IslamicLawBlog

Sloganeers, propagandists and politicians often use the word "genocide" in ways that the law does not permit. But rarely is the crime of genocide invoked when Western militaries murder Muslim groups. This essay argues that the internationally recognized crime of genocide applies to the intentional killings that NATO troops commit on a weekly basis in the poor villages and mute mountains of Afghanistan to destroy the Taliban, a puritanical Islamic group. NATO combat troops bombard and kill people in Taliban enclaves and meeting places. They also murder defenseless Afghan civilians. The dehumanized label of "Taliban" is used to cloak the nameless victims of NATO operations. Some political opposition to this practice is building in NATO countries, such as Canada, where calls are heard to withdraw troops from Afghanistan or divert them to non-combat tasks. Read the complete essay

The Hollywood has turned the novel, The Kite Runner , written by an Afghan-American into a movie. The picturesque movie, more than the prosaic novel, strives hard to sow the seeds of ethnic hatred, sectarian hostility, and possibly violence between diverse national groups of Afghanistan. According to the story, the Sunni bully rapes the Shia boy. The Sunni rapist belongs to the dominant ethnic group, called Pushtuns. The sodomized boy is the member of a minority ethnic group, known as Hazarajat. When the Taliban come to power, the Sunni rapist joins the puritanical movement and becomes a state official---but continues to rape boys. To perhaps make the story attractive to Hollywood filmmakers, the Sunni rapist bully---blond and blue-eyed---is shown to be the son of Afghan father and German mother—a crude suggestion that when Muslims marry Germans, demons are born. The movie is presumably hate speech, allowed under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. It is unclear whet...

Tuesday, September 25, 2007 Ali Khan [Washburn University School of Law]: Lee C. Bollinger is what you may call crème de la crème. His credentials as a law professor, a legal scholar of the First Amendment, the former dean of the University of Michigan Law School, and now the President of Columbia University have been incredible. With these many feathers in his cap, one would bet Bollinger has mastered the art of dignified advocacy. His indecorous manners in challenging the Iranian President at his Monday appearance at Columbia, however, caught many by surprise. Ignoring the calls that Ahmadinejad, whose views on the holocaust are hurtful, should not be invited to a prestigious American university, Bollinger invoked the First Amendment to defend the invitation. But once the Iranian President was captive on campus at Columbia, Bollinger turned on the guest. With well-prepared ill-will and rehearsed abusive language, Bollinger squirted a barrage of curses, calling the Iranian President ...

By Ali Khan The Bhutto assassination might force Pakistani rulers to reconsider supporting the war on terror that has been forced upon the entire Muslim world. Just as Spain withdrew from the war in Iraq after the Madrid terrorist bombings, Pakistan too might use Bhutto's death to withdraw from the war in Afghanistan. For sure, Pakistan is no Spain. It will be much harder for corrupt Pakistani rulers to say no to billions of dollars coming from America. If Islamabad does not change its devious ways, however, the war on terror will consume and destroy Pakistan. Subservience and Subversion Since its birth in 1947, Pakistan has been a subservient but subversive ally of the United States. Lacking resources and strong political institutions, Pakistani rulers have played the role of makkar noker (cunning servant) who takes pleasure in servitude but nonetheless resents and subverts the wellbeing of the master. That duplicitous Pakistani officials can outsmart naïve American policymakers ...

Summoning Caesar to Trial in Pakistan Liaquat Ali Khan Gaius Julius Caesar, a Roman military and political dictator, is the role model of the military generals of Pakistan. Every Pakistani Chief of the Army Staff, known as the COAS, daydreams of morphing into a Caesar. Since the creation of Pakistan in 1947, four Chiefs have successfully anointed themselves as Caesars. Pervez Musharraf has crowned himself twice to confirm and reconfirm that Caesar has "all powers" to suspend and amend the Constitution at will. The people of Pakistan are angry but quiescent. The politicians are contesting undemocratic elections to share the crumbs of power. However, the lawyers of Pakistan are not supporting Caesar's charkha, the spinning wheel of all powers. Caesar's Charkha Caesar's charkha spins to gather all powers. Before lifting emergency on December 15, Caesar, acting alone, using all powers he had previously bestowed on himself, made several amendments to the Constitution...

Here is a video supporting the lawyers of Pakistan

Liberating Pakistan: A Test Case for the World Media Liaquat Ali Khan Pakistan offers a superb opportunity for the world media to test whether information can undermine a non-constitutional dictatorship. I am not proposing advocacy journalism that strives to alter viewpoints. Nor am I proposing that the world media incite the people of Pakistan to take arms against the military ruler. The world media must respect the pluralism of governments, political systems, and constitutions. The world media must also allow the people of a nation to solve their problems in their own ways at their own pace. What is at stake in Pakistan, however, is a usurper's willfulness to shut down the channels of information so that the lawlessness of the army rule will not be exposed either to the people of Pakistan or to the world. This design to commit crimes under the cover of information blackout is an unlawful objective that the world media must vow to defeat. Subverting injustice is the duty of a fr...