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KARACHI, Oct 26: The importance of education and knowledge in nation and character building, which had been the hallmark of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), was highlighted at a literary function held at the Pakistan-American Cultural Centre here on Thursday evening.
Speakers at the event included Z.A. Nizami, Chancellor of Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology (SSUET) and President of the Aligarh Muslim University Old Boys’ Association (AMUOBA), Engr Zakir Ali Khan, General-Secretary AMUOBA and Prof Haroon Rasheed, the host of the evening.
Mr Nizami, Zakir Ali Khan and Prof Haroon Rasheed spoke on various facets of education, literacy and the training of youth through education and said that the great reformer and educationist Sir Syed Ahmed Khan had realized its significance in the lives of South Asia’s Muslims 120 years ago.
Mr Nizami, while recalling his activities at AMU, narrated some interesting anecdotes and stressed the need for the present and future generation to have proficiency in English without which, he said, they would not be able to acquire modern scientific knowledge.
He said that the Quaid-i-Azam had great love for Aligarh Muslim University, which was evident from the fact that he donated one third of his assets to the university, which he did not change even after Aligarh became part of India after partition.
He said President Pervez Musharraf is the son of an Aligarhian and claimed that his first public appearance was when he attended SSUET’s convocation as chief guest in 2000.
Mr Nizami said that Sir Syed University is the first institution of higher learning named after Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, who did not want AMU to be named after him.
Zakir Ali Khan said that the students who come out of Aligarh University have quite a different style of living and the debt of Sir Syed cannot be repaid.
He said that there were a number of good universities like Allahabad, Bombay and Calcutta universities, but AMU was quite distinct among them because of its particular style of training.
Sense of brotherhood
He said Sir Syed had undone all sorts of prejudices and students belonging to all nationalities and languages used to live in AMU’s hostels as one fraternity. Similarly, there weren’t separate mosques for different sects and students of all schools of thought used to pray in one Jamia Masjid, something which created a sense of deep-rooted brotherhood among them.
He said that Sir Syed had paid equal attention to sports and Aligarh University had produced noted sportsmen in cricket and hockey.
The cricket team included the father of Pakistani star batsman Hanif Mohammed besides the Jauhar brothers while some of the major names in hockey included Lala Amarnath, Wazir Ali and Ghaus Mohammed Khan.
Prof Haroon Rasheed said that the Aligarh Movement was a sparkling chapter in history whereby Sir Syed took the Muslims of South Asia out of darkness and performed the challenging task of spreading modern knowledge.—APP
