The Thing About This Is...

“It has always been taken for granted mistakenly that the Musalmans are a minority, and of course we have got used to it for such a long time that these settled nations sometimes are very difficult to remove. The Musalmans are not a minority. The Musalmans are a nation by any definition.” Muhammad Ali Jinnah 27 th Session of the All-India Muslim League, Lahore 22 nd March 1940 I think there needs to be a re-analysis (or even an analysis) of what Jinnah thought constituted a nation. The religious men who fought for "Pakistan" wrote vicariously on what sort of Muslim nation they wanted or rather what was a Muslim nation, qawm . The qawm can be debated end on end, interpret as you like, is it the Muslim nationhood? A Muslim nation within another nation? the ummah itself? This was a serious political debate pre-Indian partition that the ulema of India were having but not Jinnah. Jinnah was not a "religious" man but he fought to preserve the rights of the Muslim min...

Pluralism works in Malaysia because Malaysia is a tolerant society says Professor Dato Dr Khoo Kay Kim Dr Khoo Kay Kim , who wrote the Rukunegara - the Malaysian pledge of allegiance, painted a very rosy picture of the tolerant Malaysian society at a seminar earlier this evening. Whilst we idealise a society should be tolerant of other faiths and groups events highlight the opposite. Malaysia has been through several major ethnic riots the biggest one being in 1969 , which gave rise to the Rukenegara (1970). The government of Malaysia is by far a fair one; it is known to suppress its Chinese minority and the ethnic tension in the country still poses a huge problem for the Malaysians, this was admitted by Prime Minister Badawi just last month . Integration Against this backdrop Dr Kim was still hopeful that Malaysia should be seen as an exemplar of a pluralistic state, and a Muslim one at that. The talk was a contradiction in many parts, he claimed the Malaysians mixed unlike the Bri...

A few quick updates on the Labour MP Candidate, Dr. Rupa Huq - Currently Rupa has been nominated for the British Sociological Association’s Philip Abrams memorial prize for her book Beyond Subculture. - Rupa has been short listed for the Labour MP candidacy . So far, four candidates for Labour MP candidacy have been short listed leaving two more vacancies to be filled. Both Rushnara Ali and Lutfur Rahman received 51% of the nomination votes and made it to the next round and since two female contenders were left, both Rupa Huq and Shiria Khatun made it through also to meet the 50% criteria. The next two contenders will be chosen on 24th April from the list below: Ayub Korom Ali Helal Abbas John Biggs David Edgar Abdul Asad Moti uzzaman Shirajul Islam The final six short-listers will then face a third round of votes on 26th April and the final list of Labour candidates will be revealed on 28th April. Candidates left to right: Ayub Korom Ali, - , - , - , Dr. Rupa Huq, -, John Biggs, -...

...sadly it happened. The all Indian cast and language production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night Dream titled 'An Indian Dream' failed terribly to sprinkle its magic. With an intricate storyline of three sub-plots it makes Midsummer a fascinating watch. The play is very popular and a summer doesn't go by when this play is not on theatres across the country and the globe. However, this production by Tim Supple at the Roundhouse theatre did not live up to the expectations I had conjured up. This type of Shakespeare play I thought would have gone very well with an Indian setting with the element of magic, love and mysticism but it didn't really fit into that image very well because of the lack of technicalities that we were presented with, which were: The actors could not act The actors were inaudible The languages got frustrating especially when you didn't understand what was being said - even more frustrating for those who did not know the story li...

Film to provoke thought, inspire men and women and challenge the societal norms of Southasians... Dor means thread, thread that runs across society, thread that binds people, it has many metaphorical uses I'll let you find your own. The story is of two women, one grieving for her dead husband and the other in pursuit of freeing her husband at the hands of this bereaved widow. This involves friendship and betrayal between the two women. The film is kept simple. It makes subtle remarks on the life of a widowed woman, the veil, the baggage that women generally hold in society. It makes dialogue between both men and women so it speaks to audience in a fairer light. It gleams hope into women to think and act for themselves. It's a light-hearted but meaningful film. I recommend it - a good change from your typical Bolly which, Indian cinema is more popularly known for. The film stars Aysha Takia, Gul Panag and Shreyas Talpade, all of whom act very well. Talpade is also a good comed...

बोह्त कूल नही? किसी को मालुम है कि में बंगला कैसे लिख सकती हूँ?

It was quite a site seeing this today. Those Greenpeacers do like climbing and bannering. Wish I could get a picture on my mobli but alas I could not. (Because I have the most dysfunctional phone ever created.) Managed to find ONE pic on the internet. This comes after Blair's £20million trident project to develop nuclear weapons. Most of his party members have opposed the project, Blair now relies on the Tories for support...