WASHINGTON, April 13: Terrorism may make the country look bad abroad but it’s not an overwhelming factor in Pakistan where the majority believes in a peaceful coexistence with all the nations, says Hameed Haroon, CEO of the Dawn Group of Newspapers.

Mr Haroon, who spoke on Thursday at a prestigious Washington forum, also emphasized the need for people-to-people contacts between Pakistan and the US instead of confining bilateral relations to two administrations.

Delivering the Pakistani Speakers’ Forum lecture at the South Asia Studies Programme of Johns Hopkins University, Mr Haroon said: “We have to remove the relationship from the exclusive domain of governments” and allow the two societies to interact with each other.

“I am more interested in what the universities have to offer, or what art will have to offer, what creativity has to offer in America, or civic sense has to offer, what laws have to offer.”

With the help of slides, Mr Haroon showed images of the ordinary people of Pakistan.

“This is the real Pakistan. This shows the ecstasy of dance ... common at shrines and expresses the inner spirit of the people.”

This, he said, contrasted sharply with the campaign launched in the past to portray fictitious landmarks of culture, which included conservative ideals of the religious right.

Mr Haroon addressed the challenges facing Pakistan’s journey towards a more open and democratic future, and focused on the efforts to expand the public space for art, culture and the media in the face of countervailing dogmatic forces in the country.