouraged crime
While we keep crying like a baby about how Pakistanis do not give us Dawood, we have allowed Dawood’s cronies in Mumbai to prosper. Why have we not broken his network in India?
Our cops are inadequately trained and armed and the resources are not enough. Something drastic has to be done to reform the entire policing system. Any layman can see that they are in no position to tackle even a lowly criminal with a pistol
b> Social and communal problems that give rise to Naxalism and Maoism
Ostracism of the weaker castes in society is still prevalent outside metros and this has fueled Naxalism and Maoism in the country which is slowly spreading its tentacles.
Unless we stem the rot within, outsiders will continue to exploit our weaknesses.
December 20, 2008 at 4:21 pm |
Ram,
I am less concerned about the corruption. If you see the history of the US you will note the period of the ‘Robber Barons’, the hold of the Mafia, the amazing corruption at the highest political levels (latest in Illinois), and the financial scandals (latest Madoff). There is not much difference in Japan, South Korea, or China. Corruption is bad but really when you look at it, the causality is counter-intuitive: corruption does not prevent growth; a lot of growth leads to opportunities for corruption.
The social and communal problems are a lot more serious. Here the history of the US gives the opposite lesson. When the urban riots broke out in the 1960s signaling the degree of Black disaffection, the state was quick to take decisive action with the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts. The remarkable improvement in race relations within 50 years has culminated in the election of Barack Obama.
Here the Indian government has failed completely: At best it is indifferent to injustice; at worst it is complicit (as was the case in Delhi and Gujarat). Given that social diversity is much greater and income gaps much wider, this could be the Achilles heel of the Indian polity. Nobody from outside would need to take advantage of this – the state would collapse from within as it has in Pakistan.
December 21, 2008 at 4:14 pm |
SouthAsian… even after the abolition of slavery, there were plenty of so-called ‘Jim Crow’ laws and until recently there were and maybe continue to be ’sundown’ towns in the US where persons of colour are not guaranteed safety after dark. even today, the harsher laws (drug war etc.) lead to disproportionately worse effects on the minorities and their communities due to a vicious cycle. we are witnessing a similar situation with regard to the various minority communities in india, whether they are large or small.
December 21, 2008 at 7:53 pm |
almostinfamous, of course, you are quite right. The point I wish to make is one of the trend. What you mention in the US is a legacy effect. If you see the new generation on college campuses it is obvious that racial divisions are being eroded. And the biggest proof is the election of Barack Obama which clearly indicates that the legacy effect is becoming marginal to society. This is not to say that individual members of minorities are not discriminated against at some point or another.
This change in the trend was the outcome of the decisive intervention by the State that I had mentioned. No such decisive action has been taken by the Indian State. And therefore, I am less optimistic about the prospects of social stability in India.
December 29, 2008 at 9:35 am |
Precisely… we need proper governance first. That’s the main thing. All this talk about war is useless and it’s not going to help anybody. Nobody has thought about
- What the cost of war is. Not just tangible cost but the loss of business
- What will happen if we lose
- What will we do even after we win?
- What if either one drops a nuke?
What is it eventually going to achieve?
Ram