Author: Arshia Malik

If there is one reality that drives home the point that freedom-loving, liberal secular, ordinary Muslims are the first victims of the orthodox, ossified, political Islamism – it is honour killing. Unfortunately, in India, it devours the non-Muslims too in its brutality – the ones who dared to challenge the ‘honour’ of the Muslim ummah […]

I can start with my experience. As the movie hit the screens, it became clear over the weeks that it was a huge hit, joining the 100 crore club. The conversations have started in marketplaces, staff rooms, corridors, water points, buses, train compartments, metro stations, meat shops, food courts, and even the original under-the-banyan-tree choupal […]

I have grown up reading Holocaust literature, eventually teaching ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ to my batches year after year. It instilled a lot of perspective in me from a very early age, keeping a stoic attitude towards life’s hammer blows being a good way to survive, and believe me, living in a Muslim culture, […]

Those liberals of Muslim or non-Muslim heritage who are supporting the enforcement of hijab in Muslim culture as freedom of choice, and a tool of empowerment need to understand the moment when, girls, just about to step into puberty or years away from it are told to cover up. For the girls, it is a […]

In Kashmir, the hijab or the veil was enforced in the 1990s as part of the Islamo-fascist insurgency sprouting in every nook and corner of the Valley punctuated with bomb blasts, grenade attacks, shootouts between security forces and strike calls by secessionist leaders, with civilian killings and targeted assassinations. In the lull between violent incidents, […]