‘People’s bond with armed forces key to Pakistan’s stability’

Karachi
Noted author and a Sufi scholar Professor Ahmed Rafiq Akhtar said on Sunday that lately even western researchers had admitted the fact that repeated attempts to dismantle Pakistan had failed because of its people’s strong relationship with its armed forces.
“In the next 10 years, Pakistan will be one of the most powerful nations,” Akhtar predicted in his lecture on “Pakistan- A glance on future”.
“The challenging days are over. I can see regional and international superpowers in the near future requesting us to be on our side,” he said.
“Today’s impoverished will be tomorrow’s rich. They have clearly understood that our people don’t look at army personnel as officers, instead they see them as Shaheeds or Ghazis.”
The lecture was held in the auditorium of the Arts Council of Pakistan. The event began with the recitation of the Holy Quran and Naat, followed by a warm welcome and token of appreciation to Rangers director general Major General Bilal Akbar.
Akhtar said the inception of Pakistan was not a political decision; in fact it was the consensus of the Ummah, hence it is a reality which was meant to exist.
In the first half of the lecture, Akhtar divulged his expertise in contemporary religious thoughts.
“The existence of the Almighty is impossible to deny, though he can’t be seen due to the limitation of our physical vision but once the deity becomes the top priority of intellectual curiosity, it unravels,” he explained.
The theologian also said all moral codes came from the words of God.
He said the people of Pakistan must adopt the identity which the Almighty had given to them. “Why should we choose any lesser made up identity, when God has chosen an ideal one for us as Muslims,” Akhtar said.
“When I have a PhD, would it make sense to mention matriculation on my name plate?”
He also appreciated Gen (retd) Ashfaq Parvez Kayani’s role during his tenure. He added that when suicide bombings were occurring in Peshawar every day and the entire political leadership had left the city for Islamabad or abroad, it was only Kayani who visited it frequently and supported the law enforcement agencies.
He also described the ongoing Karachi operation as an action against the dishonest by the honest forces of the country.
“The forces bemoan when the country for which they have made countless sacrifices is cheaply sold by some people,” he added.
When asked by a participant of the time-worn question of whether Jinnah was secular or religious, Akhtar described secularism as an illegitimate child of religion.
“It’s an ideology which has taken good aspects of the religion, such as a sense of equality, truth, and freedom but it explicitly chose to ignore the Almighty.”
He said though Quaid might be brought up in a so-called secular tradition, but in no way could be labelled secular.