Pakistaniaat: A Journal of Pakistan Studies
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On Improving Social Sciences Education in Pakistan
Get PDFHow do we arrest the decline of the social sciences in Pakistan? Is it a matter of money or one of sending more students to the West who might then return to teaching at the local universities? In this article I argue that the solution lies elsewhere. Borrowing frames, concepts, and analytical techniques based on the concept of universalism runs a serious risk of imposing alien views on local problems. Moreover, attempts to become ‘scientific’ require side stepping value judgments of good and bad. The current Western domination of the intellectual scene favours a single route for social science development, and kills all diversity. However, whilst we may borrow as much as we choose, we need to build our own frames that would underpin the social sciences, and this is possible only by reconnecting with our own past
(Re)Reading Fawzia Afzal-Khan's Lahore with Love: Class and the Ethics of Memoir
Get PDFThis essay proposes a reading of Fawzia-Afzal-Khan's memoir, Lahore with Love, via the lens of theories of ethics in autobiography studies. It poses questions regarding the ethics of representing others in one's relational life-story, others who are both proximate and non-proximate, members of ones family or circle of friends as well as members of other classes. It attempts to complicate easy conclusions or judgements in the debate following the cancellation of the book contract by the publisher and argues for a more nuanced, theoretical approach and reading of the memoir as a text in a contemporary global context
More than Victims: Versions of Feminine Power in Bapsi Sidhwa’s Cracking India
Get PDFOn a surface level, the women in Bapsi Sidhwa’s Cracking India appear to be entirely victimized: the female inhabitants of Ranna’s village are brutally beaten and raped, Ayah is forced into a life of prostitution, and Lenny and her mother are unable to intervene. Accordingly, critics have focused on the oppression of women in Cracking India and other partition literature; Ananya Kabir points out how the violence of the partition "is primarily inscribed on the body of women...[who] bear the additional burden of gender." While I acknowledge that the female characters in Sidhwa’s text are outwardly disempowered -- religious, economic, and social life could all be classified as male domains, with men serving as both the principal authorities and agents of change--I assert that these women are also, in many situations and senses, able to possess and exert power over their circumstances. In this paper I explore how the unique feminine connections to the communal, the traditional, and the familial provide women with an exclusive power through which they are able to subvert patriarchal authority. Rather than simply perceiving Sidhwa’s women as disempowered and victimized, I examine how the female characters in Cracking India demonstrate not only survivorship, but also agency, using their unique connections and abilities to bring healing.Â
Khaksar Movement Weekly “Al-Islah’s†Role Toward Freedom
No full textIn-depth study and analysis of the Khaksar Tehrik’s (Khaksar Movement) weekly paper Al-Islah (started in 1934) is imperative from the perspective of British India’s independence — the emergence of Pakistan and India in 1947. It is not conceivable to record a balanced and uncontaminated account of the freedom movement of the Indian sub-continent without examining the role of Al-Islah in the 1930s and 1940s.  This paper, Khaksar Movement Weekly “Al-Islah’s†Role Toward Freedom, discusses the paramount and pre-eminent role that the said weekly (newspaper) played in spreading the Khaksar Movement’s ideology, the goal of which was to inculcate character and discipline amongst the masses and ultimately lead to freedom of India from the British. Al-Islah indeed served to spread the Movement, which rose to become a Private Army (as referred to by Lord Linlithgow, Viceroy of India) of 5 million, and generated following in other countries. In addition, the Al-Islah inspired others who copied the Khaksars and formed similar organizations. The weekly also helped to achieve Allama Mashriqi’s (founder of the Khaksar Tehrik) mission of instilling unity, strict discipline, equality, and self-less community service (regardless of religion) amongst millions of Khaksars.  The spread of the Khaksar Movement in British India and other countries and the emergence of analogous organizations provide clear evidence that Al-Islah’s motivational, instigating, and morale-raising contents brought about an awakening amongst the people of pre-partition India. The Government of British India was alarmed and banned the Al-Islah. Yet they could neither suppress the Khaksar Movement nor the spirit of freedom which Al-Islah had infused throughout the nation.  This piece argues that the British would not even have spoken to Indian leaders or thought of transferring power, and the emergence of Pakistan and India could not have been envisioned, unless the rulers understood the grave threat posed to their rule by this awakening brought on by Al-Islah and the Khaksar Movement
Deliberative Oratory in the Darkest Hour: Style Analysis of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s Speech at the Security Council
Get PDFIn 1971 Pakistan suffered a near death experience: genocide, civil war, migration and territorial configuration. Central to understanding this experience is the statement of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto at the Security Council that not only embodied the Pakistani reaction and explained the national viewpoint; it also brought forth the major complexities and participants. The focus of this paper is a style analysis of the statement delivered by Bhutto on December 15, 1971. Using two discourses: the scholarly and the theatrical to communicate purpose, he flouted restrictions of diplomatic discourse and employed emotional nuance to reach his audience. Though ironic, deeply personal and hyperbolic the statement is significant example of deliberative oratory. The intensely personal style is central to its enduring power
