South Asia – SEDAA

The Kerala Story could have been a valiant effort to highlight religious tyranny, were it not for its misleading facts

7th June 2023 admin

By Khadija Khan A newly released Bollywood film that claims to tell the story of Hindu and Christian women who were lured into joining the Islamic State group has caused huge controversy in India. The Kerala Story – set in India’s southernmost state – has polarised opinions not only in the south Asian country, but also abroad. The filmmakers originally claimed that it is based on the “gut-wrenching stories of 32,000 females” who were allegedly forced to convert to Islam and then radicalised to join the death cult that…

To Fast Or Not To ‘Let Others’ Fast

24th March 2023 admin

By Shamila Ghyas It’s that time of the year again when everyone starts fighting whether it is Ramzan Mubarak, Ramadan Kareem or a chutney of the two – Ramzan Kareem. Call it whatever you like, but one thing is certain: we will once again spend this year not bathing in the spirituality of fasting, but rather worrying if the neighbor’s aunt’s daughter’s husband is fasting or not. Whether cousin Shabana really can’t fast or is she just lying about it. Why that guard outside my favorite shoe store took a…

India’s hijab row has been hijacked by the Hindu and Muslim right wing to score political points

20th March 2022 admin

By Khadija Khan For months now, a debate around hijab and free choice has been raging in India. This all was instigated in January, when a group of teenage girls at a Karnataka college claimed that they had been barred from entering their classroom while wearing a headscarf. The issue soon snowballed. The college’s decision sparked protests, forcing the state to shut schools and colleges for several days. These students started campaigning outside the college gates. Predictably, it provoked a counter demonstration from Hindu nationalist students who turned up outside…

Is Imran Khan’s ‘Medina state’ founded on Osama Bin Laden’s Islam?

5th July 2020 admin

By Kunwar Khuldune Shahid Last week, reminiscences of al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden sprung up in two unlikely arenas: Elland Road and the National Assembly of Pakistan. A Leeds United fan had sent Bin Laden’s image to the football club to be put on their allocated seat in an empty Elland Road, presumably as a prank, as English football resumed behind closed doors earlier this month. Meanwhile, in the Pakistani Parliament, Prime Minister Imran Khan eulogised the jihadist leader as a ‘martyr’ in the June 25 session, in what is…

Asia Bibi is trying to escape the bloodlust of the same blasphemy law that European courts are endorsing

14th November 201815th November 2018 admin

By Kunwar Khuldune Shahid On October 31, Asia Bibi, a Christian woman falsely accused of blasphemy, was acquitted by Pakistan’s Supreme Court. The nine-year horrific jail sentence that she undeservedly served was rooted in a glass of water that she was deemed ‘impure’ to touch, while the death row she escaped was founded on Pakistan’s blasphemy law, which deem that insults to Islam and Islam alone are a crime worthy of Constitutionally sanctioned death. While Pakistan’s apex court has established that Bibi did not utter any insulting remarks for…

In the Name of Religion

11th November 201811th November 2018 admin

By Ammara Mustafa Allahu Akbar they chant in a frenzy, In vain our men are slain in the name of religion Take off your rose tinted spectacles Dare to ponder and look around yourself. You – my dear, average Pakistani are not free, Chaos is the disruptive violin playing in the air, Scare tactics are on the rise once again, Men in disguised robes have hijacked our country, Will the military intervene, will this noise end? Will the foundations of Islam be shaken so easily, Will humanity and justice…

A new day for Pakistan? The Asia Bibi Verdict

31st October 201814th November 2018 admin

By Saima Baig A strange thing has happened in the land of the pure, the bastion of Islam that is Pakistan. A woman imprisoned for almost nine years and who was on death row for blasphemy has been acquitted by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The reason I call this strange is that in Pakistan — it is. The country’s infamous blasphemy laws are used willy-nilly to settle personal scores and it is very difficult to be absolved of this ridiculous crime. Plenty of people are languishing in jail…

Blasphemy: Pakistan’s curse

2nd September 201831st October 2018 admin

By Saima Baig India’s British rulers first codified offences against religion in 1860, which were then expanded in 1927. When Pakistan become a separate country, it inherited these laws; and decided to keep them. In the 1980s, Zia ul Haq added more clauses to this ridiculous and frankly unnecessary law. Over the years, this law been used to put people in jail (Aasia Bibi has now been acquitted by a Pakistani court after being in jail for over seven years, with a death sentence hanging over her head). The…

Is Imran Khan Pakistan’s Donald Trump?

27th July 201815th August 2018 admin

By Yasmin Rehman Millions of Pakistanis voted in elections on July 25, resulting in victory for the leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan. Polling day, in line with so many days in Pakistan, was marred by Islamist violence. In the murky world of Pakistani politics, the run up to the elections was eventful, with allegations of pre-poll rigging, media censorship and the imprisonment of the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on corruption charges. As I watched all this from the safe distance of the UK, I could not help but wonder…

Pakistan and the new East India Company

20th June 2018 admin

By Saima Baig “In the infancy of societies, the chiefs of state shape its institutions; later the institutions shape the chiefs of state,” said Charles de Montesquieu. This is certainly true for Pakistan where one particular institution, or at least its successive doyens, have played nine pins with every chief the country has had after the first decade of its existence. In the early days the army controlled the country blatantly through martial law, of which we have had plenty. It started to look as though that we had…