‘Distance from literature has bred intolerance’

KARACHI: Society has fallen prey to intolerance because people have distanced themselves from literature, asserted prominent scholar and poet Prof Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui.

He expressed these views while delivering a lecture, titled "Meeting with Legends" at the International Centre for Chemical and Biological Science, University of Karachi, on Friday evening.

"Literature is the key to understanding people, society, culture and life," Dr Siddiqui stated, adding that tolerance is widely associated with the promotion of literature in society. "Pakistani society has lost the virtue of tolerance because the gap between people and literature has widened over the last three or four decades."

Urging young scholars to step forward to protect their social and cultural values, he maintained that Western civilisation is on the verge of overcoming the civilisation of the subcontinent.

"In the past, our society had versatile scholars and intellectuals, but now it is passing through a critical era," he claimed, adding that education was the only solution to the country’s problems. He advised students belonging to science faculties to read books on literature, philosophy and social sciences too, in order to broaden their horizons.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2020.