This article is an extended version of a short address that I made at the recent launch of the Sailan Muslim website (www.sailanmuslim.com ), in which my focus was on the politics of identity. As this article has the same focus I will not be going into the rationale and objectives of the new Muslim website except to the extent …

Ehud Olmert’s nightmare is at hand. Not only does the former Israeli prime minister now really have to fight those corruption charges. He also faces the realization of his fears that the Palestinians might give up on a two-state solution in favor of a struggle for equal rights that would mean, as he put it, the “end of the Jewish …

Sir Allama Muhammed Iqbal, one of the greatest poets and thinkers of the last century, once said that “ there would be no peace in the world if there was no peace in Afghanistan”- a  deeply entrenched tribal society known for sacrificing precious lives to preserve their rights and dignity  .  Those in and around Afghanistan understand the extremely complex …

Russia announced on April 16 that it had ended the war in Chechnya. The announcement was largely symbolic because for a long time, there had been no clashes in Grozny. Wars can be won, but conflict resolution requires compromise and goodwill. In Chechnya this did not happen. Might can be right, but not always. In a democracy where human rights …

I’ve often said Islamophobia is the last refuge of the racist and it can manifest itself in many forms. Sometimes it is right in your face, erupting into physical violence or verbal abuse while at other times the attack can be almost subliminal, thinly veiled, cloaked in ambiguity. The net result is the same, in as much as the victim …

So the Pope won’t be visiting Gaza on his trip to the Holy Land next month. The Holy Father’s spokesman has told the Israeli press that he’ll refrain from visiting Gaza regardless of attempts to persuade him otherwise. ‘Refrain’ is a telling choice of words: “the Pope will refrain from visiting Gaza….” It smacks of abstinence, as in abstaining from …