On India, Pakistan, politics and religious extremism
Recorded in April 2018 when I was invited by graduate students at Kennedy School for a talk. …
Forget the world, militias are a threat to Pakistan
Sherin Zada/AP Photo The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international watchdog, is all set to place Pakistan on its watch list this summer.…
Asma Jahangir is no more — but her formidable legacy lives on
It will take some time to accept that Asma Jahangir has gone silent. That she is not at the centre of Pakistan’s political discourse.…
Young Pashtuns have shown the mirror to ‘mainstream’ Pakistan
A stage is set up in Islamabad during the protest demanding justice for Naqeebullah Mehsud.— Photo by Shakeel Qarar This past fortnight Pakistan witnessed…
The dynamic political scene confirms a fast changing Pakistani society
The disqualification of Nawaz Sharif through a controversial court verdict was the easier task. Reining in his support and ousting him from the political…
The Sound of Data Darbar
NEW YORK, May 6, 2017 — Me and classical singer Tahira Syed. We explore Lahore’s, and arguably Pakistan’s, cornerstone of Sufism, the shrine of…
My interview with Interfaith Radio, DC
My Interview with Interfaith Radio, DC. This interview was conducted in wake of the latest attack on the Christian community in Lahore on Easter…
Raza Rumi: A reading of memory & loss
Blog posting written by Rebecca Cox, Cinema and Photography, 16, FLEFF Intern, Lebanon, Pennsylvania. Of the multiple times I have visited Ithaca College’s intimate…
Raza Rumi on Journalists at danger in Pakistan
Raza Rumi’s analysis on the current situation of journalists in Pakistan. Raza asserts that unfortunately media houses and the state itself has not been…
Miniature Painting Goes Global
Steeped in the past, and yet, modernist in its application, neo miniature is the new face of Pakistani miniature painting and art. Having evolved…
Raza Rumi Talk at Cornell on 16th December remembering Peshawar School Attack
My talk at Cornell University back in December 2015 – remembering the Peshawar School attack. The 2014 attack on the Army Public School acted…
‘Blasphemy laws have become an instrument of malicious motives’
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) in its new report On Trial: the Implementation of Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws, has documented the widespread fair trial violations…
Free Speech in Free Countries The Indian Subcontinent Live with Raza Rumi
Raza Rumi’s analysis on the shared histoy of India and Pakistan. In this video he emphasises on similarities between India and Pakistan. Rumi says…
Watching Kunduz Collapse From the Sidelines
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (C) inspects the indigenously manufactured surveillance drone at the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex in Kamra, some 65 km west of…
A corridor to a closer Sino-Pakistani alliance?
Chinese influence in South and Central Asia is set to expand through the much-hyped China-Pakistan Economic Corridor just as the United States draws down…
Raza Rumi’s speech on one month of Peshawar School attack – Dupont Circle – Washington
Today marked the first month of the ghastly incident when the Army Public School was attacked by the terrorists in Peshawar. Raza Rumi says…
Kal bhi woh darte the
A few lines I wrote after Malala’s Nobel and some of the reactions of Pakistanis on social media (English translit. below) Kal bhi woh…
Remembering Shahbaz Bhatti, an unsung hero of Pakistan
It has been over three years that Pakistan lost a brave Christian citizen Shahbaz Bhatti for his relentless advocacy of human rights and in…
The Rise of Religious Intolerance in Pakistan: Implications for Democratic Development and Human Rights
My talk at the National Endowment for Democracy on religious intolerance in Pakistan. In early November 2014, a mob in Kasur, Pakistan burned a…
Pakistan: Hiding state failure by invoking the ‘foreign hand’ theory
1) Repetitive trends. When Sri Lanka’s cricket team was attacked in Lahore the civil administration and police on TV said India did it. Raza…