Dialogue is key to live with harmony: experts

Islamabad

Dialogue on 'Peace, Literature and Universities’ held by Inter University Consortium for the Promotion of Social Sciences Arts and Humanities (IUCPSS) at the ongoing National Book Festival being held at Pak China Friendship Centre here on Monday. The session was conducted by Mohammad Murtaza Noor where different panellists spoke about the universities' environment, its challenges and different forms of art and literature in current scenario. Dr. Agha Mohammad Nasir, Zafarullah Khan, Dr. Jamil Ahmed Chitrali Dr. Yousuf and Dr. Sajid Mohammad Awan spoke on the occasion.

Shaken by Mishal incident that occurred recently in Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan, the experts were of opinion that the attitudes of the society has severely affected the universities which should be other way around. But the positive thing is that the universities are holding the literature festivals quite frequently that encourages dialogue among students. Questions should be raised and answered to put an end to intolerance. Accepting different opinions and respecting this difference of opinion is the beauty of the society. Even if a person is a perpetrator then there are other authorities who should have taken care of such matters, but taking the law in one's hand is totally unacceptable.

Experts were of the opinion that since all the Pakistani universities' inception, no focus has been given on research, if only the teachers and the institutions could focus and engage more students on research then such incidents could never happen. The role of the university is to initiate the dialogue but its absence has changed the attitude of the society. Where the dialogue stops, deadlock begins that leads to extremists' thoughts.

Universities have now commercialised and the faculty is more concerned about their job rather than mending the society. The universities cannot thrive on external money and they should be autonomous in every regard and settling their own challenges. The universities should prepare their students for 21st century challenges and nepotism in the society but they are even not allowed to conduct their own entry tests. NTS now conducts the entry exams for them. The universities should not only focus on academics but also on peace, tolerance and co-existence only then they'll be able to see long run results. New windows are opening through international linkages and at this time we cannot fall prey to extremism. Universities have played a huge role in shaping the dynamics of history. Aligarh University, in which sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Shibli Naumani and Hali focused on progressive society so that the Muslims would be well equipped with knowledge and could face the challenges in South Asia. Statistics of the society could have been done by the universities, and if our social sciences universities would be focusing on research then it would not have been possible to conduct consensus after decades.

 The educationists considered banning of Unions a major setback for students. Talking about Peshawar University, the Peshawar University Teacher's Association (PUTA) President said that we need to initiate dialogue that can certainly lead to tolerance in the society. There is no sending on research, ideally we should at least keep one third of the budget on research. Scholarship should be given be brilliant students. PUTA is the only association that gives a part of their salary to a fund for the scholarship of deserving students. He was of opinion that the government should enforce implementation of National Action Plan in the country.