PU vice chancellor says people of India and Pakistan have similar problems. PHOTO: FILE
“We need to re-write our history with India to improve relations. A change in the narrative will bring a change in attitudes,” Punjab University Vice Chancellor Dr Mujahid Kamran said on Monday.
He was addressing a seminar organised by the Department of History and Sir Ganga Ram Heritage Foundation on Pakistan-India relations at Al Raazi Hall.
Indian delegates Shev Pertab Bajaj and Shri Sat Pal Muhajan, Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee former president Sardar Sham Singh and Faculty of Arts Dean Iqbal Chawla.
Kamran said the sub-continent was rich in cultural and religious diversity.
“The common problem uniting the people of India and Pakistan is hunger and poverty,” he said.
He said the region was rich in resources that should be utilised to improve the living standards of its people.
Shev Partab Bajaj appreciated the hospitality of the government. He said he has not faced any problems since his arrival in Lahore.
“The delegates and I feel as if we are roaming in the streets of our home towns,” he said.
Sat Pal Mahajan stressed the need to promote people-to-people contract.
Chawla said people of both countries were facing similar problems particularly poverty and lack of basic facilities.
He said the success of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in Pakistan and political debut of Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi elections had given new hopes to the people.
He said both parties wanted to improve the democratic system.
Veena Chiber, another speaker, said the political environment in both countries was evolving. She stressed the need to grant visas to the youth so that they could explore their neighbouring countries freely.
Sardar Shaam Singh called upon the people of both countries to promote local languages instead of talking to each other in English.
Kamran presented pictures of Kaatas Raj to Indian delegates. Shev Pratab Bajaj presented religious books.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 24th, 2013.
COMMENTS (24)
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@Lala Gee: You have not read those people who say Islam is a curse on the human civilization.
@Humbhitohain: The people, who think Pakistan and India can be friends, can be counted on finger tips. As far as fear is concerned it is the other way round, Pakistan should shed its fear of India and at least live like a good neighbor. I agree with you that two shall never be friends because Pakistan was created out of hate for Hindu India and if that hate goes, then, Pakistan dissolves.
@Vasan:
Pakistan must quit SAARC and join China in an union like Hong Kong, Macau. Such an Union would be like USSR with the faith of Islam! Imagine 1.5 billion Chinese eventually embracing Islam!
@rasgullah:
"@lalagee: You have a good sense of humor. The people whose forefathers converted at the first sign of a sword are now talking about winning a war?"
Our ancestors converted to Islam for the reasons as sighted by "Dr. B. R. Ambedkar", the first Law Minister of India, about Hindu religious philosophy. People who don't know, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was born Hindu and remained so till his late life and eventually converted from Hinduism to Buddhism along with his 500,000 followers (lets see how Indians now put blame on Aurangzeb for his and his followers conversion from Hinduism).
This is what "he says about Hinduism":
"Hinduism is a veritable chamber of horrors. The sanctity and infallibility of the Vedas, Smritis and Shastras, the iron law of caste, the heartless law of karma and the senseless law of status by birth are to the Untouchables veritable instruments of torture which Hinduism has forged against untouchables. These very instruments which have mutilated blasted and blighted the lives of the Untouchables are to be found intact and untarnished in the bosom of Gandhism."
In another place "he says":
"The Hindu Civilisation, gauged in the light of these social products, could hardly be called civilisation. It is a diabolical contrivance to suppress and enslave humanity. Its proper name would be infamy. What else can be said of a civilisation which has produced a mass of people who are taught to accept crime as an approved means of earning their livelihood, another mass of people who are left to live in full bloom of their primitive barbarism in the midst of civilisation and a third mass of people who are treated as an entity beyond human intercourse and whose mere touch is enough to cause pollution?"
@Lala Gee:
"By a clean slate I meant, Pakistan must eventually win India in a war and free Kashmir. Once Kashmir joins Pakistan, Pakistan will consider friendship and trade with India."
Though I do not disagree with the content, but to put the record straight, this comment was not posted by me.
Lalagee : there should be a limit for even day dreaming. Pity that the previous wars haven't taught any lesson to pak
@Lala Gee If only India can stop being frightened of the muslim neighbours, start treating its own muslims with respect and cease raping and practising their latest killing machines on kashmiris and work with Pak to sort out a solution to Kashmir nothing will happen - their well meaning people can stop romantising about peace. In the end situation is quite clear
Pak will not win a war against India India will never attack Pak Kashmir will always invite miltancy
Sad but true everything else is a side issue
@Lala Gee: "Pakistan has an big advantage over India in terms of money, Oil and diplomatic support." +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ True. Examples; Load shedding Iran Pakistan Pipeline Abbottabad Kargil Baghliar Kishanganga .........all big advanatge to Pakistan.
@Humbhitohain:
By a clean slate I meant, Pakistan must eventually win India in a war and free Kashmir. Once Kashmir joins Pakistan, Pakistan will consider friendship and trade with India. With China, SA and Turkey's support ..Pakistan has an big advantage over India in terms of money, Oil and diplomatic support.
@Dr.M.M.Khan: " No problem is intractable as long as there is win win situation for both the parties" First doable is initiate the process of normalization of trade relations. it will only pave the way of resolving other issues including Kashmir too. AND this will be a win win situation for both the countries.
Pakistan has always rewritten the history for sure ... many times ...
" Pakistan’s intelligence agencies had handed over Osama Bin Laden’s body to the United States in 2006, claimed Dr Mujahid Kamran, the Punjab University vice chancellor on Tuesday. He said the Abbotabad raid on May 1 last year, in which the US claimed to have killed Bin Laden, was staged to defame Pakistan. Speaking at a seminar titled 9/11 and World War III organised by the PU Academic Staff Association (PUASA) , Kamran said the 9/11 attack [on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon] was orchestrated by influential families in the US to “occupy the world”. He said the US carried out the attack to push the country to war. He said it had been proven that the US had lied about Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction to start a war." This was part of the report carried by this newspaper in September last year. Need I say more?
Rewriting history has to be bilateral. As long as India wants to maintain it's status quo over Kashmir, Siachin and Sir Creek it is a waste of time.. India needs Kashmir to preserve it's secularity while Pakistan needs it for it's unity. No pakistani politician is going to submit on Kashmir. Let the Kashmiris decide for themselves. Let us start with doable first-----Siachin and Sir Creek. No problem is intractable as long as there is win win situation for both the parties.
@Lala Gee Excellent post. - this is exactly what i have been saying for years. Indians should stop living in fear of Pak, let go of it locally and Internationally and leave it alone. Two shall never be friends it's a fantasy by the pseudo seculars from the Indian side.....
@Jameel ur Rasheed:
Go and read carefully the UN resolutions. Pakistan must make the first move but it effectively killed it.
India is marching forward. If Pakistan wants to join it can..
keep joking.
I dont want to hear this nonsense anymore. There is more in this world than just Pak o ind relations.
Lets follow what's written in UN resolution on Kashmir issue, for the best future of both countries.
“We need to re-write our history with India to improve relations. A change in the narrative will bring a change in attitudes,”
To re-write one need to clean the slate first, and the kind of cleaning required for India-Pakistan relations utmostly demand use of advanced technologies and specialized equipment. Without that, re-writing would simply not be possible. Please don't waste yours and ours time and resources.
On the these killings this is abstruse and esoteric that why Western world,US and some human rights' agencies are silent whereas against the muslims their attitude is entirely opposite.....
Pakistan has already re-written its history in its textbooks