Thy Love is Hypocrite - Editorial

Originally published in The Rationalist, Vol 1, Issue II, Oct-Dec, 2012

After the success of our inaugural issue of “The Rationalist Pakistan”, the first online magazine of Pakistan that seeks promotion of “rationality and humanism“ based socio-political discourse , here we are with the second issue of our e-mag. With over 1500 online subscribers of the first issue and a very good response from all over the world, our spirits are very high. But we are aware that without continued support of all our readers and like-minded people we cannot achieve our desired levels of success. We want to remind our valued readers again that RSOP is a purely charitable organisation and this magazine, from contributors to the editors, is the product of selfless voluntary work. This in itself is an admirable novelty as the e-mag brings together shared dreams and dedications of all rationalists, whether they belong to Pakistan or not. The ability to rise above our narrow country specific identities is a giant leap towards a better tomorrow shaped by feelings of mutual respect and tolerance. A tomorrow, where humanism reigns supreme and where the flowers of various faiths and identities add colour to the vase of one world and where discords and hatred give way to concerns for human dignity.

Movie Review - The Devil Inside

Since the advent of 21st century, the world has moved away from superstitions and heading more towards rationality. However, still there are conscious efforts being made to divert people from rationalist behavior. This movie, "The devil inside", is a similar futile attempt in this regard.

Released by paramount pictures this january, the story revolves around the life of a girl who investigates the condition of her mother who is being held in a psychiatric institute in Italy. Tracing back her childhood memories, one finds out that her mother committed three murders of her family members, while possesed by a demon. The girl investigates the reality of exorcism and after believing, involves two exorcists to free her mother. The mother happens to possess multiple demons and during the exorcism one of the demons transfer to the priest's body, eventually causing his death.

Gravity hills - supernatural forces at work?

Originally published in The Rationalist, Vol I, Issue I - http://rationalistpk.org/2012/06/gravity-hills-supernatural-forces-at.html

Gravity hills are the places where due to the surrounding perspective and absence of a reliable reference point, a slight downhill slope appears to be an uphill slope. Hence, when a ball is rolled or water is dropped or a car is freed of gears, all of them seem to move uphill - against the gravity. Recently, and even more frequently people at facebook and through emails started sharing the youtube videos of Wadi-i-Jinnat (The valley of Ghosts). Very learned fellows with scientific backgrounds showed offensive belief in the presence of supernatural forces in the valley, especially when it was located in Saudi Arabia (hence increasing the probability of existence of supernaturals).

Editorial - Quarterly, The Rationalist Pakistan - Vol I, Issue I, June-Aug, 2012

Originally published in The Rationalist, Vol I, Issue I, Jun-Aug, 2012 - http://rationalistpk.org/2012/06/miracle-of-water-spring-under-obls.html

The influence of online social media has significantly presented its importance in the second decade of 21st century. The twitter and facebook lead revolutions in middle east have shook the world. Moreover, big guns tweeting directly on a common person's computer updating him every second is another example of revolution. The communication had never been so effective in human history.

Osama Bin Laden's Spring

Originally published at http://rationalistpk.org/2012/06/mythbusting-osamas-spring.html

Surprise happens, when gushing water oozes out from OBL's compound in Abbottabad. But this is not the surprise. The surprise is that the local residents calls this a miracle. A miracle which happens because according to them innocent (yes, you read it right, innocent) people were killed there. Now I wonder which myth do I do bust here. The myth of innocence or the myth of non-sense. Let's stick to the later one as it is related to an indigineous and unknown phenomenon.

E-Jihadis at Full Throttle: Fake Column of Hamid Mir

http://rationalistpk.org/2012/11/e-jihadis-at-full-throttle-fake-column.html

Today Ahmad Waqass Goraya tagged me in a post of E-Jihadis on a facebook page named Golden Pakistan (https://www.facebook.com/Goldenpak). What I saw was equally nonsense and depressing. There was a column by Hamid Mir Sb in which he exposed his editor and some other fellow journalists including Mubashar Luqman, Nusrat Javed, Kamran Khan and Hassan Nisar. What I read was unbelievable and It was perceived at the first moment that it was a fake column. But provided the conditions of our youth present in social media and the shares of this column (shown in the picture below) one needs to worry a lot. Because this trend is not going to let create any sense of reason in the society. I am posting the link of the column and providing summary for those who cannot read Urdu.

The Great Malala Drama

Originally published at http://rationalistpk.org/2012/12/the-great-malala-drama.html

Let us have a look on another obsession of our nation with a drama, recently telecasted by all the news channels and newspapers live on whole planet earth. This is the drama of Malalai Yousufzai; a 14 years old girl who acted to be shot by Taliban due to her being vocal for women rights and education. But I do not think it is true. Taliban are the nicest people on earth and they are Khurasani people with black turbans who will eventually turn out to be the great prophesied saviours of Islam. Some of them are bad Taliban and are CIA agents.

Demystifying Agha Waqar’s Water Kit Fraud

This article was published at Rationalist Society of Pakistan's Website and can also be read here www.rationalistpk.org/2012/09/demystifying-agha-waqars-water-kit-fraud.html

Many people in the past have claimed to run vehicles on water. But all of them have turned out to be frauds. It is very simple. If water could be used as a fuel, then it is the most abundant fuel on earth and there would have been no hassle in using other expensive fuels. Every student of basic sciences knows that water bonds do not have that much energy that could run an engine by mere splitting. It cannot be used as a fuel.

People will argue and as claimed by His Excellency Engineer Agha Waqar sb that water is first split into Hydrogen and Oxygen and then this mixture runs the car. For them, there is nothing wrong with this claim except that it is false. Hydrogen is also a very non-economic and inefficient fuel when used in cars. Much research is being carried out on Hydrogen to be used as fuel but the storage, economics and inefficiency are big problems.

The Tale of Two Men

There was a man who was born in a middle class family. He rose to excellence and became world famous. Human race owes him much due to his contributions. One of the brilliant minds of twentieth century, he brought to us not only national prides and honors but also made possible for thousands of other Pakistanis to earn respects and titles. 100s of people from Pakistan get their PhDs every year due to the efforts he made for them when he was alive. I am talking about Dr. Abdus Salam. Dr. Abdus Salam is the first and only Pakistani who is a Nobel laureate. He is also one of the founders of PAEC and contributed a lot in nuclear program of Pakistan. He also established many other programs, which have made possible for Pakistan earn many endeavors that could never be achieved otherwise. Abdus Salam International Centre forTheoretical Physics (ICTP) in Italy, founded by Dr. Abdus Salam provides scholarships to hundreds of students from third world countries for their PhDs, every year. His most significant contribution is the Salam-Weinberg theory of weak forces that now made possible the discovery of Higgs Boson: the last missing link of theory of universe.

In the defense of Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy

Recent Capital Talk show has spread serious discomfort among few people about Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy, as evident by their comments on the videos. I just want to clear few points. I agree with what Dr. Sb said to that quack in the show. Before starting abusing Dr. PH because of his behaviour in the show, I wonder what one shows by his own language.

If anybody on a National TV comes and tells lies and you listen to those lies and defend them vehemently and believe on them so religiously that anybody who is disagreeing, is a pimp to you; that surely is a proof of insanity in the society and needed to be addressed. When a person defies basic laws of physics and chemistry, any physicist and chemist can get hyper. A person who does not know difference between Voltage and Current, can he be called an engineer? As simple as that!!!

The Profound Misogyny

Today we have with us a much-esteemed guest, Dr. Naseem Khan Qureshi. Dr. Qureshi is a regional coordinator of an iNGO, Protection of Women Rights and Feminine Empowerment (PWRFE). He has completed his Doctorate in Biology from ABC University of UK. He has been associated with the iNGO since last 15 years and has worked for different projects all over Pakistan. Today we will speak with him about his personal life experiences and his ideas about contemporary affairs.

Akif Khan (AK): Welcome Sir, hope you are doing well.

Dr. Naseem Khan Qureshi (DKQ): You should have started with Assalam o Alaikum. See if educated people like yourself won't commensurate with our religion, then what about the poor illiterate souls of our country?

Ramzan: Month of Compassion or Aggression?

Every culture has its own specific ways to greet and celebrate a particular event. Pakistanis have their own ways to do this. And this greeting has also become a certain type of culture. All over the world Muslims observe holy month of Ramzan with religious devotion. This religious devotion again varies with culture but sometimes it becomes rather a deconstructive contamination of spirituality and a complete u-turn from the essence of the worship.

My Ugly Children

The misery of our understanding and the passion of our self supposed beliefs haunt us like a permanently residing spirit within us. Often, tending to believe in our conclusions in firmness, we completely ignore the facts of life and the limitations of our environment. We turn blind to the fact that the biases we harbor in our minds are based on our narrow visions and not on our “great” knowledge. This ignorance composing our chosen selective dementia and alter egos, leaves a great impact on the society without an iota of realisation by us.

Of Reason and Heresy!

This article was published in the June, 2012 issue of The Rationale, Monthly. *

Immanuel Kant once said, “A categorical imperative would be one which represented an action as objectively necessary in itself, without reference to any other purpose.” For a person who believes in reason, this objectivity is mostly based on his analytical mindset, which comprehends the situation, analyse the variables, calculate the impact of the thing he concludes and then states his conclusion. However, a difficult situation arises when others counter this conclusion without much thought just for the sake of defending their dogmas.

US-Pak Duo: The right to beg

This article was published in Express Tribune Blogs and can be seen here. http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/11691/us-pak-ghairatmand-pakistans-right-to-beg/

Sixty years have been passed, since U.S. and Pakistan are in liaison. These six decades have seen many ups and downs in this association. History witnessed pompous public welcomes of leaders of both countries at each other’s places and also watched hatred-filled rallies against each other. But this is also a fact that both countries have proved beneficial to each other throughout this period. Keeping conspiracy theories aside, U.S. has been investing much in the economic and educational development of Pakistan.

The Midnight Crisis - (An excerpt) Page ***

CHAPTER XI

(FALLING FOR LOVE, WAITING FOR HONESTY)

"I feel like a baby who longed for Moon, and when he got there, he couldn't breathe, he was alone and scared. And everyone on earth was laughing on the silly choice he had made." I exclaimed.

"You had the option Raphael, you got selfish, you thought you were making a sacrifice, now get through yourself, don't cry, you are not a baby anymore." Valeria's voice trembled in the noise of passing by train but I couldn't decide whether it vibrated due to noise or was she sentimental. What she said was not new to me and I knew she was right. But it did not hurt me this time as it always had before.