ISLAMABAD, Sept 18: Speakers at a book launch ceremony here on Friday paid glowing tributes to Dr Eqbal Ahmed, an internationally acclaimed scholar, teacher and revolutionary, who died in 1994.

Commenting on the life and works of Eqbal Ahmed, Dr Tariq Rehman, M.P. Bhandra, Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy, Zia Mian and others said he was a great internationalist who brought to bear his impressive scholarship and perceptive and dispassionate critical analysis on some of the most critical flashpoints of the world.

Eqbal Ahmed was respected throughout the world for his deep insight in politics, powerful writings and principled and passionate commitments on the problems and prospects of the Third World, especially those of South Asia.

They were speaking at the launch of Between Past and Present: Selected Essays on South Asia by Eqbal Ahmed at the National Library auditorium.

The ceremony was attended by academics, journalists, and admirers of Dr Eqbal Ahmad, a contemporary of Edward Said and Noam Chomsky.

The Oxford University Press and the Eqbal Ahmed Foundation jointly organized the book launch. The book has been edited by Dohra Ahmad, Iftikhar Ahmad, Zulfiqar Ahmad, and Zia Mian.

The event was dominated by reminiscences and evaluation of Dr Eqbal Ahmad (1932-1994) life, work and his contribution to progressive political thoughts and revolutionary movements which has evoked appreciation.

As Dr Hoodbhoy said Eqbal Ahmad was one of the key anti-war leaders who helped in launching the movement which saw the end of Vietnam war. Yet he had many facets to his character. He was equally at ease with rulers and labourers. His mission was to encourage critical thinking to help an individual analyse issues and intervene in positive manner to make things better.

Eqbal Ahmad wanted people to think and not just become consumers of knowledge. Accordingly he advised Yasser Arafat in 1981 not to provoke the Israelis who might then retaliate with full strength.

Dr Ahmad's advice was ignored and we now see the consequence: in 1982 the PLO lost its base in Lebanon and has now yielded leadership to Hammas.

Prof Eqbal Ahmad abhorred terrorism in all its manifestation and all those involved in terrorist acts, targeting civilians. In Hoodbhoy's analysis the greatest act of terrorism in the world was committed by the American General Curtis May who was responsible for the death of 200,000 persons in Tokyo fire. It was very wise of Eqbal Ahmed to condemn terrorist acts happening before 9/11 because he could foretell that it would provide 'them' an excuse to leash out all their might on poor 'us' who had a kalashnikov at best.

For some reasons Eqbal Ahmad was misunderstood in the USA although he had affection for that country. He loved Pakistan the land he returned to, but he felt sad about the lack of critical thinking in this country.

In Pakistan he desired to ingrain rational thinking by establishing the Khaldunia University where one could get the right kind of training in an atmosphere of academic brilliance and also be equipped with knowledge to be able to realise the rights of the people and get justice for them.

Dr Hoodbhoy regretted that although the land for the Khaldunia university was promised it was never made available.

Prof Eqbal Ahmad had plenty of personal power and courage and conviction on his ideas, said Dr Tariq Rahman.

The eminent linguistic professor at Quaid-i-Azam University said it was one thing to say things courageously but to retract and back down when the going got bad.

In the chapter from potato sack to potato mash the author of the book talks about lack of legitimacy in a society laden with dilemmas of unjust distribution of wealth, and some of the unjust happenings of 1971.

Thirty years from now Prof Eqbal Ahmad foresaw that the promised democratic Bhutto era would not materialize, and that he was critical of both India and Pakistan as well as critical of the policy of strategic depth which had to be reversed as every one now knows.

Mr. Bhandara took a different view in his speech saying that he had bias against intellectuals because they were in most parts spinner of words. "The intellectual of the 20th century was wary of expanding the horizons of freedom", as was clearly evident in their overlooking the Soviet aggression against Hungary, Czechoslovakia and later Afghanistan, and it was unclear whether or not Eqbal Ahmad had done likewise, but he was an arch intellectual all the same, said Mr. Bhandara.

Zia Mian, a research scholar and teacher with the programme for Science and Global Security at the Woodrow Wilson School for Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, explained the design of the book as well as reflect on the activities of Eqbal Ahmed Foundation which came into being after the death of the scholar.