The writer teaches history at LUMS. He has recently co-edited a volume titled Muslims Against the Muslim League: Critiques of the Idea of Pakistan (New Delhi: Cambridge University Press, 2017). He tweets @AU_Qasmi
The widespread hatred against Ahmadis is the result of decades of relentless campaigns and one-sided propaganda, which even the abolishment of the...
A historic overview of how a religious group went from being a minority to a fitna. This is the first of a two part series
It seems that the a sizeable faction of the urban middle-class, heteronormative male, Sunni Muslim, rightwing Punjabis is now challenging its own...
If there can be any hope of salvaging Pakistan and reworking its ideational basis, it is now through universities as spaces of dissent
Two passionate and prolific little-known historians, Maulana Muhammad Ishaq Bhatti and Hussain Arif Naqwi, passed away recently
A historical review of the contradictions of Pakistan’s anti-Ahmadi laws
Pakistan may have lost one of the most original and imaginative detective fiction writers, but what needs to be mourned more is the legacy of...
Commemoration of Karbala and remembrance of the sacrifices of Husain have been part of the subcontinent's cultural tradition
In order to develop a progressive and tolerant society, there is no alternative to the eradication of inherently biased legal, institutional...
The preposterous claim by one television anchor -- that the partition violence that led to the brutal killing of millions of Sikhs and Muslims was...
Why has an institution that sustained its glory for over a century been relegated to a secondary status?
Not many people know that among the Jinnah Papers in the British Library lies a document that records a fascinating incident -- relating to séance...
Junaid Jamshed’s case offers an ideal opportunity for discussing some aspects of blasphemy law which need serious and urgent revisions,...
Some random thoughts while in India recently
There have been numerous instances of targeted killings in Pakistan of people in consequence of an incriminating fatwa of kufr, apostasy or...
The term Indian Muslim seems to be a misnomer. From Prof. Mohammad Mujeeb, former vice chancellor Jamia Millia to Ayesha Jalal, several scholars...
At a panel discussion recently organised by LUMS Literary Society , Noman-ul-Haq, Anjum Altaf and Athar Masood reminisced about Daud Rahbar whose...
There is very little media coverage of the violence which took place in Rawalpindi. All the media outlets without any exception, including BBC Urdu,...
