by Toheed Ahmad* *Toheed Ahmad is a former Ambassador of Pakistan. Abstract The Byzantine mind at the time was in the grip of theological hairsplitting which had not time or use for matters ‘secular’ like philosophy and science. The Byzantines although they were Greek speaking, and were the direct inheritors of Greek culture, had always […]
Desert Carrots: Baghdad’s House of Wisdom Read More »
By: Toheed Ahmad* *The author is a former Ambassador of Pakistan. What is not lacking (in Aziz Ahmad’s novels) is a gallery of vivid pictures of many aspects of contemporary South Asian reality, painted by one who has absorbed the positive values of the West without losing touch with those of his own native tradition.
LITERACY FOR DIPLOMACY – The Case of Kashmir Read More »
by Toheed Ahmad* *The author is a former Ambassador of Pakistan. Though experts rate Prof Ahmed Ali as the father of Pakistani literature, yet he himself was a tortured soul during the last decades of his life. He never accepted being weeded out of the Pakistan Foreign Service in 1960 as ‘deadwood’. He felt like
‘I am a fossil’ – more on Prof Ahmed Ali Read More »
By Toheed Ahmad[*] Prof. Ahmed Ali: Teacher, Novelist, short story writer, critic, translator, poet, entrepreneur, diplomat There was a prodigal son of his father Who was employed in the Foreign Service cadre. His assignment was to wash Dishes with gin and squash, But he washed dirty linen with diplomatic lather. A limerick from the novel Rats and
‘Rats and Diplomats’ Read More »
By Toheed Ahmad[1] Sultan Mahmud utterly ruined the prosperity of the country (of India), and performed those wonderful exploits by which the Hindus became like atoms of dust scattered in all directions, and like a tale of old in the mouth of the people. Hindus believe that there is no country but theirs, no nation like
The Curse of Alberuni Read More »
The Memoirsour Founding Fathers Wrote BY TOHEED AHMAD[1] And we are here as on a darkling plain; Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, Where ignorant armies clash by night. Matthew Arnold, The Dover Beach (1851) While USA has its Federalist Papers penned by its Founding Fathers, Post-war Britain had a series of books by Prime
Where Has Babar’s Inkpot Gone? Read More »
By Toheed Ahmad[*] Abstract On March 23, 1956, Pakistan’s first constitution was promulgated. On that day we ended the status of a British Dominion and became fully sovereign. We got our first President, our very own Head of State, who signed all Ambassadorial commissions and state papers, which did not have to be sent anymore
Where has our Republic Day gone? Read More »
By Toheed Ahmad[1] He was the first Hindustani to write and publish a book in the English language. Published in Ireland in 1794, the book was called The Travels of Dean Mahomet,A Native of Patna in Bengal Through Several Parts of India While in the Service of the Honourable East India Company, Written by Himself in
Sake Dean Mahomet (1759-1851) Read More »
By Toheed Ahmad[1] History is a vision of God’s creation on the move – Civilization is a movement and not a condition, a voyage and not a harbour – Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder – The extinction of race consciousness as between Muslims is one of the outstanding achievements of Islam, and in the contemporary world
Toynbee and Pakistan Read More »
(Anthologization of heritage) By Toheed Ahmad[1] Jesus Christ, Fanny Brice, Wolfie Mozart and Humphrey Bogart and Genghis Khan and On to H. G. Wells. Ho Chi Minh, Gunga Din Henry Luce and John Wilkes Booth And Alexanders King and Graham Bell. Ramar Krishna, Mama Whistler, Patrice Lumumba and Russ Colombo, Karl and Chico Marx, Albert
A Large White Crescent Read More »
