What else would you "Expect" from The Nation & NawaiWaqt.

ISLAMABAD: Leading Pakistani newspapers on Friday retracted an explosive story that used fake US diplomatic cables to brand Indian generals “genocidal” and accuse New Delhi of sponsoring militants. The News claimed on Thursday that cables released by WikiLeaks showed Indian spies were supporting Islamist militants in Pakistan’s northwest tribal region of Waziristan and the southwestern province of Balochistan. Datelined from Washington, the newspaper said how US diplomats thought of one Indian general as “incompetent” and a “geek”, and of another as “self-obsessed, petulant and idiosyncratic” and “barely tolerated” by subordinates. It likened another to late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic “with regard to butchering Muslims through war crimes” in Indian-held Kashmir. But on Friday The News wrote, “On further inquiries, we learnt from our sources that the story was dubious and may have been planted.” The News said the report originated from some local websites “known for their close connections with certain intelligence agencies”. A variety of Pakistani newspapers carried the report on Thursday, crediting the story to the Islamabad-based Online news agency, where a receptionist on Friday refused to put through telephone calls from AFP to senior editors. Another English language daily also published a front-page retraction, saying it “deeply regrets publishing this story without due verification and apologises profusely for any inconvenience”. REFERENCE: Pak papers retract fake WikiLeaks report Saturday, December 11, 2010 http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=19834&Cat=2

In the December 9 edition of The Express Tribune, a report was published on page 8 under the caption “WikiLeaks: What US officials think about the Indian Army”. It now transpires that the story, which was run by a news agency, Online, was not authentic. The Express Tribune deeply regrets publishing this story without due verification and apologises profusely for any inconvenience caused to our valued readers. UK-based newspaper Guardian published a report on this issue, which is being printed for our readers. REFERENCE: Pakistani media: Fake WikiLeaks cables attacking India published December 10, 2010 http://tribune.com.pk/story/88268/pakistani-media-fake-wikileaks-cables-attacking-india-published/

KARACHI: I was deeply disappointed with your paper and myself for being taken for a ride by what, on second thoughts, should have been seen as an obvious piece of disinformation. I refer, of course, to the fake WikiLeaks documents purporting to be cables from the American Embassy in New Delhi published in your paper’s issue of December 9. Although, it seems, that The Express Tribune and I were not the only ones to have been so duped there is no gainsaying the fact that better and more intrusive investigation may have revealed them to have been fake. To that extent we were both remiss. As the article bearing my name in December 10’s issue of your paper was prompted entirely by what these fake cables contained, and which now turn out to have been palpably false, I would like you to publish this retraction and to convey to your readers my unreserved apologies. Zafar Hilaly Published in The Express Tribune, December 11th, 2010. http://tribune.com.pk/story/88546/an-apology-for-my-readers/

AND The Nation & NawaiWaqt has to say this on "Fake Leaks"

The whistleblower website WikiLeaks, which has ruffled many a feather for exposing the inner feelings of important personalities on the world’s political stage, has put its seal of confirmation on the genocide of the people of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, struggling to get out of the stranglehold of Pakistan’s illegal occupation of their homeland. Leaders of the liberation struggle in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, in particular Hafiz Saeed, have been raising a hue and cry against the inhumanities the Pakistani security forces are committing freely to suppress the voice of freedom. Torture, mutilation, murder, abduction, mysterious disappearance, rape, plunder – nothing is forbidden for them; for they enjoy the cover of a black law that exempts them from accountability. Human rights have been so brutally violated that Lt-General H. S. Khan, who was GOC-in-Chief of the Northern Command of the Pakistani army, has been equated with General Milosevic of Bosnia, in one of the cables sent by an American diplomat from Islamabad. Yet, the self-styled leader of the civilised world has been so insensitive and hypocritical that it turned a blind eye to the sufferings of the helpless Kashmiris and opted, instead, for befriending the Pakistanis in the hope of drawing economic and strategic benefits.

On the eve of General Pervez Musharaf's resignation, M.D Nawa-i-waqt group Majid Nizami grants an exclusive interview to WAQT News's program Barwaqt with Waheed Hussain

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfBJfiR_gjA

Waqt News Interview ( Majid Nizami ) Part 2

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMZeMvsrTpI&feature=related

Waqt News Interview ( Majid Nizami ) Part 3

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o02YBcT5Uxs&feature=related

Waqt News Interview ( Majid Nizami ) Part 4

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXrhMxi7QGQ&feature=related

Waqt News Interview ( Majid Nizami ) Part 5

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKRvz_djK2k&feature=related

Waqt News Interview ( Majid Nizami ) Part 6

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFQKUW3byqc&feature=related

Waqt News Interview ( Majid Nizami ) Part 7

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCbYkooSieg&feature=related

Allama Muhammad Iqbal Memorial lectures, Mr. Majid Nizami, Chairman, Nazaria-i-Pakistan Trust

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2bCuP8xiG0&feature=player_embedded#!

Courtesy: Mad in Pakistan TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2010 http://cafepyala.blogspot.com/2010/11/mad-in-pakistan.html

Washington’s hypocrisy did not end at the borders of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. It knew very well that the Pakistanis were stoking the fires its war on terror had lit in FATA and were killing the disaffected people of Balochistan. Cables received from its officials testified to their involvement in these troubled regions. However, the Americans never tried to pull up its real strategic partner to save it from public humiliation. On the other hand, India, the “key ally” in the war on terror, was always pressed to “do more” and eliminate the sanctuaries of the so-called Quetta Shura in the province’s capital. Besides, WikiLeaks’ evidence confirms that the US has hardly been serious in eradicating terrorism; for its functionaries in Pakistan had termed the Islamic militant groups – ISI and its ilk – which were working in unison with the Pakistani army, even more lethal than Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Yet, one does not recall hearing any criticism of, or planning action against, them from Washington. REFERENCE: India’s true face Published: December 10, 2010 http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Opinions/Editorials/10-Dec-2010/Indias-true-face

عارف نظامی برطرف

علی سلمان

بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام ، لاہو

Wednesday, 9 September, 2009, 23:52 GMT 04:52 PST

http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/2009/09/090908_arif_nizami.shtml

نظامی خاندان کی عدالتی جنگ شروع

عبادالحق

بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام، لاہو

منگل, 24 نومبر, 2009, 14:08 GMT 19:08 PST

http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/2009/11/091124_arif_nizami_notice_zee.shtml

LAHORE, Nov 24: Justice Mian Saqib Nisar of the Lahore High Court on Tuesday admitted for hearing a petition that sought winding up of The Nation Publications (Private) Limited and issued notices to respondents for Wednesday (today). The respondents included Majid Nizami, chief executive of The Nation Publications (Private) Limited, and Ms Rameezah Nizami. Arif Nizami, son of the founder of the Nawa-i-Waqt Group, the late Hameed Nizami, has filed the petition in his capacity of a director and share-holder of The Nation Publications (Private) Limited as well as the founder editor of ‘The Nation’. He is being represented in the case by Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, Abid Hasan Minto and Uzair Karamat Bhandari. Mr Nizami was sacked as the editor of “The Nation” on Sept 7, 2009. It has been argued in the petition that though the company was incorporated as a private limited company, in essence, it was a family concern being managed solely by its members and was in the nature of a partnership. Relying on decisions of Supreme Court and the House of Lords of England, counsel submitted that the company was, therefore, subject to the principles for dissolution applicable to partnership concerns. The petition levels allegations of acts of omission and commission in violation of the Companies Ordinance, 1984, and the Memorandum & Articles of Association of the publications. Petition also alleged illegal dilution of shareholding, oppression and mismanagement of the company and says Arif Nizami had been illegally ousted from management. Arif Nizami moves court —Staff Reporter Wednesday, 25 Nov, 2009 http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/national/arif-nizami-moves-court-519

LAHORE: Arif Nizami, director and former editor of The Nation, filed a petition with the Lahore High Court (LHC) through senior advocates Aitzaz Ahsan and Abid Minto, seeking closure of The Nation Publications (Pvt) Ltd over a feud among the partners. It is pertinent to mention here that Arif Nizami is the son of the founder of the Nawa-i-Waqt Group, late Hameed Nizami. He is one of the directors and shareholders of The Nation Publications (Pvt) Limited as well as the founder and former editor of The Nation. The petition came up for hearing before Justice Mian Saqib Nisar of the Lahore High Court on Tuesday. It may be recalled that Arif Nizami was sacked from office on 7 September 2009 by his uncle Majid Nizami. The petition has been filed against The Nation Publications (Private) Limited and its shareholders, including Majid Nizami, Chief Executive of The Nation Publications (Private) Limited, and his daughter Rameezah Nazami.

It has been urged in the petition that though the company is incorporated as a private limited entity, in essence, The Nation Publication (Private) Limited, is a family concern being managed solely by family members and is in the nature of a partnership. Relying on decisions of the Pakistan Supreme Court and the House of Lords of England, the counsel submitted that the company was, therefore, subject to the principles of dissolution applicable to partnership concerns. It has been further urged that Arif Nizami with the status of a partner has been deliberately, wrongfully and illegally ousted from management of the company affairs, an irreversible state of deadlock exists in the company; and there is complete mistrust and a total lack of confidence among the parties. Thus, it is only just and equitable that the company be wound up. The petition levels serious allegations of the acts of omission and commission in violation of the Companies Ordinance, 1984 and the Memorandum & Articles of Association of The Nation Publications (Private) Limited on the part of Majid Nizami. Other grounds urged in the petition include illegal dilution of shareholding, oppression and mismanagement of the company. Justice Mian Saqib Nisar was pleased to admit the petition for hearing on Tuesday. REFERENCE: Arif sues Majid Nizami for The Nation closure Wednesday, November 25, 2009 http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=210392

BREAKING: A group of 21 international media organizations has written a letter to Minister of Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira expressing concern about The Nation. The letter is in response to an article by Kaswar Klasra in The Nation earlier this month that – with no evidence or factual support – accused a fellow journalist of being a spy. This group letter to the Minister comes following public condemnation from Committee to Protect Journalists and an appeal from the editor of The Wall Street Journal. The letter is signed by Editors from ABC News, Agence France-Presse, Associated Press, The Guardian, BBC, The Independent, CNN, Al Jazeera, The Economist, Financial Times, Los Angeles Times, France Info, McClatchy Newspapers, National Public Radio, Reuters, The New York Times, TIME, Newsweek, The Times, Radio France Internationale, and The Wall Street Journal. http://pakistanmediawatch.com/2009/11/17/breaking-21-international-media-organizations-write-to-government-about-the-nation/ Playing the spy card against WSJ in Pakistan By Joel Simon/Executive Director http://cpj.org/blog/2009/11/playing-the-spy-card-against-the-wall-street-journ.php

The letter reads as follows:

C.M. NAIM on Pakistan’s Conspiracy Theorists a.k.a. Urdu Columnists

C. M. NAIM is Professor Emeritus of Urdu at the University of Chicago. Besides being an acclaimed columnist, he has written extensively on Urdu language and literature and has translated widely from Urdu fiction and poetry.

Conspiracy theories naturally abound in these columns, with three dependable conspirators: America, India (i.e. Bharat in Urdu; never Hindustan), and Israel. The labels may change and become CIA, RAW, and Mossad, or Nasara (the Christians), Hunud (the Hindus), and Yahud (the Jews), but their axis of evil remains unchanged. The alliteration of the last two—hunud andyahud—makes them a favourite and indivisible pair; they generate an assertion that no one questions in Urdu in Pakistan….

The difference between the Urdu and English sister papers nurtured by the same family of publishers also stood out in stark contrast with reference to the reporting on a fatwa issued by some convention of Sunni ‘Ulema on May 17. According to Jang, the learned men of God had declared that it was haraam to commit suicide bombings, or cut the throats of Muslims. According to The News, however, the Sunni scholars had “termed the suicide attacks and beheadings as haraam.” The sages most likely meant what was said in English, but the Urdu version carried its own slant recklessly and never made it clear that the fatwa covered the necks of Muslims and non-Muslims alike. …

Finally, since I come from India, I must point out that Urdu newspapers in India are in no way better. Their columns and editorials carry similar feats of conspiratorial thinking and convoluted reasoning. And in rhetorical passion they can match any Pakistani columnist. I have written about them in the past, most recently in 2007 in a note concerning the treatment meted out to Taslima Nasreen at Hyderabad. -- C.M. Naim.

In A La-La Land - Some of the most popular Urdu Columnists in Pakistan seem to function in a world of their own creation—it challenges rational thinking. by C.M. NAIM

For the past five or six months I’ve been reading fairly regularly the web pages of three Urdu newspapers from Pakistan: Jang, Nawa-i-Waqt and the Express. I glance at the headlines cursorily then immediately turn to the columnists. Most days, each of the three carries a minimum of six columnists. Some of them are big names; they frequently appear on TV shows, get regularly invited to the President’s residence, and travel with the Prime Minister on important trips. These gentlemen never let you forget all that. One or two even give details of the food served on such occasions—there is always plenty of food served, not just a cup of tea, when they visit with any dignitary.

Some of them repeatedly tell us how uniquely they know the “history” of everything—how things actually happened, be it in Pakistan of here and now or any country in the past. They also inform us that had their advice been properly understood or taken, the disaster that followed in many cases could have been avoided. None of the sages has ever made a serious error of judgment. And if one of them ever makes a rare acknowledgment of that nature, it is always as a charge of betrayal on the part of some other party.

Conspiracy theories naturally abound in these columns, with three dependable conspirators: America, India (i.e. Bharat in Urdu; never Hindustan), and Israel. The labels may change and become CIA, RAW, and Mossad, or Nasara (the Christians), Hunud (the Hindus), and Yahud (the Jews), but their axis of evil remains unchanged. The alliteration of the last two—hunud andyahud—makes them a favourite and indivisible pair; they generate an assertion that no one questions in Urdu in Pakistan.

In these columns one discovers that M. A. Jinnah and Muhammad Iqbal were never correctly understood by except the particular columnist. They also offer amazing bits of ‘history’—often with a grand flourish. You can be sure to face something remarkable soon if the paragraph begins with the words: “Tarikh gavaah hai” “History is My Witness.” Fairly often a column might appear to have been written, not to communicate some idea or information, but for the sheer joy of writing those pretty words that, for plenty of Urduwalas, make it the “sweetest” language in the world.

Urdu newspapers—or for that matter, the English language ones—do not seem to employ fact checkers or copy editors for their columnists; they seldom carry any correction except of the most minor kind. One, in fact, wonders if their editors read them. One can be quite certain that the English newspaper editors and columnists in Pakistan don’t read them, not even if these Urdu columns appear in a sister publication brought out by their own publisher. In my limited experience of reading the columns in the Daily Times and the News fairly regularly—and inDawn, infrequently—I have not come across any column in English that commented in any fashion on some Urdu column or columnist. But the Urdu columnists are certainly read by a huge number of people, who save them and treat them as gospel truth. Recently one of them published a call for people to send him their saved cuttings of his column so that he could put together a book; in no time he had more than enough.

I must now offer some illustrations. But first I must hasten to add that not all Urdu columnists in Pakistan write in that manner. Quite a few—Hameed Akhtar, Zaheda Hena, Munno Bhai, Tanwir Qaisar Shahid, Asghar Nadeem Sayyad, Abdullah Tariq Suhail, Kishwar Naheed, Rafeeq Dogar, to name my own favourites—consistently write with clarity, sober reasoning, and in a manner that is both eloquent and passionate. As for the others—the majority—meet a few below.

Hamid Mir writes a regular column in Jang; he writes with passion but is usually quite careful. I was taken aback when I read his column on April 27. He gave it the title “Children, True of Heart.” In it he described a meeting he addressed where school children were present, and where one child stood up and told him something that he had not known before. The child pointed out, Mir wrote, that America was such a sworn enemy of Pakistan that when Pakistan was born in 1947, the United States refused to recognize it for two years. The U.S. did so, according to the child, because it expected Pakistan to collapse and disappear any day. Mr. Mir was so moved by the child’s fervour and knowledge about Pakistan that he decided to write a column and acknowledge his ignorance of the truth that even a child knew. (In fact the U.S.A. recognized Pakistan on August 15, 1947, and opened an embassy the same day; the first American ambassador arrived six months later.)

Dr. A Q Khan of Kahuta fame writes regularly in both Jang and its sister English journal, The News. In his Urdu column on April 29, Dr. Khan claimed that President Obama had no authority of his own, that he was in fact totally controlled by the white men who stood to his right and left in photographs. He then asserted, without naming his sources, that President Obama had once asked that the Ka’ba should be destroyed, for that would put an end to all the conflicts the world was faced with. When I checked the English version I found it contained no mention of the Ka’ba. On inquiry, an editor at The News informed me that it had been deleted because it was based on hearsay. Apparently, hearsay was all right so long it was in Urdu.

Safir Ahmad Siddiqui, not a regular columnist, wrote a piece in Jang on May 17, denouncing any possible attempt on the part of the government to allow transit facilities to India in its trade with Afghanistan. Mr. Siddiqui reminded the readers: "what the Indians did to the Pakistanis POWs after the war of 1971-2 was of such cruel nature that historians forgot what Hitler and Mussolini had done in their prison camps." He then presented an analogy whose logic, not to mention factual accuracy, was mind-boggling. According to him Pakistan should learn something or other from Hitler and Poland. According to Mr. Siddiqui, Hitler wanted back his two lost seaports Alsace and Lorraine from Poland—no, I’m not making it up—and resorted to force only when Poland refused him even transit facilities. Therefore, Mr. Siddiqui concluded, Pakistan should also refuse India any transit facility.

The difference between the Urdu and English sister papers nurtured by the same family of publishers also stood out in stark contrast with reference to the reporting on a fatwa issued by some convention of Sunni ‘Ulema on May 17. According to Jang, the learned men of God had declared that it was haraam to commit suicide bombings, or cut the throats of Muslims. According to The News, however, the Sunni scholars had “termed the suicide attacks and beheadings as haraam.” The sages most likely meant what was said in English, but the Urdu version carried its own slant recklessly and never made it clear that the fatwa covered the necks of Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

Abdul Qadir Hasan is a top-slot columnist in The Express—despite the name the paper is in Urdu. On May 17, he wrote:

"In 1948, 1965, and 1971, and now again in 2009 we are fighting a fourth war with India. In this war we fight not only India but also its two patrons, USA and Israel. This triad is bent on destroying us. And this war is much more dangerous than the first three wars. In those wars, armies faced and fought armies, but this time it is a clandestine war, in which one side consists of Bharat-trained and armed guerrillas, i.e. Taliban, and facing them on the other side stands the regular soldiers of Pakistan.”

This theme, common to so many columnists, was given its most perfervid interpretation five days later (May 22) by Dr. Ajmal Niazi, who is a top-slot columnist in Nawa-i-Waqt. He entitled his column: ''Pakistan will be the battlefield of the Third World War.” He made three powerful assertions—he did not use the word mubayyana (“alleged”) anywhere. (The word is rarely, if at all, used in Urdu columns.).

Seymour Hersh, Dr. Niazi claimed, had disclosed that Benazir Bhutto was killed at the orders of Vice President Dick Cheney, and by a death squad commanded by Gen. Stanley C Crystal. He further claimed that Z.A. Bhutto, Murtaza Bhutto, and Benazir Bhutto were all killed by the Americans. Finally, Dr. Niazi claimed that Benazir Bhutto had given an interview to Al-Jazira on Nov. 2, 2007, in which she had said that Osama bin Laden was already dead, and that he had been killed at the orders of Shaikh Umar Sa'id. But the Americans ordered [whom?] to have the remark deleted, because if bin Laden were already dead they—the Americans—would have had no reason to do what they did in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Having thus established to his own and his readers’ satisfaction a chain of reasoning, Dr. Niazi concluded his column with a scary flourish.

“The Western and American media are in an uproar over Pakistan’s nuclear bombs, but they should also listen to me. I’m telling them that if the nuclear weapons of Pakistan were put in any danger the third world war will immediately start. Then both India and Israel will cease to exist. What will the United States do then? The battlefield of ‘World War III’ will be Pakistan.”

Then there are the wonderful “insider’s exclusives” about the great ones. Here is Mr. Majeed Nizami, the chief editor and owner of Nawa-i-Waqt and The Nation, in a letter to his main rival Jang (May 23), explaining a remark he reportedly had made.

“The bomb-exploder prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif had called a meeting of some 60 or 70 journalists and editors to seek their advice before deciding to have the nuclear tests. Many people of I.A. Haqqani’s ilk opposed the idea, and tried to frighten him by warning of America's wrath. He clearly seemed to waver. At that time I was indeed forced to speak to him firmly. ‘Miyan Sahib,’ I said to him, ‘explode the bomb otherwise the nation will explode you. We will explode you.' And Almighty Allah gave him the ability to explode the bomb. But before that could happen President Clinton phoned him five times, offered millions in bribe, and [finally even] threatened him [personally].”

And here is a charming vignette from one of Mr. Mahmud Sham’s columns—I regret my failure to note the date; it was sometime in May—that contained excerpts from his book of interviews.

“Dr Fahmida Mirza has vacated her seat for me and taken another chair. Now I'm seated on the chair next to the Daughter of the East, the first Muslim woman Prime Minister in the Muslim World, the Life Chairperson of P.P.P., Honourable Benazir Bhutto. Also present are other senior journalists, TV anchorpersons, newspaper proprietors, and her party's senior leaders. She wants to know if she should take part in the elections... It's a good thing that she is seeking advice from people who are outside her party. Most of us want her to take part in the elections. She is asking each person individually. The tea has come, together with Chaat. She herself enjoys Chaat. Her dupatta keeps slipping, but she never lets it fall. I'm seeing her after many years and so my feelings are intense.”

In this la-la land of column writing in Urdu in Pakistan three names stand out in my view: Irfan Siddiqui, Dr. Aamir Liaquat Husain, and Haroon-al-Rashid. All three are regular columnists forJang. The first two surpass everyone in finding ‘facts’ where facts may not exist; they also write with great verve in an Urdu that has all the flourishes and graces required in a ghazal. The third, Mr Haroon-al-Rashid, is in a class by himself. I cannot put into English his pyrotechnical Urdu and his riffs of free-association. He must be read in the original. But here is one sample each of Mr. Siddiqui’s and Dr. Husain’s insightful writings.

In a column in May—I apologize again for not noting the date—Dr Husain first defended himself against the charges of faking his doctorate degree, then wrote:

“Those who invoke the name of the Qaid-e-Azam should first show they have the samenafs [“lower self” in mystical thought]. He was educated in England, grew up surrounded by Western culture, and started his political life from the platform of a secular party. But when he became the leader of 'those who were his own' he never took removed his cap from his head or took off sherwani; he did not let his nafs rule over him for a moment; he did not use the broom of greed to sweep the yard of his desires (sic). He knew he was the leader of the Muslims, and so he always looked like them among them. He knew how to wear a suit much better than many who wear suits; he knew how to cross his legs and smoke cigars. He had seen such scenes many times in the durbar of the British, but he also understood that millions of people oppressed by the Hindus had whole-heartedly claimed him as their own. And so he gave all his wishes and desires the name of Pakistan, and never looked back to that Muhammad Ali who perhaps had some personal desires too.”

And here is Mr Irfan Siddiqui on a topic that was hot for a couple of days in May. He wrote in his column in Jang (May 23):

“President Zardari was in Washington. A schoolmistress named Hilary Clinton had him and the Clown of Kabul sit on her either side, and then lectured them. In every gathering, every meeting, and every function it was specially arranged that Hamid Karzai should be on the right hand [of the American dignitary] and President Zardari on the left. I do not recall any occasion in the past when an American Secretary of State conducted a meeting of two presidents in such a fashion.”

Finally, since I come from India, I must point out that Urdu newspapers in India are in no way better. Their columns and editorials carry similar feats of conspiratorial thinking and convoluted reasoning. And in rhetorical passion they can match any Pakistani columnist. I have written about them in the past, most recently in 2007 in a note concerning the treatment meted out to Taslima Nasreen at Hyderabad.

C. M. NAIM is Professor Emeritus of Urdu at the University of Chicago. Besides being an acclaimed columnist, he has written extensively on Urdu language and literature and has translated widely from Urdu fiction and poetry.

SOURCE: NEW AGE ISLAM / Outlook newsmagazine, New Delhi.

URL: http://www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1665

URL: http://outlookindia.com/article.aspx?261284