The recent convictions of Aafia Siddiqui and Faisal Shahzad, both once international students in the US, has brought a cloud of suspicion on all Pakistanis traveling to the US. This is a terrible prospect for those of us — like this author — who have over the years enjoyed American hospitality and who wish Americans no harm. It is a tragedy since the cultural exchange between these two populous and important nations is and can be a dialogue amongst civilizations and faiths.
Perhaps the most striking contrast to Aafia Siddiqui and Faisal Shahzad can be found in the efforts of Dr Akbar S Ahmed — that indefatigable defender of Islam and Islamic tolerance. Pakistan’s diplomat and more famous for his film on the life of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Akbar S Ahmed, the Ibn-e-Khaldun Chair at the American University, has done more than any other living Pakistani to challenge perceptions of Pakistan and Islam in the West.
Former President of Pakistan, Sardar Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari died in the early hours of Wednesday at the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology in Rawalpindi. He was 70 and a heart patient for some time.
