ISLAMABAD, Sept 23: Harmony among nations will be promoted if all states, especially the US, take practical steps to ensure the respect of human rights in international diplomacy.
These views were expressed by a renowned scholar, Dr Iffat Malik, at a seminar, jointly organized by FRIENDS and Hanns Seidel Stiftung, Munich. The topic of the seminar was ‘Promoting Civilization Harmony’.
The seminar, which was presided over by former foreign secretary Niaz Naik, highlighted the disturbing obsession of the United States with states which it alleged possessed weapons of mass destruction and was using this excuse for preemptive strikes against them.
As to the prevailing Islamophobia witnessed in the United States, Dr Malik said the US must be persuaded to give up its plans of attacking Iraq. The theory of preemptive strike must be put on the back-burner, she said.
She said the struggle in Chechnya, Kashmir and Palestine was for human rights and not a conflict between one religion and another. She stressed the need for changing the prejudiced immigration legislation laws in the United States and other western countries.
A Chinese scholar, Wu Shumin, commenting on the American state of mind, said conflicts existed only in the thinking of those countries and states which had little hindsight.
He spoke about China and the silk route intervention which occurred in the golden period of Chinese history, and at a time when older cultures exercized prodigious influence on Chinese traditional culture. In addition, the three religions of Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism had shaped the Chinese outlook and philosophy of life, he added.
Hence, the natural conclusion to be drawn from this cumulative experience is that the policy of unipolarity pursued by the US should yield to one of democratization in international affairs. He said all efforts should be made for a multi-polar world free of chaos, war and exploitation.
Another Chinese scholar, Yu Zhongrong, while further explaining the concept, said the strategic development in the world after the cold war was characterized with multi- polarization.
Speaking on the occasion, noted Pakistani intellectual, Prof Khawaja Masud referred to two epoch-making books, ‘Red Star over China’ written by Edgar Snow, which described the Chinese revolution and the other by Henry Reid which dealt with the Russian revolution. Hanns Seidel Representative Dr Henry Reick, a scholar in his own right, said in the post September 11 scenario, it would be suicidal for an Islamic nation to confront the West or the US.
He said such a step might reverse the climate of understanding that still manifested in the relations of western countries with Muslim countries. He added that China was a pool of stability in the world.
FRIENDS Chairman Gen Aslam Beg (retired) said US action in Afghanistan and Iraq was to secure oil reserves which would become critical in 2015, when the demand for oil would rise in contrast to the depleted supply.
He said Pakistan had lived with tranquillity with its neighbouring countries — China, Iran and the Central Asian states — which had three glorious civilizations, and in addition shared the Indus Valley civilization with India.
The Kashmir imbroglio with India was an issue of human rights and not one of religion, he said.— Jonaid Iqbal