Daily Times

In my previous article, published on Monday, I praised the International Islamic University for producing good lawyers, but on the very same day new information came to my attention, that has made me reconsider my ill-thought out recommendation. I had been invited by the student body at their law school to deliver a lecture on obedience to the constitution and what it means. It was going to be a normal lecture without any political content.

On Monday, though I was informed that a gentleman by the name of Dr Aziz-ur-Rahman — who is a professor there — vociferously opposed my lecture on grounds that my views were contrary to the ideology of the university. It is a strange accusation especially since my lecture was to be devoid of any ideological content of any kind and was going to be focused wholly on the issue of Article 5 and Article 6 of the Constitution of Pakistan. Normally I would not have consented to speak at a university which prides itself on gender segregation, being entirely contrary to the idea of equality and gender neutrality, to which one ought to be committed to in the twenty-first century. However I agreed only because I thought it was important enough an issue, to at least engage the future lawyers who would come out of the said university.

My objective was not to preach my political ideas and that much was completely clear. The political ideas that Dr Aziz-ur-Rahman apparently found in clash with the university’s ideology, was the notion that every citizen no matter his religion or gender should have equal rights and that there should be no discrimination on the basis of faith. Strange, that a scholar at any university should take exception to this ideal, which should be the basis of our human existence on this planet.

The gentleman in question is a deeply sectarian professor and the son of an Ahle-Hadith cleric. Moreover, he has made it clear that his religious biases will dictate the dissemination of knowledge. What is strange however is that Dr Rahman who teaches ‘transfer of property’ is a PhD from the Australian National University. It is surprising that a graduate, from an institution that prides itself on open and inclusive policies, would bring up such spurious and ridiculous objections to a speaker, who he happens to disagree with. It seems that the tolerant nature of the Australian higher education, has made no mark on the professor.

The political ideas that Dr Aziz-ur-Rahman apparently found in clash with the university’s ideology, was the notion that every citizen no matter his religion or gender should have equal rights and that there should be no discrimination on the basis of faith

Dr Rahman’s objections to my lecture are manifestations of the intolerant and narrow-minded present at the IIU. I find it tragic however that I have had the opportunity of speaking about the idea of constitutionalism in law and politics, at some of the best law schools in the world like Harvard, UPenn, Cornell and Columbia. But I am deprived of an opportunity to discuss the constitution with Pakistani students at a Pakistani university, simply because I am deemed to be too secular, for having spoken about equal rights of the citizens of Pakistan no matter what their religion. This is precisely the attitude — the attitude of shutting up all counter points of view —that is the reason IIU does not live up to its full potential. People like Dr Aziz-ur-Rahman should have no business teaching at an institution of higher learning if he can’t engage in a reasoned dialogue with a non-PhD lawyer like me on issues pertaining to the Pakistani Constitution.

Not long ago, the IIU also stopped students from KP from celebrating their Pashtun Cultural Day. This is a fundamental right of every citizen which is protected under Article 28 of the Constitution. But how is the learned faculty going to learn about fundamental rights if they continue to stifle reasoned debate at the university? The result will be more of the same. The final products of such institutions are not lawyers, who can reason or argue but lawyers, who resort to religious bigotry. Is it any wonder that a business student of the same university reportedly became a suicide bomber in Afghanistan? IIU’s faculty, especially fanatics like Dr Aziz-ur-Rahman, are more interested in creating clones of themselves — narrow minded bigots who have hitherto made Pakistan the laughing stock of the world.

My personal feelings aside — it is a matter of national shame; that an educational institution and its facilities, are being used by the faculty, to further their own agenda.

When the world refers to Pakistan as a terrorist or extremist nation, it is due to such attitudes. One shudders to think of how Dr Aziz-ur-Rahman represented Pakistan at the Australian National University.

Furthermore, there is no point in blaming the Saudis for this predicament, just because they fund the university. I am certainly not a fan of Saudi Arabia, but IIUs exist all over the world. My late father in law taught History at IIU in Uganda. From what I hear of the university there, from my in laws, it was an institution with a conducive, academic atmosphere. For one thing, IIU Islamabad can come out of its medieval mindset and put an end to gender segregation. Men and women have to work together in the modern world and modern economy. The world cannot be segregated into mardana and zanana any longer. It is a lazy cop out, if you are going to blame Islam for it. Islam has never been in favour of such rigid segregation. Hajj the most important gathering in Islam is never gender segregated.

In any event if we don’t pull our socks up and bury this mind-set which seeks to keep us backward, we will never progress and the world will continue to look down upon both Pakistan and Islam. If the Saudi backers of IIU are reading this, they would be well advised to reconsider Dr Aziz-ur-Rahman’s appointment.

The writer is practicing lawyer and  was a visiting Fellow at Harvard Law School in Cambridge MA, USA. He blogs at http://globallegalforum.blogspot.com and his twitter handle is @therealylh

Published in Daily Times, October 10^th 2018.