Canada, Sikhs and apologies (Aijaz Zaka Syed, Arab News)

The Canadians are a strange lot. Who in their right mind would offer apologies with folded hands for something that happened more than a century ago? Justin Trudeau, Canada’s young prime minister, has decided to tender a formal apology next month before Parliament for what is known as the Komagata Maru incident of 1914.

http://www.arabnews.com/columns/news/913881

A battle of perceptions (Aijaz Zaka Syed, Arab News)

Thanks to my solitary existence, I often end up spending endless hours watching television. I keep telling myself to get a life and do something useful and worthwhile like read a book or go for a walk. But, as many of you would agree, it’s not easy resisting the charms of the so-called idiot box that has become an essential part of our lives.

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West, Muslims in this together (Aijaz Zaka Syed, Arab News)

Another terror attack, this time in the heart of Europe and at the seat of EU’s political and economic power, and another mad rush to blame it all on Islam and Muslims.

http://www.arabnews.com/columns/news/900471

Islam in Europe: The twain shall meet (Aijaz Zaka Syed, Arab News)

Fear stalks fortress Europe. Perhaps seldom in the long history of the continent has it been afflicted by such overwhelming insecurity and paranoia. The scare of “Muslims are coming” dominates conversations everywhere. Images of refugees from Syria and other hot spots pouring into Europe abound. The breathless coverage of the “refugee crisis” by European media and scaremongering by politicians like Marie Le Pen doesn’t help.

http://www.arabnews.com/columns/news/896786

In rise of Trump, a Modi triumph? (Aijaz Zaka Syed, Arab News)

In America, said Adlai Stevenson Jr, any boy may become president and I suppose it is just one of the risks he takes. Seriously though, it looks like the United States may be all set to elect its most obnoxious, divisive and bigoted president yet. Donald ‘Teflon’ Trump, once shrugged off as a big joke and minor nuisance, has emerged ahead of the pack, setting the cat among the pigeons.

http://www.arabnews.com/columns/news/886386

A battle for India’s soul (Aijaz Zaka Syed, Arab News)

Isn’t it strange that the BJP-led nationalist government has turned to a hated colonial law that the British repeatedly used to punish thousands of Indian freedom fighters including Gandhi and which Nehru condemned in parliament as ‘highly objectionably and obnoxious’? But stranger things have happened in this country since the BJP came to power. And the latest target of the dispensation in Delhi appears to be students, scholars, writers and all those who dare to think on their own.

http://www.arabnews.com/columns/news/882756

The ghosts of Ayodhya (Aijaz Zaka Syed, Arab News)

http://www.arabnews.com/columns/news/865131

Growing up with Nehru’s India (Aijaz Zaka Syed, Arab News)

http://www.arabnews.com/columns/news/861946