All tragedies are equally tragic in essence, but they feel even more tragic if they involve someone you know, or someone well known and loved.
Raza Ali
We start at the beginning. The founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, also known to Pakistanis as Quaid-e-Azam (the great leader), in his first address to the constituent assembly of the nascent country, said some words that I can easily call his most well-known.
The July 2017 decision of Pakistan’s Supreme Court to convict Nawaz Sharif for his part in the Panama Papers scandal should not come as a huge shock. Since the country’s inception seventy years ago, every single ruler has been forced out of office prematurely.
As a child in Karachi, I remember my father used to take us to see the procession of Youm-e-Ashour. I belonged to a Sunni family. The main participants of the procession were Shi‘a, but on this day our love of the Prophet and his family brought all Muslims together.