By Jahanzeb Hussain The leaders of all the Pakistani political parties represented in parliament met on Sept 9, 2013 at the invitation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, to thrash out the strategy for dealing with the terrorist threat. At the end of the deliberations, in which the army chief and the director general of the ISI also took part, it was unanimously decided to begin negotiations […]
By Jahanzeb Hussain When the Syrian uprising began two years ago, it seemed like the Arab Spring was taking its due course in the region. But now, the diagnostic is a little bit different. Not at least because 200,000 people have been killed in Syria, which is probably the most in the Middle East since the vicious civil war […]
By Jahanzeb Hussain The crisis in Egypt has projected the Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan-al-Muslimun) to the forefront of the debate on the future of political Islam. While there should be a debate its future, it should nevertheless be kept in mind that political Islam is not a uniform phenomenon. It varies from one Muslim country to another […]
By Jahanzeb Hussain Pakistan has just come out of a historic election. It’s the first time in the country’s history that a civilian government completed its 5 year term and passed on the baton to another civilian government. Analysts say that hopes are high in Pakistan and that the country is heading in the right […]
By Jahanzeb Hussain Imran Khan had predicted a Tsunami. Instead, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) finished third in the elections behind Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which is not exactly the clean sweep he had promised. Though not a disaster when compared to his party’s previous election results, PTI’s performance perhaps can be […]
By Jahanzeb Hussain Veeru Kohli was born into a scheduled caste of Hindus in the Sind province of Pakistan. The Kohlis are bonded laborers. Veeru Kohli was born into bondage since her family owed money to their feudal lord and was unable to pay it back. Veeru had to go into slavery, too, in order […]
By Jahanzeb Hussain The latest waves of attacks on Shia, Hazara, Christians, and women’s rights in Pakistan have been met with curious reactions by the people of that country, either living in Pakistan or abroad. I have not done any scientific analysis of this but I am basing my view on what I have witnessed […]
By Jahanzeb Hussain Associate Professor at Simon Fraser University’s International Studies department Tamir Moustafa gave a lecture on Islamic law and women’s rights in Malaysia in mid-March at the school’s downtown campus. Mr. Moustafa has been doing his field work on women’s rights within the framework of Islam in Malaysia and his talk was an […]
By Jahanzeb Hussain Well-known professor of sociology and Middle Eastern studies Asef Bayat from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign came to Vancouver’s Simon Fraser University in February to give a talk on non-social movements in the Middle East and their role in forging change in several of the countries of the region. Collateral Damage […]
By Jahanzeb Hussain I’ve seen their silent faces They scream so loud If they were to speak these words They’d go missing too Another woman on the torture table What else can they do ? One day we’ll dance on their graves One day we’ll sing our freedom One day we’ll laugh in our joy […]
By Jahanzeb Hussain The answer to this question is not given from a tactical or a military point of view but from a moral stand point. Is the Obama administration humane in its policies in the War on Terror or what we are seeing today under the new president a continuation of the past? Obama […]
By Jahanzeb Hussain Renowned British journalist Robert Fisk stopped over in Vancouver on Saturday, February 2nd during his Canada-wide during. Collateral Damage Magazine was present at the St. Andrew’s-Wesley church to listen and report back Fisk’s talk. Mali The veteran journalist started off by remarking that French intervention in Mali could potentially be a quagmire […]
By Jahanzeb Hussain Tahir-ul-Qadri has certainly taken a lot of Pakistanis as well as the Pakistan watchers abroad by surprise. Who is he ? He made himself known before the general public with his program Minhaj-ul-Quran on Pakistan state television in the 80’s. His erudition and the qualities of an orator were noticed even then. He more or […]
By Jahanzeb Hussain Going through the special supplements of Pakistani newspapers on the occasion of his 136th birth anniversary on 25 December, one had the impression of reading about a superhuman who, despite all odds and all opposition, succeeded singlehandedly in winning a homeland for Indian Muslims facing extinction at the hands of cruel Hindus. […]
By Hidayat Hussain The attack on Malala Yousafzai has given rise to a wave of anger and indignation in Pakistan. The spontaneity and the intensity of the reaction have surprised many inside Pakistan, not to say those outside Pakistan. Worse things have occurred previously in Pakistan which did not give rise to such indignation all […]
By Jahanzeb Hussain Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and is obligatory upon all those Muslims who are physically fit and financially endowed to make a journey to Mecca at least once in their lifetime. While I have never been able to see Hajj to be anything beyond a mere ritual, I […]
Collateral Damage Magazine had the chance to talk to Marc Goutalier about the current situation in the Middle East. The interview was conducted by Hidayat Hussain How do you see the reaction of the Iranian society to the on-going stand-off between Western countries and Iran on the nuclear question? The Iranians are very careful about […]
What was the position of Pakistan when the US decided to invade Afghanistan in 2001? The indication was very clear when 9/11 happened that the US government was ready take action against the Taliban. The first reaction of Pakistan was that it told the United States that they will support the Americans, but Pakistan also […]
By Jahanzeb Hussain A Fourteen year old mentally retarded Christian girl jailed after being accused of desecrating the Koran. An insane person, accused of the same crime, snatched from police custody, lynched by a delirious crowd, and his body burnt. A Hindu worker accused of insulting Islam beaten to death by his colleagues in a […]
By Jahanzeb Hussain Karachi-gate refers to the terrorist attack in Karachi on May 8, 2002 in which 11 French engineers were killed and a dozen other of them were wounded. The engineers belonged to the Direction des Constructions Navales (DCN), a French company that builds naval armaments. They were part of the team that was […]
By Jahanzeb Hussain The invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 is perhaps the only American military venture whose cause and purpose is the most misunderstood. Why did the US attack Afghanistan? Is it because of Central Asian energy resources that the US wants to control? Did the US want to install itself right in the heart […]
By Adam Hudson With high unemployment, massive poverty, inequality, and a weak economic recovery, the economy is obviously the number-one issue in public consciousness. President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney continue to trade barbs on the presidential campaign trail. Romney accuses Obama of being “anti-business”, while Obama criticizes Romney’s record with Bain Capital, Romney’s private […]
By Jahanzeb Hussain and Jannat Majeed The sheer magnitude of violence in Baluchistan is unknown to most people who do not live in Baluchistan. Many in Pakistan turn a blind eye toward the situation in Baluchistan, which is consistent with Pakistani public attitudes regarding deep-seated ethnic and linguistic grievances that characterise the existence of the […]
By Jahanzeb Hussain On May 20th and 21st, Chicago hosted the North Atlantic Treaty Organization for its summit on the future of Afghanistan. Absent from the official proceedings of course were the popular, dissenting Afghan and American voices. As usual, such voices were to be found in the city streets, as thousands of people marched […]
By Roqayah Chamseddine Amnesty International, the most renowned non-governmental organisation focused on human rights, has had what seems to be its latest advertisement campaign, on behalf of Afghan women, circulated, widely, and immense and much deserved controversy has accompanied it. “NATO: Keep The Progress Going!” reads the outdoor poster, announcing Amnesty International’s ‘shadow summit for Afghan women‘; this blatantly […]
By Saba Maher To all Dispatchers Before I offer you my reaction to the midnight raid and slaughter of my brothers and sisters in Afghanistan by a reported all too drunk and “overstressed” soldier, I ask you What is good enough for a massacred people? THEY SAY, let us use pilgrimages to Hajj as a […]
By Hamna Mughal An empire funding oppressive regimes Taking out humanity making us machines Supplying us drugs , stamping us as fiends When they are the ones that intervened The truths too contagious to ever be screened That’s why we are told lies and the truths kept in between Mixing fluoride in water so there […]
By Hamna Mughal Then why are you breaking and entering in my house? Why is my life being taken, where did you take my spouse? Why are we brutally controlled by dictators? Why does my peaceful religion have so many haters? Why is my self-defense mistaken as a violent absurd action? Why is that when […]
By Jahanzeb Hussain La Semaine Arabe – The Arab Week – was held from March 29th to April 12th at the prestigious Parisian institute L’Ecole Normale Supérieure. The event’s purpose was to reflect on the Arab Spring one year on, to analyze the distance that the Arab countries have covered since the uprisings and what are the […]
By Jahanzeb Hussain La Semaine Arabe – The Arab Week – was held from March 29th to April 12th at the prestigious Parisian institute L’Ecole Normale Supérieure. The event’s purpose was to reflect on the Arab Spring one year on, to analyze the distance that the Arab countries have covered since the uprisings and what […]
Collateral Damage Magazine had the honour of interviewing Asghar Ali Engineer regarding the uses and abuses of Islam. Mr. Engineer is a noted Muslim scholar from India, where he heads the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism. He has more than 40 books to his credit, some of which include: The Origin and Development of […]
Collateral Damage Magazine had the honor of interviewing Zahid Hussain about the endgame in Afghanistan. The interview was conducted by Jahanzeb Hussain, the editor of the magazine. Collateral Damage: When did the peace talks between the US and the Taliban begin? Zahid Hussain: The first contact was made sometime in 2011. The meeting was facilitated […]
By Jahanzeb Hussain On the 10th anniversary of the magazine Alternatives Internationales, le Centre d’Études de Relations Internationales (CERI) and l’École des Affaires Internationales- Sciences Po, along with the magazine, held a conference in Paris which was titled “What perspectives for democracy after the Arab Spring?” The conference was hosted byle Centre de recherches politiques de Sciences […]
Collateral Damage Magazine had the honor of interviewing Anouar Benmalek while he was at Alliance Française Karachi in Pakistan. The interview was conducted by Hidayat Hussain. Collateral Damage: Why has the question of relations between civilizations been raised in the French electoral campaign? Why did the UMP extend the anti-immigrant discourse to the relations between civilization […]
By Jahanzeb Hussain In the mainstream media, political commentary about the Iranian nuclear issue is portrayed as a conflict between a selfless West trying its best to persuade a hostile and recalcitrant Iran to give up on its nuclear weapons program for the good of the region and the world. The media also looks at […]
By Hidayat Hussain The developments in Pakistan are coming to a head under the combined effects of the war in Afghanistan and the end-game strategies of United States, as well as the Pakistani military elite’s frantic efforts to save its face and its power in a country where the general public has been fed over […]
Collateral Damage Magazine had the privilege to talk to Dr. Tanvir Ahmed Tahir, the executive director of All Pakistan Newspaper Society and the author of the seminal book Political Dynamics of Sindh, about the ideological, political and economic roots of the creation of Pakistan. Dr. Tahir traces the birth of the Two-Nation Theory, which was […]
By Adam Hudson It has been three months since the Occupy Wall Street movement began on September 17, 2011. For the first few days, the movement was largely ignored by the mainstream media. Now it has gotten to the point where it cannot be ignored. The movement has spread to over one thousand cities across the United States […]
By Jahanzeb Hussain Adala – a Palestinian-French educational organization – along with UNICEF, held a conference on 17th October concerning the crisis in Gaza at the famous 27 Saint-Guillaume. This was the second high profile event last month at Sciences Po Paris regarding Israel and Palestine, the first being a dialogue between Itamar Rabinovich, the […]
By Abdiwali Ali In the company of the Earth, I stand on my feet Rooted in the deep dark Africa Sun rises beaming, powerful All corners, shining Beautifully twisted in the metaphors of the day In the company of the Sun, I glow like torch Lighted dark, illuminating ecstasy, Incubating souls, procreating future Brightening […]
By Yumna Sheikh Rose memorial in Oslo took place on 25th of July where 200,000 people gathered in the city center. It was labeled as people’s march because it was arranged by ordinary citizens through Facebook, right after terror attacks in the capital which happened days prior. Labour Party’s building and several other buildings in […]
By Jahanzeb Hussain The latest catastrophe in the Horn of Africa should be placed in its proper context so that one may come to an understanding as to why the region has been regularly plagued by drought and famine. On the surface the disaster in Somalia appears to be a cruel work of nature, but […]
By Jahanzeb Hussain At the time of writing this article, Gaddafi is still clinging on to his power. However, the dictator’s fate is sealed. It’s just a matter of time before the rebels take over Tripoli and put an end to his four decade rule. What’s important now is to analyze what Libya would look […]
By Jahanzeb Hussain Karachi is a battle arena for different groups of economic interests; the fight is for the control of the city and its economic resources. This city provides livelihood to people coming from all over Pakistan and even from other countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Burma. Being practically the only outlet […]
By Brenda Judge Social institutions necessarily change our perception and understanding of the world and events. When institutions hold moral, as well as, hierarchical power, there is a danger in what lie in the results. How far has humanity come when her social institutions fail to reflect, and actively refute morals and ideals that are […]
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