Afrah Jamal

Published in Global Village Space under the title : Fixing Religious Fault lines in the age of ISIS / 23rd Oct 2017 A few days before Muharram, grand proclamations advocating peace and calm that suggested people shun their religious, sectarian and ethnic biases “to promote the great characteristics of sacrifice, unity and discipline” served as a prologue to bridging the ultimate divide. Then came the promises. The clergy reconstituted the ‘National Reconciliatory Council' in a bid to propel the vision of a united front. An awakening followed. Terrorism must go. And there were reality checks. How does Pakistan overcome decades of dissension to realize its dreams of interfaith harmony? Such sentiments while admirable face roadblocks. But then there was a declaration – that religion is a matter between a person and his creator . That no one has to prove they are Muslims. It was a surprisingly candid admission – one that perhaps did not need to be spelled out yet the stat...

First Published in Economic Affairs (Pakistan) / Sep 2013 issue The ‘Avenger’ phenomena hit Pakistan sometime in late July 2013. The choice of the name had an instant effect - loud cheers, inaudible gasps, startled looks and a few boos were reported. A musician, composer and most recently Campaign Ambassador for ‘Save the Children's Everyone Campaign’, who reigned in the 1990’s as the front man for ‘Awaz’, and nowadays goes by the name of Aaron Haroon (redundancy alert!) is responsible for these seismic changes in the national topography. Back then the band made history when ‘Janeman’ became the first Pakistani song to air on MTV; now another precedent has been set as Pakistan’s first animated, female super hero takes the stage. It is different because the secret identity goes undercover in a burka. It is controversial for the same reason. A school teacher by day, Jiya dons the invisibility cloak before setting out to conquer the world. A burka has been used here as a sy...

First Published in Daily Times / Saturday, August 11, 2012 Republished in AhmadiyyaTimes There was some chatter about a certain coffeehouse this Ramzan on both twitter and facebook. The random post that triggered the wrath had alleged that a posse of females were refused a place to pray en-masse inside the premises. Many agree that little cafes that serve coffee in cramped quarters are not obligated to patronise requests that will inconvenience other customers. Others gleefully scream ‘blue murder’ scrambling to retrieve the Islamic Republic part of Pakistan to bolster their case. Since religion is a contact sport, the new arena was readied for some fireworks. The social media resounded with ‘Down with aforementioned coffee house’ for a few days, offset by a ‘Chalo chalo coffee ke liye chalo’ (Let’s go for Coffee). Was the café in any real danger? Yes. No. It is hard to say. A few hundred irate consumers threatening to stage a sit-in appear harmless. But they cannot guarantee th...

Published in Daily Times / Monday, September 05, 2011 Reviewed by Afrah Jamal “ So this is where your people retreat from fundamentalist kind?” It was not, but to the nice American perhaps that golf course appeared like a sanctuary in a land riven by violence. While it is true that every day something new drives a stake in this illusion of security, that day — at least — there was not a single fundamentalist in sight. Today, such private islands are under threat alongside everything else. Pamela Constable, foreign correspondent and former deputy foreign editor at The Washington Post, puts the nation under intense scrutiny, identifying the war for Pakistan’s soul “with one set pulling it forwards towards a modern international era, the other back toward a traditional and ingrown world”. Her new book knits disparate elements of Pakistani society extracted from various testimonies into a grotesque tapestry littered with bloodcurdling tales of injustice and violence. Segments f...