Why Muslim states fail

By Khaled Ahmed

States released from colonial rule in the 20^th century have by and large not done well. Today, most of them are either failing or failed states. Only a few have reached the finishing line of liberal democracy with a survivable economic model beyond the 21^st century. Most of the Muslim states are included in the failing postcolonial model. Dictators with mental bipolar disorder — historically mistaken for charisma — who aimed to achieve romantic goals have crumbled, leaving in their wake equally romantic mobs of youths demanding what they presume is liberal democracy.

After Saddam Hussein, Iraq is in disarray; after Hosni Mubarak, Egypt is teetering; Libya promises nothing better. And after Musharraf, Pakistan’s democracy is dysfunctional. Among Muslims, only the market state in the Gulf may survive. In the Far East, too, it is the market state that looks like marching on. Muslim Indonesia and Malaysia may survive if they don’t exterminate their entrepreneur Chinese minorities under the spur of Islam. In Europe, when the dictator quits, civilisation takes over and the state survives. No such thing happens in the Muslim world. The premodern seduction of the Muslim mind prevents return to democracy. The blasphemy law is more powerful than any democratic constitution. …

Read more » The Express Tribune

A society obsessed with love for death – By Mujahid Hussain

During 1990s, Pasban the “Revolutionary Brigade” of Jamaat-e-Islami came up with a slogan “If we won’t succeed in equitable redistribution of resources, we’ll distribute the hunger and poverty on equal basis”. Majority of newspaper intellectuals found themselves enchanted in the apparent structure of the sentence with understanding the real implications of this vague and rather unreasonable slogan and kept them busy in forecasting a potential revolution from the village Karbath in outskirt of Lahore. But one fine morning it was Pasban itself that was found in the middle of a revolution and Jamaat-e-Islami also got some tranquility as a result. Not long ago a newspaper published a photograph of a shop where a routine ‘Sale’ was the advertised in these words: “Suicidal Attack Sale”. There was a flashback of same slogans in one’s mind when on 30th October 2011 the chief of Pakistan Tehreek-e- Insaf, Imran Khan while addressing the grandest ever rally of his party in Lahore declared that “Tsunami of Tahreek-e-Insaf has arrived here”. Pasban a movement of some emotional youth wanted to distribute want and hunger on equitable grounds if their campaign to provide social justice to masses fails in any case; the trader of Lahore emphasized the expanse of his price-reduction as “suicide attack” while the chief of PTI used the euphemism of a catastrophic term of tsunami to highlight his intent to provide social justice to all citizens of state and to end corruption from the country. Have we fallen short of agreeable and pro-life lexicon even to denote a positive action? ….

Read more » View Point

Imran Khan says murders of Hindu doctors marks sad day for Pak

Islamabad:  Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan has strongly condemned the killing of Hindu doctors by armed assailants in Pakistan’s Sindh province.

Four Hindu doctors were attacked near Shikarpur district of the province Monday. Three of them — Ashok, Naresh, Ajeet Kumar — who were brothers died, while the fourth was Satya Pal was injured.

Khan, chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), in a satement issued by his party’s central secretariat, said that the murder of Dr Ashok, Dr Naresh and Dr Ajeet Kumar marked a sad day for Pakistan, as PTI (Paksitan Tehreek-e-Insaf) believed in peaceful and harmonious co-existence of all religious and ethnic groups and an indiscriminate practice of the rule of law, Daily Times reported.

Stating abdication of governance by the corrupt ruling mafias had resulted in an increase of violence in the society that needed to be checked immediately, Khan condemned the role of the law-enforcement agencies that tended to side with the criminals.
On Thursday, condemning the brutal murder of Hindus in Shikarpur, civil society and human rights organisations announced they would stage “Fill the Besant Hall Road against Religious Intolerance” rally in front of the Theosophical Society’s interior Sindh centre in Hyderabad Nov 14.

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has also strongly condemned the killings and directed that the culprits be brought to book.

The US has asked Pakistan to bring to justice those involved in gunning down the Hindus in Sindh province and condemned all violence directed at religious, ethnic and other minorities.

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/imran-khan-says-murders-of-hindu-doctors-marks-sad-day-for-pak-149028?pfrom=home-otherstories&cp