“Here in the land of the Turks we have nothing to complain of. We possess great fortunes; much gold and silver are in our hands. We are not oppressed with heavy taxes and our commerce is free and unhindered. Rich are the fruits of the earth. Everything is cheap and every one of us lives in peace and freedom...” [Philip Mansel, “Constantinople: City of the World’s desire”]

“The Turkish wife has been called a slave and a chattel. She is neither. Indeed, her legal status is preferable to that of the majority of wives in Europe, and until enactments of a comparatively recent date, the English was far more of a chattel than the Turkish wife, who has always had absolute control of her property. The law allows to her the free use and disposal of anything…

 “At the time of the Umayyad caliphate, the people of the covenant, Christians, Zoroastrians, Jews, and Sabians, all enjoyed a degree of tolerance that we do not find even today in Christian countries.

It appears that the Pakistani Government is bent upon throwing the education sector of this country into a mire of uncertainty. The Punjab Text Book Board has introduced a new No-Objection Certificate (NOC) criterion for hundreds of private publishers who have been printing and publishing learning and teaching materials for the schools of Punjab. (The News)