‘Let universities shape political discourse’

Afkar-i-Taaza confrence opens in City

LAHORE: There was a need to enable universities to again influence and shape political discourse in the society. Universities have played a central role in development of political thought in South Asia. The Pakistan movement had emerged from the Aligarh Muslim University.

These views were expressed by Yaqoob Khan Bangash, Information Technology University’s Centre of Governance and Public Policy director, in his opening address at the Afkar-i-Taaza conference.

Bangash thanked the participants for joining the conference and authorities concerned for ensuring security for the event being held only a few days after last Sunday’s terrorist attack at Gulshan-i-Iqbal Park. Referring to the decision to proceed with the conference in spite of the attack, he said it showed resilience of the Pakistani people. “You can bomb us but you cannot defeat us,” he said.

Earlier, a minute of silence was observed to honour the memory of those who lost their lives in the blast.

ITU registrar Zaheer Sarwar said the conference was being held to generate fresh thoughts and ideas for progress in the country. He said that by disseminating knowledge and ideas for research the event was meant to trigger social change in the country.

Discussing the issue of terrorism, Adviser to Chief Minister Azmi Haq said the people of Pakistan looked up to Muhammad Ali Jinnah as a role model and knew well how to respond to such situations. He said terrorism was a global problem and it was no longer possible to separate its impact on cities in the East from that on cities in the West. Cities like Lahore and London were confronting the same problem, he said. Those who suffered from the 9/11 attack, the carnage in Brussels or the recent attack in Lahore shared one another’s grief, he said.

Haq also discussed the challenges faced by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government when it took over power in the province in 2008. “Every file we touched reeked of corruption and inefficient administration,” he said. He said that in its first term in office the party had been focused on fixing these problems. He assured the audience that work was underway to improve the governance systems.

Punjab Higher Education Commission chairman Muhammad Nizamuddin said he was pleasantly surprised to see so many big names among the participants of the conference. The event hosting 90 academics from Pakistan and abroad will continue till Sunday.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 2^nd, 2016.