The writer teaches at the IT University in Lahore. He is the author of ‘A Princely Affair: The Accession and Integration of the Princely States of Pakistan, 1947-55.’ He tweets at @BangashYK.
Our disengagement with history has caused exclusionary nationalists narratives to take hold in the popular imagination in both India and Pakistan....
In an age where nationalist narratives are again coming to the fore and taking centre-stage, it is important to understand the initiation and...
The recent US decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel flies in the face of history and inflames the passion of both Christians and...
While cities need infrastructure and physical development they also need to be ‘liveable’ spaces where societies can thrive
While the idea of Pakistan has been broad, first encompassing all the Muslim of India and later the entire Islamic world, the territory of Pakistan...
The Urs of Hazrat Mariam, as it is called, at Mariamabad is certainly a beautiful expression of the syncretic and dynamic religious and cultural...
The story of Pakistan’s national anthem
Search for national anthem shows the commingling of religion-based nationalism with pan-Islamism was a norm among influential people in the early...
Despite the noble aspirations of the founders of Pakistan and India, both the countries seemed to have decided to come full circle and come back to...
Had the independence and partition of India and Pakistan been better managed, the holocaust which led to the death of nearly a million souls could...
Pakistan has treated the subject of history and heritage as ‘national security’ and ‘national ideology’ issue. Hence, a very selective...
A few visits to Gurdwaras that show how syncretic, simple and universal was the message of Guru Nanak, where there were no cultural, religious or...
A landmark epoch in the history of judiciary in South Asia
A few street names, hospitals and buildings still remind us that once Punjab was a rich mosaic of Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Christian communities
The Lyallpur Suleikh Mela was indeed a breath of fresh air in the saturated space of literary festivals in Pakistan
There is an acute need of a Centre for Social Concerns in every university in the country to instil in our students a sense of civil ownership and...
The disappearance of social activists should lead us to seriously consider how we are shaping our universities, and how in turn they are engaging...
Reaction to any reinterpretation of Jinnah shows how ‘ideology’ still plays a critical role in the country’s affairs
A journey of justice that began with Maharaja Ranjit Singh and climaxed with modern judiciary
Jinnah’s principled stance against Rowlatt Act, also known as ‘Black Act’, at a time when principles of fundamental rights had not even...
