For Malala Yousafzai

at fourteen she has

so much to live for

but surely not

a bullet in her head

to show the cowardice

of those who can not

stand up and face

a girl of fourteen

because her stand

in their face

makes them afraid

of an idea that she represents

and which may

cast doubts among

the professed guardians

of a religion to which…

A new project aims to counter ‘violent extremism’ by connecting former self-identified extremists with ‘at risk’ youths.

Self-identified former “extremists” and survivors have formed a social network aimed at helping young people avoid political violence and gang culture. The Against Violent Extremism network believes that radicalization is less of a religious and ideological issue…

Getting a second life – the victim of June 13, 2011 suicide bombing speaks.

Monday June 13, 2011 was another day at work, and Waseem Umar went to the bank at about 2:30 pm, for a transaction. Parking his motorbike in front of the bank next door like so many times before, he admired the red colors of its signage. The guard at the door frisked him with a hand held metal detector, and waved him in.

As he sat with the customer service executive, she asked him for…

Reflections on the Summit Against Violent Extremism (SAVE) Dublin, Ireland

June 26 – 29, 2011

http://www.againstviolentextremism.org/

http://www.youtube.com/formers

It took SAVE for me to understand the depth of Nelson Mandela’s words “Honesty, sincerity, simplicity, humility, pure generosity, absence of vanity,…

anew

17:30, june 28, 2010

in losing you

i have lost

the will

to live

against all edicts

all reasoning

all sermons

from pulpits high

sitting

day in day out

wondering

why

terror dawned

to start my day

the dusk of which

took you away

where can i again

regain

the will

for it was you

all the…

i believe that general zia ul haq, the military ruler of Pakistan from 1977 till 1988 was the architect of the taliban phenomena, and the current situation we face is a consequence of his rule.

zia ul haq

had you known

how much we would have

to do more

to please the masters of fate,

keep your double clasp,

with the double hug in place,

and the grin and uniform intact.

would you still have

gone to…