Do you read Nadeem Paracha?

I think Paracha is a very polarizing figure. Some people love him and some hate him to death.

Do you like to read his blogs in Dawn?
What are your thoughts?

Re: Do you read Nadeem Paracha?

He is an extremist on the left. Yes, polarized following, indeed.

Re: Do you read Nadeem Paracha?

I would tend to agree with kaka. I haven't read many of his writings. The only ones I did read were those posted here on GS to discredit him.

Re: Do you read Nadeem Paracha?

He is good. I like his blogs.

Re: Do you read Nadeem Paracha?

He is kind of Lal Topi of the leftist

Re: Do you read Nadeem Paracha?

Yes, Paracha is a leftist. He admits this himself. And may be the extreme one at that (which he probably won’t admit).

But he is one of the few prominent and genuine leftist columnists/bloggers in the sea of the extremist right winger columnists in the country. He likes to pick subjects which have generally become quite taboo in Pakistan, especially after Zia.

I love to read him even though I sometimes do not agree with him.


Here is his latest piece: Smokers’ Corner
He talks about how teachers find it difficult to answer their students who ask questions inspired from his columns. One example is when a student called Mohammad bin Qasim an invader, when most Pakistanis would rather use the term ‘rehmatullah aleh’ with his name. The teacher’s simple answer was to stop reading Paracha’s columns.

I think Paracha is not totally offbeat when he calls MBQ an invader. But when I tried to put myself in the teacher’s shoes, I realized that even if a teacher agrees, it is kind of difficult for him/her to accept it in front of the student because the textbook claims MBQ to be sort of a holy figure. The teacher would then be going against the textbook itself.

Paracha seems to be after this right-wing attitude of our textbooks. And this is why teachers advice their students to stop reading him if they want to pass the exam.

Re: Do you read Nadeem Paracha?

^^ extremist, leftist or rightist ... extremist are dangerous

Re: Do you read Nadeem Paracha?

Indeed.

Re: Do you read Nadeem Paracha?

He does pick a lot of subjects which no one touches and it is always good to have different viewpoints represented, which sadly in Pakistan is not the case anymore, especially since Zia took over.

However, I feel his style is a bit immature and childish. He has a strong bias towards the Barelvi school of thought and he tries to portray that in a rather problem-free way. All sects in Pakistan hae their up and down sides. People in the media should at least impartial.

In answer to the question I do not really read him much and do not go out of my way to. I will read him if someone posts a link somewhere or if I look at the Dawn and the subject is of interest.

Re: Do you read Nadeem Paracha?

The teacher might not been able to answer this because in Pakistan teacher is a person who either is in job search or who have not find any “decent” job…

there a vey simple answer to this, but lets keep it to the history section.. as for Paracha, if Mohammad bin Qassim was invader then what would you call Pathans residing in Indo-Pak region for 1000s of years and who were here mostly with an invader like Mehmoog Ghaznavi or Mohammad Khan Ghori or Babar??? what should we do to them??? or what should we do to Arians who invaded Sub-Cont. few thousand year back???

Re: Do you read Nadeem Paracha?

He is quite childish for my liking !

Re: Do you read Nadeem Paracha?

Here is an interesting series of articles by Paracha Also Pakistan.
He may be leftist but not an extremist. He is not blowing up nobody for his beliefs.

Re: Do you read Nadeem Paracha?

You don’t have to be a terrorist to be an extremist. Google it.

What is ‘good’ for him, might be ‘bad’ for a large number of people in Pakistan and vice versa. It is his right to express his views and we must respect those views.

For me, the problems comes when he goes to great lengths to ridicule people and ideas he doesn’t like, makes up stories, repeats several times the same content, etc. If he wants to be respected, he should respect opposing ideas as well. You can make a point without going to the extremes he goes.

Re: Do you read Nadeem Paracha?

Or maybe ignore those views.

My problem is same with him.

Re: Do you read Nadeem Paracha?

he is a @$#%^&@.......

i stopped giving 'any' attention to him when he wrote an article glorifying jialas.........also he was a PSF head badmaaash........

Re: Do you read Nadeem Paracha?

Extremist definition do not cover "going great lengths to ridicule people". If that were true, most american standup comedians will be labeled as extremist.
Also who is measuring these lengths to determine if they r "great" enough to fall in extremist category?
and where exactly Nadeem Paracha ridiculed others?

Re: Do you read Nadeem Paracha?

LOL... I told you to google it. His POLITICAL LEANINGS are extreme left. I don't have any problems with that. For me, anyone can have even extreme right views and as long as he 'does not blow people up', preach hatred or ridicule people who do not subscribe to his world-view, and I have no problems with that either.

The problems with him that I have with him (referred in the quoted post) have nothing to do with his political stance.

"About: Where exactly Nadeem Paracha ridiculed others?"
I do not have the time or patience to revisit his blabbering. If you read with an open mind, you should see.

Re: Do you read Nadeem Paracha?

Agree :k:

Re: Do you read Nadeem Paracha?

He would do brilliantly on Fox News. He has the same style, same focus just on the different end of the spectrum. If you don't agree with me you are a fool kinda idea.

Re: Do you read Nadeem Paracha?

Haha @ "prominent and genuine" khoji please. He's an ignorant druggie.