Diversity and Peace: Challenges to Social Discourse

By Dr. Nancy Fahim

KARACHI: “A large part of the community is suffering from mutual hatred, ethnocentric mindset, intolerance, extremism and terrorism. Creating and promoting diversity is a noble cause under such circumstances,” said Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi, professor emeritus, Punjab University, in his keynote address at the inauguration of an international conference titled ‘Diversity and peace: challenges to social discourse’ organised by the faculty of social sciences, University of Karachi, on Tuesday.

“The need of the hour is to promote political accommodation of diversity and a culture of tolerance and harmony through a dialogue across all kinds of divides that we encounter today. We need to build bridges of cooperation, positive interaction, dialogue and mutual sharing rather than barriers and walls that divide us and cause mutual distrust and conflict,” he said.

“Religious and cultural extremism and terrorism dating back to the 1980s involved domestic and global factors and adversely affected Pakistani society and Pakistan lost the societal feature of cultural and religious tolerance and political accommodation. Academicians and intellectuals have a leading role in encouraging dialogue among different sections of society. Dialogue among people of different lands and their governments is essential to accommodate diversity and emphasise pluralism,” he added.

“Currently, there is a realisation of what has gone wrong with Pakistan, the efforts of the state and society to counter violent and terrorist activities in the country and also intolerance. The state is also making serious efforts for the promotion of dialogue and accommodation, which is indeed commendable,” said Dr Askari.

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Earlier, KU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mohammad Ajmal Khan welcomed all the scholars, including visiting scholars from abroad. He said social sciences was no longer an isolated field. Rather it had gained significant importance in the backdrop of the political, social and economic events taking place in the world. “These changes are no longer limited by political, physical and natural boundaries; the need for the intellectual community to conduct critical debate on theories and practices of conflict resolution, inter-cultural harmony, peace and development has increased manifold,” he said.

“This conference will not only strengthen the ideology of Pakistan but also unleash the process of meaningful academic discourse which can positively transform the mindset of our people and bring a qualitative change in our society through meaningful research in the field of social sciences,” said Dr Ajmal Khan.

Dr Ghulam Raza Bhatti, member (operations and planning), HEC, said that man was a scavenger, who ate everything he saw Dean of the faculty of social sciences Prof Dr Mohammad Ahmed Qadri said Pakistan is a land of peace which respected all cultures and ideologies.

While presenting his paper Prof Dr Qadri with Dr Xiaoqing Xie from the China University of Geosciences said that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and One Belt One Road projects were closely linked.

Dr Olena Bordilovska of Kyiv Taras Shevchenko National University, Ukraine, while presenting her research paper said that Ukraine, as one of the so-called New Independent States, was a bright example of both peace proclamations and security challenges.

Paulina Fecht from the University of Heidelberg, Germany, while presenting her research paper said the post-Second World War era was a revolution in itself due to the emerging trend of reconciliation among the European states, which was unprecedented in the past due to power politics.

Dr Yahya Yesilyurt from Kastamonu University, Turkey, said that due to Turkey’s geographical position, it would have the role of a coordinator, which would provide power to the region, and it would also be able to generate promising policies on a global scale. For this reason, the developing countries such as Pakistan, Azerbaijan and Indonesia had a share in the regional developments and contribution to world peace.

Scholars from China, Turkey and Ukraine called for signing memorandums of understanding with the University of Karachi on behalf of their national universities for a student/faculty exchange programme.