Muslim countries should give equal rights to minorities: Sayeeda Warsi

LAHORE: Conservative Party of the United Kingdom Chairman Baroness Sayeeda Warsi said Sunday that all Muslim countries should give equal rights to the other communities.

She was speaking on the second and concluding day of the second edition of the event, titled ‘Afkar-e-Taza ThinkFest’, held under the auspices of the Information Technology University (ITU) in collaboration with the Federal Higher Education Commission (FHEC), Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC) and private sector organisations.

Sayeeda Warsi said on the occasion that we should question ourselves first instead of judging others. We need to overcome the fear of love to win, she added. She said that while Pakistan was nearing the general elections, the people should ask tough questions from the representatives they would vote to elect to power.

She further said that five per cent of Britain’s population comprised of Muslims, out of which 1.8 million were from Pakistan and Kashmir, adding that we all enjoyed equal rights in accordance with the British law.

Earlier, while opening the concluding day session, PHEC Chairman Nizamuddin urged representatives of 57 universities of Punjab to develop a culture of discussion and debate among citizens belonging to all walks of life. He assured to extend full support in this connection and said that PHEC was planning to hold similar activities in Multan, Bahawalpur and Rawalpindi.

In the absence of Lahore Literary Festival, Afkar-e-Taza ThinkFest’s second edition had attracted a large number of participants from all walks of life. We needed to promote the culture of research and dialogue to talk more about history, politics and arts, Nizamuddin said. No research could be completed without academia linkages with the outer world, he added.

In the session, titled ‘Rohingya: Inside the Burmese Genocide’, speaker Azeem Ibrahim from the United States Army College termed it to be the greatest human crisis since the Rohingya were the largest stateless people. He said the current crisis had displaced 650,000 people who were facing ethnic cleansing, while adding that Myanmar state was redistributing the lands left behind by Rohingyas among local Buddhists.

The topics discussed in other sessions included, Jerusalem: The Future of Middle East, Midnight’s Furies: The Partition of British India, Entrepreneurship Meets Media: Redefining Heroes of Pakistan, India Turns East: US China Rivalry, The Rise of Right Wing, Where is the Media Heading?, Shrines Violence and Society in Pakistan, Standing up to the Field Marshal, Inqlab Zindabad, Mr and Mrs Jinnah, The marriage that Shook India, The Enemy Within: A tale of Muslim Britain, The Next Five Months, Artificial Intelligence as the New Electricity and others.