LAHORE: Renowned Iranian-American scholar Vali Nasr is of the view that unity of the Muslim Ummah is a false assumption and does not exist anywhere.

He was speaking in a session on ‘State of communication: Pakistan’s role in a divided Muslim world’ on the second day of the Lahore Literary Festival (LLF) on Saturday.

Former foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar was also a participant in the session, moderated by Farhan Bokhari.

Mr Nasr said Pakistan should not base its strategy and vision on the false assumption of unity of Muslim Ummah as most of its Muslim allies, including Saudi Arabia, Iran and the UAE, did not speak a word on the Kashmir crisis, instead Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was given the highest award.

He said Pakistan was not independent as it could not attend Kuala Lumpur Summit under pressure from Saudi Arabia.

On the matter mediation between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the latter did not give any leverage because it knew Pakistan was closer to the Saudis who only used it as a messenger and not a broker, he added.

Hina Rabbani Khar said Pakistan had a role in Muslim world in 1974 when the second Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) summit was held in Lahore but it failed to carry on this role.

“We also lost trust of the countries because we did not have an independent foreign policy.”

Ms Khar said Pakistan had to develop the role of an entrepreneurial country by adopting a realistic foreign policy and using its strategic importance.

“We have not used our strategic position for an advantage, instead it was used as a disadvantage. We never used the geo-strategic leverage for economic empowerment for the people.”

Giving an example, she termed Malaysia as a smart Islamic country in contrast with Pakistan, which wanted to become a part of every discord but not of any economic future plan.

Quoting the Kashmir issue, the former foreign minister said we had failed to raise the issue as we could not call a foreign ministers’ conference on it to tell the world about it.

“Pakistan’s want to play a role between Saudi and Iran was unrealistic,” she said.

She agreed with Nasr that Islamic world did not have commonality of purpose which could allow them to work for a common end.

Mr Nasr said Turkey wanted to revive the Ottomon Empire against the Saudi Arabia, which did not participate in Kuala Lumpur Summit and also stopped its allies from taking part in it.

“Every Muslim country in its own mind thinks that it’s geo-strategically important. I am not saying Pakistan is not strategically important but it will have to compete with its rivals on different fronts,” he said.

Commenting on Pakistan’s nuclear programme, he said Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal was not for the service of the Muslim world.

Mr Nasr said if the Pakistani nuclear arsenal was not for the service of Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia, it did not make Pakistan important country for them.

He was of the view the effort for making Pakistan a theocratic Islamic state proposed by Maulana Maududi as alternative to the western secular state had already failed in bringing about development and economic growth.

Ms Khar said Pakistan needed to embrace its diversity in geography, culture and languages.

“For several decades, we have tried to enforce the ideological mantle over people and told them that they could be patriotic only if they fit a certain idea,” she lamented.

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2020