Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani said on Tuesday that their history was not only distorted but many historical events were often recorded wrongfully.
He said several historical facts were distorted in Pakistan in several regimes and wars were glorified as a symbol of pride and victory. Terrorism and extremism were promoted and its negative consequences were still being faced by them. “We must change this extremist mindset,” he added.
He was addressing the inaugural ceremony of 25th International History Conference organised by Department of General History of University of Karachi in collaboration with Pakistan Historical Society, Hamdard Foundation Pakistan, Higher Education Commission and Endowment Fund Trust for preservation of the heritage of Sindh at Arts Auditorium, KU.
Addressing the conference, Rabbani said that Quaid-e-Azam wanted to make Pakistan a welfare state in which all the religious minorities would be free to join their religion activities, but they had failed to fulfill his dream of a moderate and welfare state. He said University of Karachi was indeed the best varsity of Pakistan having significant role in Pakistani politics. “Islam preaches peace, tolerance and democracy in line with Islam. Islam granted equal rights to the women at the era when they were buried alive. All the fundamental human rights declarations, including Magna Carta are based on Islamic principles.”
Rabbani said United Asia was the only way to deal with the western hegemony due to which western powers were busy in various international conspiracies. “Shattering the unity of Muslim world is also the result of western evil design. Democratic culture must be promoted in order to deal with the menace of extremism and intolerance,” he asserted.
KU VC Prof Dr Muhammad Qaiser said that their varsities must calculate historical facts in the curriculum and the department of general history of the varsity had a pivotal role in this regard as various national and internationally reputed historians remained affiliated with the departments. Despite inadequate resources and constraints, this conference was the third largest international conference.
Dean Faculty Social Sciences Prof Dr Moonis Ahmar said that distorted history was not only the case in Pakistan but some other countries as well. “We must learn from our historical mistakes and practical efforts have become mandatory in this regard. These distortions must be rectified from the school level so that intellectually strong mindset must be inculcated in our youth.”
Prof Dr Yasmeen Saikia from Arizona State University, the USA, said that freedom is mankind’s birthright. In the South Asia’s perspective, India and Pakistan were involved in different conflicts in which state’s security had become the priority, he opined.
