‘Building intellectual capacity a must to deal with Hindutva’

Pakistan’s President Dr Arif Alvi has said the solution to the extremes of Hindutva lies in building intellectual capacity of all sections of Pakistani society. He emphasised that the impact of human biases on state policies and elaborated upon Islamophobia, racial segregation underpinning genocide, and demographic changes in the Indian-occupied Kashmir.

He was speaking at a two-day International Conference on ‘Institutionalisation of Hindutva in India: A Regional Security Perspective’ was held at Islamabad on Wednesday. Dr Alvi inaugurated the conference with his keynote speech.

Prof Arie W. Kruglanski from the University of Maryland, USA explored the psychological genesis of Hindutva and described the three pillars of radicalisation: need, narrative, and network. He highlighted that the demonisation of Muslims and rewriting of history underpinned Hindutva narrative.

Dr Lubna A. Ali spoke about the death of democracy in India because of institutionalisation of Hindutva based on exclusionary politics that led to the transformation of Indian state and society in fundamental ways.

Many other eminent academicians, scholars and ambassadors deliberated upon growing Hindu nationalism in India and its impact on the region. The conference was attended by national and international academics, scholars, researchers, policymakers, media personnel and civil society and media.

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On the same day, the president also addressed the participants of 7th National Workshop on Balochistan, who called on him at Aiwan-e-Sadr, a press release issued by Media Wing said.

President Dr Arif Alvi said that India was involved in hybrid warfare against Pakistan by using the soil of Afghanistan and supporting militancy and terrorism in the country.

Referring to the attack on Pakistan’s Stock Exchange Karachi, Johar Town bomb blast, arrest of Kulbhushan Jadhav and many other terrorist activities, he said that these attacks had been carried out with the Indian support to destabilise Pakistan.

The president said that India was hatching conspiracies against Pakistan to destabilise it by funding militant organisations to carry out terrorist activities. He added India would fail in its evil designs as Pakistan’s armed forces were fully capable to overcome the security challenges, particularly the 5th generation war.

The President remarked that the government was seriously focusing on the socio-economic uplift of Balochistan to bring it at par with other provinces of the country.

President Alvi highlighted that Gwadar Port and various projects, under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would change the lot of the people of Baluchistan. “CPEC would bring enormous opportunities to Balochistan as the regional countries, particularly Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, would use the corridor for their exports and trade through Gwadar port. The President said that the minerals and fishery sectors of Balochistan had immense potential and the federal government was taking serious steps to utilise the potential of these sectors for the benefits of the people of Balochistan.

He deeply appreciated the fact that the political and military leadership of the country was taking keen interest in the development of Balochistan.

With additional input from APP

Published in The Express Tribune, July 8^th, 2021.