Muslims and Liberals

Myriad East-West interactions renewing religious and secular values

The rising visibility of Muslims in America

THE BALTIMORE SUNOctober 22, 1996 My friend Tom Neumann complains that American news media are distorting the Benjamin Netanyahu government’s stance on the Israeli-Palestinian peace accords. Tom is the head of the Washington-based Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs. Other supporters of the Israeli prime minister have also assailed American reporters for suggesting that he is trying...

The Rising Tide Of Fundamentalism

St. Louis Post – DispatchOctober 10, 1996 The Taliban, a pugnacious brand of Islamic revivalists, have taken over government in Afghanistan. As they entered government offices, their followers jeered at the body of former communist President Najibullah hanging from a post overlooking Kabul’s main square. Later they shut down girls’ schools, barred women from outdoor...

Between God and Adam Smith

Chicago TribuneOctober 9, 1996 The Taliban, a pugnacious brand of Islamic revivalists, have taken over the government in Afghanistan. As they entered government offices, their followers jeered at the body of former Communist President Najibullah hanging from a post overlooking Kabul’s main square. Later, they shut down girls schools, barred women from outdoor jobs and ordered...

Saudis Change Attitudes Toward Americans

St. Louis Post – DispatchJune 11, 1996 The tragic loss of American lives in two terrorist attacks in the Saudi Arabian cities of Dhahran and Riyadh calls for a reassessment of the U.S. Persian Gulf policy based on the social transition taking place in the region. During three tours in the past five years, I...

India’s Political Reality: ‘Market Economy, Stupid

The Christian Science MonitorJune 5, 1996 Last month India had three governments in as many weeks. Following its worst electoral defeat in history, the secular, centrist Congress Party government yielded power to the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which had captured the most seats. But the BJP could not muster the required parliamentary majority and...

The Consequences of Rushing to Modernity

Los Angeles TimesJUNE 2, 1996 Over the weekend, India’s 13-day-old Hindu nationalist government was replaced by a coalition of 13 leftist and regional parties after Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee failed to assemble a majority in Parliament. The new government has 11 days to produce a working majority. The Indian Parliament today is a large...

Filmmakers Defend India’s Viewpoint on Kashmir

Washington Report on Middle East AffairsJune 1994 Early in April, India dispatched a playwright and his actress wife to the United States on a month-long mission to counter American criticism of Indian human rights abuses in Kashmir. Gopal Sharman and Jalabala Vaidya, the couple who produced the Indian movie classic “Ramayana,” brought along a “horror...

Hostilities on a nuclear subcontinent

Chicago TribuneMay 24, 1990 President Bush’s special envoy, Robert M. Gates, was sent to India and Pakistan to try to ease the mounting tension between the two countries over the uprising in the Himalayan valley of Kashmir. The prospect of another India-Pakistan war has increased since late last month when Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers,...

An old dispute shadows Benazir Bhutto’s U.S. visit

Chicago TribuneJune 6, 1989 In December, 1971, Ambassador George Bush ran into Pakistani leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and his daughter Benazir at UN headquarters in New York. Learning that the young woman was attending Harvard, Bush gave her his calling card. “My son is up at Harvard, too,” he said. “Call me if you ever...

Pakistan’s Future: Do The Generals Know The Perils?

Chicago TribuneAugust 29, 1988 The new Pakistani government has started off on a reassuring note. Acting President Ghulam Ishaq Khan has pledged to go ahead with the parliamentary elections scheduled by President Mohammed Zia ul-Haq, who died in a plane crash. Ishaq Khan has not declared martial law, which he could have done. More important,...