Month: July 2010

SWISS INFO

Revelations by a parliamentary watchdog that the secret service collected data on about 200,000 people might seem like a repeat of a political scandal 20 years ago.

Swiss Info for more

by IFTEKHAR IQBAL

Historians have studied the interregnum between the birth of Pakistan and the birth of Bangladesh as that of a clear-and-simple exploitation of the Bengalis in East Pakistan by the West Pakistani ruling elite. This discourse of exploitation is built along a number of convenient and visible statecentric arguments: economic, political, cultural and sometimes racial. In this archaic, almost abstract form of nationalist debates, one misses the pictures of everyday, localised and spatially contingent politics of exploitation and resistance – a phenomenon common in both colonial and post-colonial south Asia. Ahmed Kamal’s State against the Nation is an attempt to capture a slice of this historical continuum and the author does this with style.

Economic and Political Weekly for more

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via Indus Asia Online Journal

by CLINT HENDLER

The leading English-language newspapers and magazines—the publications that have the most influence on India’s power centers—have reported widely on the RTI law itself, but have not embraced it as an investigative tool. Reporters and editors say they simply don’t trust the information released by government officials. Narendar Pani, a former senior editor for The Economic Times and now dean of interdisciplinary studies at the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bangalore, suggested other, less noble explanations for the “patchy” use of the law. English dailies compete for upscale urban audiences that prefer feel-good, India-rising stories to articles about government corruption. Pani said another factor is that Indian reporters are culturally attuned to work through networks of informal sources, which would dry up with “a blunt-instrument approach, which is the RTI.”

Columbia Journalism Review for more

(Submitted by Robin Khundkar)

by SIMEON KERR

Teaching is also an unpopular career choice. Mr Hassan is one of only two Emirati staff at his school, and he bemoans the low esteem and salaries attached to his profession. A year after his students join the army, most of them are drawing a bigger salary than an experienced headmaster such as himself.

The result is that about 95 per cent of national teachers are women, which in turn means that after the age of five – when boys by law have to be taught by men – expatriate teachers form the majority.

Financial Times for more

(Submitted by Robin Khundkar)

by NADEEM F. PARACHA

Good news: Only 10 per cent Pakistanis recently surveyed by a leading US research group have any liking for the Taliban. What’s more, a mere nine per cent exhibited sympathy for Al-Qaeda. So, does this mean that we are finally moving towards being a more rational, humanist, tolerant and moderate society?

Hold your horses. Or shall I say camels. Because the same survey finds broad support for harsh punishments: 78 per cent favour death for those who leave Islam; 80 per cent favour whippings and cutting off hands for crimes like theft and robbery; and 83 per cent favour stoning adulterers to death.

Dawn for more

THE NATIONAL

As a Muslim couple, our first holiday to Europe last year could have been a lot more pleasant and enjoyable had it not been for the lack of some very basic services like water, prayer facilities and halal eateries.

My first shock was at the airport we were transiting through when I had to use the restroom. It was too late by the time I realized to my horror that there was no water in the lavatories and I am not exaggerating in the least bit when I say that I panicked and broke out into a sweat. I had a prayer to offer and the situation only complicated matters.

The National for more

(Submitted by Robin Khundkar)

by JESSICA E. SARACENI

A bronze tablet bearing a woman’s face discovered in central Israel 13 years ago is part of a 3,200-year-old linchpin from an Egyptian chariot. “Such an identification reinforces the claim that a high-ranking Egyptian or local ruler was based at this location,” said Adam Zertal of the University of Haifa.

Archaeology for more

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part 2

by PROFESSOR ALI ABDALLA ALI

“It never happened in any era or age in which Egypt paid attention to the fact the Nile has other wives and sons who should share in the great heritage (the Nile).We were brought up to believe in a great myth that the Nile is exclusively Egypt’s own and we went on making love songs about Egypt and showing our pride to the world that we were able to build a great civilization along its shores. Dr. Rushdi Saeed ( a well known Egyptian geologist) has drawn our attention to the dangers of this great myth!!”

Sudan Tribune for more