‘The entire world is watching us with suspicious eyes’
Pervez Hoodbhoy discusses path country has taken since Partition
KARACHI:
Nuclear physicist Pervez Hoodbhoy said on Saturday that the two nation theory, the founding principle of the Pakistan movement, was not fit for the creation of our country, a home to multicultural ethos and polity.
"If Pakistan was made in the name of religion then why were the people of Bangladesh compelled to say they could not live in Pakistan? Finally they got separate homeland," he said during a session on ‘The Idea of Pakistan: What it was in 1947 and What it Should be Now’ at the Sindh Literature Festival on Saturday.
Hoodbhoy said multiple nations have been living in Pakistan with their own culture and language and all of them deserve equal rights. "Unfortunately, Muslims consider themselves superior to non-Muslims and this has tarnished the original concept of Islam and humanity," he lamented, adding that some extremists have, in the name of religion, killed innocent people. "Because of the growing trend of extremism in our country and the so-called jihad, the entire world is watching us with suspicious eyes. We must become a normal country and all citizens irrespective of their religion and sects must be given equal rights," he urged, terming so-called jihadis ‘monsters’.
Sindh Literature Festival kicks off
"Developed countries look at us like the Rohingya of Myanmar, so we have to change this narrative by discouraging extremism," he said.
Taking about discrimination in the name of sects, he said Mohammad Ali Jinnah appointed Chaudhry Zafarullah Khan, who was from the Ahmadi community, the first foreign minister of the country but today some elements were giving verdicts of killing Ahmadis, which is unacceptable. "
He criticised General Zia for selling Pakistan’s strategic location by supporting the United States in the war against Russia in Afghanistan and said the same thing is being repeated again in the name of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). "Under CPEC we can gain something but will lose lot," he warned, adding that Pakistan needs people who have better education, which can bring us to the path of prosperity and economic development.
Nuclear physicist Pervez Hoodbhoy said on Saturday that the two nation theory, the founding principle of the Pakistan movement, was not fit for the creation of our country, a home to multicultural ethos and polity.
"If Pakistan was made in the name of religion then why were the people of Bangladesh compelled to say they could not live in Pakistan? Finally they got separate homeland," he said during a session on ‘The Idea of Pakistan: What it was in 1947 and What it Should be Now’ at the Sindh Literature Festival on Saturday.
Hoodbhoy said multiple nations have been living in Pakistan with their own culture and language and all of them deserve equal rights. "Unfortunately, Muslims consider themselves superior to non-Muslims and this has tarnished the original concept of Islam and humanity," he lamented, adding that some extremists have, in the name of religion, killed innocent people. "Because of the growing trend of extremism in our country and the so-called jihad, the entire world is watching us with suspicious eyes. We must become a normal country and all citizens irrespective of their religion and sects must be given equal rights," he urged, terming so-called jihadis ‘monsters’.
Sindh Literature Festival kicks off
"Developed countries look at us like the Rohingya of Myanmar, so we have to change this narrative by discouraging extremism," he said.
Taking about discrimination in the name of sects, he said Mohammad Ali Jinnah appointed Chaudhry Zafarullah Khan, who was from the Ahmadi community, the first foreign minister of the country but today some elements were giving verdicts of killing Ahmadis, which is unacceptable. "
He criticised General Zia for selling Pakistan’s strategic location by supporting the United States in the war against Russia in Afghanistan and said the same thing is being repeated again in the name of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). "Under CPEC we can gain something but will lose lot," he warned, adding that Pakistan needs people who have better education, which can bring us to the path of prosperity and economic development.