Ed Husain, co-founder of the Quilliam Foundation, wrote the following essay that was published in the American newspaper Wall Street Journal.

I am fully Muslim and fully Western. Don't call me moderate—call me a normal Muslim.

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Kehnay Mein Kya Harj Hai? Mohammad Malick interviews Ambassador to USA Husain Haqqani
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by Ismail Khan

Many might argue that the survivors or victims of the Bangladesh tragedy were those who hardly shared the same location as West Pakistan and, therefore, the lessons were not internalised. The same could also be said about the Taliban, who were initially thought of as a far-flung problem

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by Babar Sattar for The News

Altaf Hussain's statement inciting 'patriotic generals' to take steps 'like martial law' against 'corrupt feudal and land lord politicians' is an expression of intent to support subversion of constitutional rule in Pakistan. This statement is not only mischievous, but also malicious. It has been uttered (and vociferously defended by MQM minions) not in naivete or desperation, but in full view of the historically omnipotent role of the army within the political arena. Much of the thoughtless commentary in the written and electronic media suggests that Altaf Hussain's problem identification is spot-on, but solution faulty. This is simply not true. His problem identification is inflammatory, misleading and self-serving, and the solution disruptive, illegal and unworkable.

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By Farahnaz Ispahani

All Pakistanis should have their heads lowered in shame. We appear to be still medieval rather than part of the 21st century.

At a time when we reach out to the international community for aid to help our citizens after the devastating floods, we are still living through mob lynching. This is not digestible, leave alone acceptable at any moral level. This is hardly the face of a modern democratic state.

The natural calamity and the holy month of Ramazan have failed in making our hearts softer or more civilized.

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by Sana Ali

If there was ever a time to rally for Pakistan, it is now. The headlines of the past several months narrate one of the worst periods in Pakistan’s short history. Pakistan’s emerging democracy faces calamity after calamity. Poverty, education reforms, infrastructure development, and health initiatives are all equally important concerns that require immediate attention. As the Pakistani government focused on providing real solutions, the country was hit with one of the worst natural disasters in modern history. The truth of the matter is this: Pakistan is fighting one thousand wars within its borders.

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Source: Let Us Build Pakistan

by Bilal Qureshi

For my mental health, I never watch Pakistani television, be it state run or the so-called ‘private’ channels.  And if I am forced for whatever reason to put up with it for an hour or so, it is, and I am not exaggerating here, the most painful experience; an experience I find difficult to explain in language that is utterly unacceptable in any civil society. 

Personally, I am convinced that as soon as the media became independent in Pakistan, it has been a race to the bottom by these anchors and other personalities on T.V.  And except for one or perhaps two voices of reason, majority of the talk show hosts in Pakistan are narrow minded, one dimensional,  Zardari hating, Osama worshiping, illiterate gangsters who are determined to destroy logical and analytical thinking in Pakistan by constantly airing pro-Taliban and anti American views.

This madness has to stop.

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Nadeem Paracha's first foray into defining the modern lexicon last December was a much needed laugh. His latest dictionary does not disappoint, either. OED had better watch out, the NPD is coming!

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According to its website, the Supreme Court is "the Court of ultimate appeal and therefore final arbiter of law and the Constitution. It exercises original, appellate and advisory jurisdiction. Its judgments/decisions are binding on all other courts in the country". Considering the Supreme Court holds such authority, it is very troubling that Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and other judges that have made statements against the parliament using secularism as a threat. The issue at question is not secularism, but the 18th Amendment and appointment of judges. More broadly, the question is whether parliament is the proper body to make changes to the Constitution. But rather than answer these legitimate questions, the Chief Justice appears to be using straw men to scare the public.

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Pakistani media and country’s right-wing is ripe with stories about poor aid response and poor donor response. It is about time things be put in perspective. For nothing has the potential of hurting rehabilitation more than this smear campaign.

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The political and social aspects of Islam in Pakistan can be seen as existing in and emerging from three distinct clusters of thought. These clusters represent the three variations of political and social Islam that have evolved in this country: i.e. modern, popular and conservative.

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Let's be honest, President Zardari took a big gamble by going to meet with foreign leaders as the flood crisis unfolded. It was obviously bad public relations, and his advisors had to know that he would be skewered in the media. Actually, the President even admitted as much in an column earlier this week. But he chose to go anyway, he said, because "For historical and cultural reasons, London is vital for generating global political and humanitarian awareness". It was a big gamble. Is it paying off?

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President Asif Ali Zardari sought to fend off Thursday public outcry over his response to Pakistan’s catastrophic floods by visiting a hard-hit area for the first time and handing out aid.

The president visited Sukkur, which lies close to the worst affected areas in the southern province of Sindh, where he was briefed about the damages, steps being taken, relief and rehabilitation efforts, officials said.

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Farrukh Khan Pitafi's column in Express Tribune gets it exactly right.

Tell me what could the president have done? Even if he could ignore the fact that he was nothing but a titular head of the state after the eighteenth amendment? He could have gone to visit some flood affected areas. There our complaint would have been that the president was busy in photo-ops. And due to the mere photo ops the entire district management, otherwise entrusted with overseeing the relief effort, was busy in receiving and entertaining his person. So had he not gone abroad, our displeasure would have still been unaffected.

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