The Londoner

By Sikander Hayat I nearly laughed at the fickle nature of Indian politicians . It seems as if every one of them is out like a rat out of its hiding place to gain as much political mileage as they could out of an a terrible act by the Taliban in Pakistan. Even buffoons like Navjot Singh Sidhu are out there to “save” the Sikhs of the world from the “evil” Pakistan. If an Indian Muslim dies /killed by other Indians, no Muslim country in the world has the right to say anything because that Muslim was the citizen of India and India being a sovereign nation is responsible for all her citizens. I hope that my Indian friends will agree with this statement. The same principle applies to the citizens of Pakistan. A citizen of Pakistan was killed by the Taliban (who have killed many other Pakistanis as well) but this time the citizen was a Sikh. Does that fact give India or its people any right to protest against Pakistan when in India itself many Sikhs are killed every day in murders and...

By Sikander Hayat It looks as if Pakistan is back in frame as far as Afghanistan is concerned and the Americans now very clearly know and demonstrates that without Pakistan there is no solution to Afghan quagmire. They have relied on India for 8 years but Indian influence went so far and when push came to shove, Indians were told to gradually pull back their operations from Afghanistan and we shall see in near future that as soon as United States leave Afghanistan, India will leave with it. In recent months all major afghan leaders have seen these winds of change and most of them are now bending over backwards to convince Pakistan of their support. Pakistan for the time being is keeping its cards close to the chest but it has told the world including United Stets that an anti-Pakistan Afghanistan will not be tolerated. Meeting in Turkey and then in London were used to hammer home this message to India to back off. I don’t know if this has anything to do with India’s new found w...

By Sikander Hayat Obama has been put to proverbial sword by left, right & centre of the American politics. He can’t make the left happy because he has failed to pass the health care bill in its original form, the right does not like him because they perceive him to be soft on terror & Iran’s nuclear programme and the centre perceive him to be a flip flopper who cannot make his mind up on important issues. When Obama got elected a year ago, left thought that they finally had someone who would break the mould and reshape the American political structure forever but Obama has shown that he is nothing of that sort. Republicans were always out to destroy him from the day one. They thought of him (and still do) as on imposter who usurped them (conservative white men) of their God given right to rule America. Fox news has taken a step towards active politics by holding TEA (Tax Enough Already) parties and by allowing buffoons like O’Reilly & Glenn Beck to talk absolute lies abou...

By Sikander Hayat Shiv Sena has threatened Shahrukh Khan , the most famous Bollywood actor and an Indian Muslim , to leave India and go to Pakistan. The threats came after Shahrukh advocated the return of Pakistan cricketers to IPL. His film “My Name Is Khan” is due to be released but Shiv Sena has threatened any cinema owners who show this film with death. His posters are being burned everywhere in the Mumbai c ity and he is being asked to retract his statements or else. This is not the first time anything like this is happening. Every time an Indian Muslim says or does something which anti-Muslim fundamentalists of India don’t like, he or she is branded a traitor. If this is happening to the most prominent Indian Muslims, just imagine the plight of those who do not have a voice. Shiv Sena and organisations like it sometimes let slip the veil from the real face that “shining India” does not want anyone to see. Off course India is shining but only for those who are the righ...

By Sikander Hayat There is a debate in United Kingdom on allowing assisted suicide. This was sparked recently when in 2 different cases people took lives of their close relatives on the premise of helping them out of their misery. In my view assisted suicide debate is a precursor to a time when old people will be expected of to terminate themselves at a certain age. Religious arguments aside, there is a strong moral case for not letting people give up hope. In today’s life, which is full of pressures, where living sometimes for some people does feel like a burden, giving people a superficially easy way out will strip humans of their humanity. I believe that that anything like this must not be entered into law. In serious cases, where a case is very strong for such action must be looked at individually and no one should be allowed to take actions just because they have come to a conclusion which in their minds is best for them or their dear ones. R elated Posts: 1. Banning “Isl...

By Sikander Hayat 1. Afghan insurgents are part of the fabric of Afghan society, can never be defeated just by force and there is a need for a political settlement. 2. West will have to talk directly to Mullah Omar and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar as they are the two major stakeholders in the talks. 3. It has to be accepted that Pakistan is the main force that can help resolve the issue of Afghanistan. Pakistan has said categorically that it is talking with all levels of Taliban leadership to bring a lasting peace to Afghanistan. Afghan & Pakistani presidents met in Turkey before the London conference to discuss ways of dealing with Taliban. Real decisions are going to be made among Afghanistan & Pakistan, not the nearly 70 countries who met in London today. 4. India & Pakistan cannot coexist in Afghanistan. To get Pakistan’s help, the current occupiers of Afghanistan will have to ask India to leave that country. For last 9 years, India has tried to side-line Pakistan in Afghanist...

By Sikander Hayat Pakistan has lost one it’s most senior and trust journalist, columnist & opinion maker Irshad Ahmad Haqqani has died. His career spaned more than half a century and saw many upheavals in the history of Pakistan. He was a great thinker and the senior editor of The Daily Jang newspaper. He was also associated with Mir Khalil-ur-Rehman Society as Patron and was one among the founders of Jang newspaper Lahore besides, his columns Hurf-e-Tammana remained well acclaimed among different schools of thoughts including scholars, politicians and thinkers. According to knowledgeable sources, he had been ailing of heart problems for some days and had quitted writing columns for newspapers. It may be mentioned he offered his services as federal information minister during tenure of interim government in 1993.Earlier in the beginning of his career; the deceased remained annexed with Jamaat-e-Islami and also offered his services as principal Islamia College Qusoor. He has bereav...