by RAJA FAISAL
ISLAMABAD: The diplomatic tensions between Saudi Arabia and Qatar has trickled down to its lowest ebb as Pakistani institutions are facing the brunt now.
In a new development, the traditional annual Iftar dinner hosted by the Embassy of Qatar at the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) has been cancelled, which had been regularly sponsored by Qatar every year, an official told Pakistan Today.
Students confirm that Qatar sponsors an Iftar dinner every year for local and foreign students – male and female – residing in the hostels of the university, but this year the event was cancelled.
Sources within the IIUI administration presume that the cancellation of Iftar dinner is possibly linked to the current Saudi-Qatar conflict as the current president of the said University, Professor Dr Ahmed Yusuf Al-Darwesh is from Saudi Arabia.
An IIUI spokesperson, Hassan Aftab, responded that the IIUI is closed after examinations for summer vacations and most of the students have left university for Eid and summer holidays. Only a few foreign students are staying back in the hostels.
Students confirmed that the cancellation of this year’s event came of a sudden. It was held in the same days last year, “how is it possible that students were in hostels last year and not this year?” they questioned the spokesperson’s response when Pakistan Today mentioned him.
Recently, the Gulf has been hit by its biggest diplomatic crisis so far as Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt have cut their ties with Qatar by accusing the latter of being involved in destabilising the region by supporting the Islamic groups.
Talking to Pakistan Today, Tahir Malik—a professor of International Relations at the National University of Modern Languages Islamabad— said that the president of the IIUI, who is a Saudi national, should not have brought regional politics into the university.
Students should have been provided with an educational and apolitical environment. The Higher Education Commission must look into the matter as IIUI is being run under the HEC and its chancellor is the Pakistani president, he added.
Allama Tahir Ashrafi, a well-known Islamic scholar, wondered that “it could be for administrative reasons”. Muslim countries should not escalate the tensions amongst themselves to a point of no-return, especially in Ramzan, he emphasised while talking to Pakistan Today from Makkah.
The IIUI in the Wikileaks amid Iranian factor Saudi influence is not new in the affairs of International Islamic University Islamabad. A leaked cable of the Saudi embassy in Islamabad of 2012 revealed that former President Asif Ali Zardari was pressurised by Saudi Arabia to sack then Vice Chancellor Professor Fateh Muhammad Malik.
The Saudi officials had complained to the former president that the university was not being run in compliance with the principles for which it was established during General Ziaul Haq’s government, and rather ‘enlightened moderation’ was being promoted at the university.
According to Wikileaks, the major reason behind the sacking of mentioned vice chancellor was inviting the Iranian ambassador as a guest to a cultural show held at the University.
