Education beyond border: Pakistan to host conference on Asian history, culture

QAU, IAHA, Peda sign MoU to host the five-day event

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will host an international conference on Asian history, culture and environment by the end of this year, said a press release here on Tuesday.

The National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research (NIHCR) of Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) will host the conference on “Asian History, Culture And Environment: Vernacular and Oriental Paradigms” from December 5-9 this year, said a press release.

“Since Pakistan has cradled five major civilisations of the world; hatched five major religions; has established the first university of the world  — Takshasila now Taxila — produced the first grammatical structure, it is thus befitting that it host representatives of multiple nations of the world, with their divergent narratives of history”, International Association of Historians of Asia (IAHA) President Dr Sajid Mahmood Awan made the announcement at a ceremony.

A tripartite memorandum of understanding for jointly holding the conference was signed between NIHCR, International Association of Historians of Asia (IAHA), and Peoples Empowering Development Alternatives (PEDA).

Awan said that the conference moves with the dictum of “History without borders and historians trans-borders”.

Speaking on the occasion, QAU Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Javed Ashraf said that the university being one of the top national universities, owing to its research is hosting the conference that aims to boost further research activities.

The VC also launched the International Association of Historians of Asia (IAHA) website, besides awarding three winners of a story-writing competition, held by the People Empowering Development Alternatives (Peda).

Peda Executive Director Mujahid Hussain said that his organisation is pleased to collaborate with the university in hosting the conference, which will also help project a more positive image of Pakistan.

The conference will be attended by around 100 international and 200 national historians, he said.

Dr Rahat Zubair, Research Fellow at NIHCR and Secretary General IAHA,  gave a presentation on the history, rationale and theme of the conference.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 22^nd, 2016.