Varsity moot on Pakhtun culture

City diary

By Afzal Hussain Bokhari

Plump lady police constables, seated outside women's washrooms, turned in their chairs with apparent unease as walk-through gate sirens wailed a little longer than expected. Adjusting their rifles afresh, their male counterparts pretended to be equally alert. Under visible security arrangements, local and foreign academics converged on Peshawar University's Abdul Qayyum Auditorium for a two-day thought-provoking brainstorming on the enigma that had come to be known as Pakhtun culture.

Inaugurating the international moot, Governor Masood Kausar appreciated the efforts of university's political science department which, in coordination with Germany's Hanns Seidel Stiftung (foundation) HSF, Islamabad was hosting the conference.

Many of the university teachers feared that in view of the renewed post-Eid wave of terrorism the governor might back out from his commitment but being a political bird the barrister not only showed up at the stipulated time, delivered his speech but also spoke briefly to the media outside the museum complex on the campus.

In his brief message, the resident representative of HSF, Dr Martin Axmann welcomed the guests and said that such seminars should continue to enrich and enlighten the intellectual community in future. Back in June, HSF had arranged in Berlin a conference on Balochistan in which some dissident Baloch leaders had taken part. However, no one from the Pakistani embassy showed up in the conference.

Expressing his views, Dr Magnus Marsden, senior lecturer, School of Oriental and African Studies, London, said that people living in KP, Chitral, Afghanistan and Tajikistan had been travelling in the region for the last many centuries and they had many things in common including dress, religion, social customs and trade as being their oldest profession.

Speaking in the conference, Dr Fabrizio Foschini of Italy, working in Kabul for Afghan Analysts Network, also traced the history of Pakhtuns as nomadic tribes. In proof of his observations, he quoted from articles carried by American newspapers like the Christian Science Monitor.

Taking part in the discussion, Dr Jamal Malik, chairman of Islamic Studies, University of Erfurt, Germany, said that madrasas reform proposed by the Afghan government was aimed at acquiring scholars and judges with sufficient knowledge of Islamic law and jurisprudence.

He said that society in Afghanistan was male and religiously dominated and one could suspect a lively debate on socially controversial topics such as women's rights and minorities. It was therefore no wonder that women's rights were still curtailed in the curriculum.

He said it was gratifying to note that approved scientific facts and knowledge from natural sciences especially physics and biology were dealt with quite openly and presented in comprehensive way without major omissions or rejection.

As far as the curriculum of these subjects was concerned, it seemed to have been translated from some English source.

In his paper, Dr Abdur Rauf, associate professor, department of political science, narrated the contribution of educationist Dr Farooq s/o Akbar Khan towards creating awareness among the Pakhtun masses.

All through his life, he sufficed with a modest four-marla mud-built house in a village near Swabi.

Dr Mohammad Ayub Jan, from the host department, referred to Khan Abdul Ghafar Khan and his Khudai Khidmatgar movement that not only created awareness among the masses but also gave Pakhtuns a definite identity.

Research scholar Hafiz Abdul Basit of Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies, Islamabad, gave facts and figures about the Pakhtuns who for various reasons switched over to Taliban.

By and large, his paper simultaneously drew the warmest praise and the harshest criticism.

Commenting on his paper, Dr AZ Hilali said that religious extremism was not only restricted to KP but also stretched to southern Punjab.

Dr Razia Sultana, chairperson of department of history, QAU, Islamabad presented an interesting paper.

Indeed some students felt that her lecture should have been scheduled earlier and not around sunset.

Depending heavily on the reporting of two English-language newspapers, Kaneez Fatima, regional gender coordinator, Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP), presented some case studies of women who had been the victims of Swara, Watta-Satta, Dand, Wani, Karokari, Kalakari, Badda and other social customs of marrying off girls without their consent in a disgraceful manner.

The speaker who advocated the emancipation of women was, ironically, named Kaneez which, if put in English, meant a female slave!

Commenting on her paper, the bureau chief of a private television channel said that women were also the victims of sexual harassment even in places like Peshawar University which had been focused upon by the channel in summer this year.

Over-reacting to this observation, Naureen Naseer, lecturer, department of political science, said that media was exaggerating and playing up the whole thing.

She tried to deny that some university employees had harassed female students.

Interestingly, the session was being presided over by the resident editor of an English-language newspaper.

He was magnanimous enough to allow a couple of minutes to your diarist who said that media always tried to reform the civil society but shoving everything under the rug would only encourage those who were out to damage the cause of education.

In this regard, it was regrettable that more than 460 schools had been rendered dysfunctional in KP.

It was all the more shocking that these were primary schools meant for girls in the public sector.

During the lunch break, Vice Chancellor Azmat Hayat Khan joined the participants. He spoke to Professor Dr AZ Hilali, the chairman of political science department and asked as to who had provoked media persons about the harassment scandal.

He also confirmed that the high-level committee probing the scandal had submitted its report to the chief minister.

Apart from the guests mentioned above, others who spoke in the interactive sessions included Dr Taj Muharram Khan (conference coordinator), Hina Shahid of College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Foundation University, Islamabad, Iqbal Arif of UET, Peshawar, Ghazan Nawaz of Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan, Brian Kerr of University of Edinburgh, Dr Hussain Shaheed, Naureen Ahmad of IMS, Peshawar and Syed Owais and Mona Saleem both of Peshawar University.