The Karol Ghati Jungle – Lahore-Sialkot Motorway Gang Rape In March 2020 – i.e. six months before the gang rape of the mother of three in Karol Ghati –  Pakistan’s National Highway Authority and Frontier Works Organization proudly opened the…

The recent heinous attacks in France and Austria are just the latest additions to the countless Islamist terrorist attacks world-wide. Most take place in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia: the victims mainly Muslims – or those presumed to…

In the wake of terrorist attacks in France over the last two weeks, my twitter feed has been overflowing with shared links to articles by opinion writers and analysts from large swathes of the Western media, particularly English-language publications. They…

In the aftermath of the beheading of the French history teacher Samuel Paty, Charlie Hebdo cartoons, including one of prophet Muhammed, have been projected onto the Montpelier government building in France.This is a movedesigned to normalize dissent and defend French…

Suppose you were the mother of an 11 year-old little boy. For some time now, he has been interested in Islam. He sees you, starts to be aware of his roots on both the Moroccan and Afghan sides beyond kababs…

I look back at the past few months. As COVID-19 with its little crown staged its coup d’état and took over our lives, there was talk of a resurgence of inwardness, of spirituality, of solace through holy scriptures.  Social media…

Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving, It doesn’t matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair. Come, even though you have broken your vows a thousand times, Come, and come yet again. – Mevlâna Jalâluddîn Rumi,…

Horrific details of human rights violations against Uyghur Muslim have been surfacing within a world already struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic. There are horrifying reports from Xinjiang hospitals of late-stage pregnancies aborted and new-born babies killed in order to reduce…

Having documented hundreds of narratives on divisions, separations, migrations, growth and lifestyles in Pakistan with the global oral history project The 1947 Partition Archive, over the course of several years, I’m now embarking on a series of essays on colonial…

We’ve finished reading together. ‘Can you please brush your teeth and get into your pyjamas? When you’re done I will come and tuck you in,’ I tell her. So begins the night time routine at my family home, in a…

On July 18, Jordanians started circulating a video clip on social media of anguished female screams with a still photo of a woman lying on a street at night. The video soon became very widely shared. Many people claimed that…