Rounded Analysis On Contested Issues; Spotlighting Blind Spots; Politics, Religion, Travel, Books
Charisma, unearthly beauty, unfading enthusiasm for performance, unflinching love for their craft, emotional intelligence, and critical awareness, have made BTS more than just another band and endured their parasocial relationship with their loyal global fanbase—ARMY
The inauguration of India's new parliament with Hindu symbolism has triggered murmurs of disapproval citing secular traditions although there is nothing new in the association of occupants of constitutional posts with such ceremonies since the republic was founded
Karbala symbolises for Muslims the foundational Islamic values—egalitarianism, justice, and equity— the Prophet’s Muhammad favourite grandson, Imam Hussain, laid down his life there in the seventh century resisting Umayyad ruler Yazid violating these ideals
Pakistani journalist Anthony Mascarenhas wrote an article in 1971 detailing for the first time the scale of suppression in East Pakistan and helped shape the world's opinion in favour of India's intervention and Bangladesh's creation
If Farooq Abdullah, who understands the inner workings of the powers that be in Delhi, is able to provide leadership to help the Kashmiri political class avoid the pitfalls, it will be a swansong he will be positively remembered for; his chequered past notwithstanding
Volunteers of Al-Hashd al-Shaabi, which was raised on Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani’s wajib al-kifah (obligation to fight) fatwa, were deployed as shock troops to negate ISIS's advantages of surprise, sudden attacks, and ambush
Indonesia stands out among the world’s 20 biggest economies on the back of the stability it has maintained through harmony among its myriad ethnicities and linguistic groups decades after its crony-capitalist system collapsed in the face of the 1997 Asian financial crisis
Iran built a corridor of influence extending up to the Mediterranean when the US left Iraq in 2011 and left the field open for its archfoe and helped Tehran keep Bashar al-Assad in power in Syria and support Hezbollah in Lebanon
Ahl al-Bayt (people of the Prophet Muhammad's household) are known as nur-e-Muhammadi, or the bearers of his light, as well as his trustees ‘privy to his esoteric and religious knowledge'
The cultural affinity between India and Pakistan is often framed in terms of cross-border Punjabis but there is much more to it with divided mercantile communities such as Gujaratis being a case in point
