Punjab University Vice Chancellor Mujahid Kamran urged the government on Thursday not to back out of Pakistan’s principled stance on Kashmir.
He was addressing the launching ceremony of Peace Building in South Asia: Limitations and Prospects by Centre for South Asian Studies Director Umbreen Javed at the Al-Raazi Hall of the Undergraduate Study Centre here on Thursday.
Former Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmed Khan, Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi, Lt Gen (retd) Naseer Akhtar, faculty members and a large number of students were present on the occasion.
Dr Kamran said knowledge was the source of all power and prestige. He said around 750 verses of the Holy Quran, which is nearly an eighth of the scripture, stressed focus on resolving the mysteries of the universe. He said there were only around 225 verses related to legislation.
He said the average spending on education in the world was 4-5 per cent of the GDP but the Pakistani government had reduced the educational budget from 2 per cent to around 1.2 per cent of the GDP.
Shamshad Ahmed said a composite dialogue with India was initiated in 1997, but General Musharraf’s Kargil adventure derailed it. He said Musharraf had further damaged the Kashmir cause by backing out of Pakistan’s principled stance on Kashmir. He said that unfortunately, the present leadership of Pakistan had not made any effort in the last five years to repair the damage done by Musharraf. He said Kashmir was the bone of contention between the two countries and unless the issue was resolved, relations between the two countries would not improve.
Rizvi said confidence-building measures did not guarantee solutions to problems. He said: “We should all re-discover ourselves and recognise our strength and weakness to resolve our problems.”
Akhtar stressed the need to increase people-to-people contacts between Pakistan and India. He said: “We should change the mindset to bring peace to the region. We should work hard to resolve the Kashmir issue without which we can not progress.”
Commenting on the book, the speakers said it amicably covered all important events and issues between the two countries.
In her opening words, Dr Umbreen Javed said lack of regional cooperation was causing the problem faced by the common man. She said: “The significance of peace in the region can not be denied. We should resolve our issues by reducing our conflicts to allow economic development in the region.”
Published in The Express Tribune, February 15th, 2013.