Originally Published in The New York Post I am pleasantly surprised that the Pakistani police have taken a step forward by arresting suspects allegedly responsible for shooting the 14-year-old girl who courageously stood up to the Taliban in defense of her right to an education. The Pakistani police’s willingness to target the Taliban today is refreshing and is a step in the right direction. Saad...
Originally Published in The Washington Post and The Huffington Post Someone is missing from this picture. Because just when I was wondering if extremists could do anymore damage to Islam’s image, they committed yet another despicable act. As if flogging the adulterers, executing the civilians, and selling the women were not enough, on Oct. 8, the Taliban attempted to assassinate a 14-year...
Originally Published in The Express Tribune and The Huffington Post Sir, it was 1995, North Medical Ward of Pakistan’s Mayo Hospital, where you famously said in your English-Punjabi accent, “Putter ji, batti uthay balo, jithay hanaira howay” (Son, light a candle where it’s dark). You didn’t want your students to go abroad after completing medical school. You wondered...
Originally Posted on PakTeaHouse More than 40,000 civilians and 5,000 soldiers dead at the hands of religious fanatics leaves every Pakistani guessing – where did we go wrong? Can we point out any single day in our 65 year history which symbolizes our collective decision to surrender to the Mullah? Thirty eight years ago, on 7th of September 1974, the Parliament of Pakistan brazenly...
Originally Published in The Oshkosh Northwestern Pakistan recently arrested an 11 year old Christian girl with Down Syndrome for allegedly burning the Quran. Seen by religious zealots as justified, this heinous act is nothing more than an evil attack on humanity. Pakistan’s stance on Islamic principles is antithetical to the character of Prophet Muhammad. The Quran has given him the...
Originally Published in The Express Tribune Consider this before buying your next Umra package: Jabbarsahib can grab your shoulder, beam you to the Kaaba from anywhere in the world, where you can offer prayers and return back home in no time. The idea is laughable on many accounts. It rejects physical laws, discards scientific evidence, and makes a mockery of Islamic practices too. Add to the...
Originally Published in The Huffington Post Sunday’s mass shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin carried a depressing familiarity. Every few weeks in America, people somewhere are shot en masse, a gunman is captured or killed, and the debate over gun control flourishes on opinion pages. But this shooting was different. It posed a question to the core American values: Do we stand up for the...
Originally Published in The Finger Lakes Times On July 4th, 2012 American physicists – not politicians – had something grand to comment on: Scientists at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland had discovered the “God Particle.” Formally known as the Higgs boson, its discovery is considered to be on par with Copernicus’ discovery of the sun being the center of the solar system. Among those scientists who...
Out of the silent night, two men moved swiftly through the mosque’s front gate. Magazines loaded and safeties off, one stopped at the front door, the other proceeded through. All that separated a fully loaded Kalashnikov in the hands of a madman from 50 innocent worshippers was a straw curtain that hung helplessly in the doorway. “In the end, they killed eight of my brothers, and shot...
Though I was born in Pakistan, I was still a baby when my dad had to move to The Gambia in West Africa. The Gambia is a small peaceful country. Here, I remember my mother teaching me the Urdu Qaida and telling me interesting stories about Pakistan. I could see she missed Pakistan a great deal. She would sometimes break down in tears, relating stories of the persecution she had witnessed growing...