Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The distorted history that has been taught to children and youth has made them oblivious of real history. It is a major reason behind the state of disconnect from our progressive and pluralistic culture of the past as a nation.

This was stated by speakers while addressing a ceremony held on Tuesday to mark the launch of the book: ‘Indian Independence and British Parliament 1947’ written by Barrister Naseem Ahmed Bajwa.

“Our future generation must be imparted knowledge about our true history, including the events that took place prior to and after independence,” the speakers said.

Afrasiab Khattak, a former senator, said that there was a dearth of genuine research in Pakistan about the important events of our history.

He said the compilation of the important documents related to discussion in British parliament about Indian independence was a valuable work and could be a valuable asset for our students and youth.

Barrister Naseem Ahmad Bajwa, the writer of the book, on the occasion said it was the first volume of a work and he would unveil more historic facts in his work that was already in progress. He said that the book raised many pertinent questions about the roles of different actors at the part of partition of India.

“Our youth today are unaware of the liberal, progressive and tolerant ethos of our society. After the independence, Quaid-e-Azam laid down the principles for the newly emerged state in his historic August 11, 1947 speech,” he said.

He said that these principles elaborated a state comprising one nation regardless of other identities.

Shafqat Munir of SDPI covered various aspects of the book and said that it could be used as a valuable resource material for our youth, especially to young researchers that had specific interest in Indo-Pak history.

Fighting extremism: Pakistan People’ Party (PPP) spokesperson Senator Farhatullah Babar said on Tuesday that the inability to hold security forces accountable in operations against violent extremism could result in alienating the affected people and directly play into the hands of militants and extremists.

Speaking at a seminar on countering violent extremism organised by the National Commission on Human Rights (NCHR) on Tuesday, Senator Farhatullah Babar said the misuse of cyber crimes laws against bloggers and journalists had also stifled the freedom of expression and prevented alternate narrative against violent extremism.

“Respect for the right of freedom of expression is basic to countering the extremists’ narrative,” he said.

He said that human rights served as a pivot whether kinetic military action against militants or in the development of alternate narrative against their narrative.

“The inability to hold them accountable for enforced disappearances is a clear example of the attitude of the state in this regard,” he said.

The PPP spokesperson said that Senate human rights committee had been horrified to learn recently that no relative of the over 50 mutilated bodies of missing persons had come forward to lodge FIRs. “This is evidence of the alienation of the people from the state and society and the criminal justice system. This deafening silence of the affected families conceals a turbulence that can sweep everything,” he said.

“To fight the militant mindset, we need to build intellectual infrastructure that rests on the foundations of free inquiry and free debate not only in academic institutions, but as a way of life,” he said.

“However, while freedom of expression is under threat, the militants have a field day to propagate hate speech and extremist ideology. In the name of national security, the right to freedom of expression has often been stifled.

Published in Daily Times, August 30^th 2017.