Daily Aaj Kal

International Islamic University Islamabad

Desperadoes attack university in Islamabad

Dawn, Wednesday, 21 Oct, 2009


http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/04-blast1-in-islamabad-qs-07

ISLAMABAD: Three girls were among six people killed on Tuesday in twin suicide attacks inside the International Islamic University, Islamabad. Two blocks were severely damaged.

This is the first time that militants have targeted women and a prestigious Islamic educational institution.

The blasts took place in quick succession in segregated blocks for girls and boys in the university’s campus in the capital’s H-10 sector.

A bomber barged into the women-only facility despite fierce resistance put up by a local worker, blowing himself up at the entrance of the girls’ cafeteria.

The other bomber detonated his explosives-laden jacket on the first floor of the Imam Abu Hanifa block.

A string of attacks have rocked Peshawar, Swat, Rawalpindi, Lahore, and Islamabad since Oct 5, killing more than 250 people. The bombings have made October one of the bloodiest months since the beginning of the terrorist attacks.

No one has so far claimed responsibility for the strikes.

The incident took place amid reports about threats to educational institutions, some of which decided to close their facilities for a few days.

However, officials of the Islamic University said they were not aware of any direct threat.

‘We were hearing that some schools were being closed down, but we never received any specific threat,’ an outraged Prof Parveen Tariq Agha, the in-charge of the women’s wing, told Dawn.

She rejected suggestion of a security lapse and said the university’s premises were properly secured. But, she said, no one could have guessed that a suicide bomber would target girls in this manner. Other teachers were equally outraged.

‘This is a cowardly act,’ another faculty member said. ‘Those who target students, particularly women, cannot even be considered human beings,’ she said.

The new campus of the International Islamic university is spread over several acres and houses over 17,000 students, including 6,000 women.

There are 2,000 foreign students from 45 countries, but mostly from China and African countries.

Sources said that security and intelligence agencies had information that terrorists would strike a university on Tuesday.

The police said one of the attackers, who was carrying five to seven kilograms of explosives, blew himself outside the office of the chairman of the Sharia Department, killing two people and creating a hole in the office wall and cracking adjacent walls.

Eyewitnesses said that shards of glass and body parts lay scattered in the corridor. Nearby rooms, including a conference room and classes, were damaged by the blast.

The other suicide bomber, they said, struck the girl’s cafeteria after 3pm. Pellets mixed with the explosives also damaged a large area, perforating roofs and walls.

Investigators said they had found skin attached to a forehead and an ear, which they believed were of one of the attackers.

The other attacker, wearing a vest containing five to eight kilograms of explosives, had disguised himself as a woman and was wearing a colourful shawl. He was intercepted by a worker identified as Pervez Masih when he tried to enter the girls’ cafeteria.

It is believed had Mr Masih not stopped the suicide bomber, the death toll would have been higher because about 50 students were having lunch at that time.

A leg believed to be that of the suicide bomber was found in the cafeteria. There was some confusion about the gender of the suicide bomber.

Some students said they had spotted a ‘woman’ acting suspiciously near the cafeteria, but there was no official confirmation.

Shortly after the blast, the area was cordoned off as teams of police, intelligence agencies, bomb disposal squad, civil defence, and doctors arrived at the scene.

Rescue workers said they had removed 37 injured people to nearby hospitals, where two of the injured woman students died. Their colleagues identified them only as Hina and Seher.

A 21-year-old suspect, sporting a light beard and wearing white shalwar kamiz, was arrested from the cafeteria while filming the devastation under the nose of the security personnel.

The man, believed to be an accomplice of the suicide bombers, told police that he lived in a nearby slum. But he had no answer when asked why he was making the video.

Another suspect, said to be in his 20s, was also arrested near the Imam Abu Hanifa Block. He is said to be a resident of Sargodha.

The police said that both of them had failed to come up with convincing explanations about their presence at the scene.

Three other suspects were picked up from a slum in I-11 sector.

Investigators said that the chairman of the Imam Abu Hanifa Block was the attackers’ prime target because he was ‘known for his liberal views’, but he was not present in his office at that time. Interior Minister Rehman Malik faced humiliation for the second time in a week when students compelled him to leave the campus with a hail of stones.

The minister was accompanied by senior officials of the interior ministry and local administration.

Pakistan’s Higher Education Reform Experiment

The latest issue of Nature (Volume 461 Number 7260, September 3, 2009) published an article as well as an editorial on Pakistan’s higher education reform experiment and on the Higher Education Commission (HEC). We are sharing editorial and for article please click here (Pakistan's reform experiment). This article is jointly contributed by Athar Osama, Adil Najam, Shamsh Kassim-Lakha, Syed Zulfiqar Gilani & Christopher King

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Editorial

Nature 461, 11-12 (3 September 2009) doi:10.1038/461011b; Published online 2 September 2009

Cash costs

Massive funding for Pakistan's ailing universities holds many lessons for other developing nations. Eight years ago, a task force advising Pakistan's former military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, laid out a bold plan to revitalize the country's moribund research system: initiate a fivefold increase in public funding for universities, with a special emphasis on science, technology and engineering. The proposal was a radical departure from conventional wisdom on the economics of developing nations, which favours incremental investments. Sudden surges of cash are held to be dangerous in poorer countries, which often lack the institutions or the calibre of people required to make the most of such a windfall, and the money can easily be wasted or fall prey to corruption.

Nonetheless, Musharraf agreed to the proposal. The reforms began in 2003. And the results, which have now earned a qualified thumbs-up from a group of experts in science and education policy..., offer some valuable lessons for other developing nations.

First, conventional wisdom isn't always right. Despite early doubts that Musharraf's autocratic regime could allocate the new funds effectively, the experts cite initiatives such as a free national digital library and high-speed Internet access for universities as examples of success, as well as new scholarships enabling more than 2,000 students to study abroad for PhDs — with incentives to return to Pakistan afterwards. And they acknowledge that the years of reform have coincided with increases in the number of Pakistani authors publishing in research journals, especially in mathematics and engineering, as well as boosting the impact of their research outside Pakistan.

Second, human capital matters. One concern raised by the report published in this issue is that the 3,500 candidates for Pakistan's new domestic PhD programmes have had lower qualifications than the candidates going abroad. But that is a situation that should correct itself over time as Pakistan's schools improve. For the time being, the more important point is that Pakistan has opened up the chance of a research degree to many more people than in the past — including those who do not have wealthy families, or access to influential people, or good skills in European languages. Harnessing those reserves of talent is an integral part of any nation's development.

Finally, accountability is essential. This was not a priority for the architects of Pakistan's educational reform, partly because they were working for an autocratic regime, and partly because they were in too much of a hurry. The government seemed to be living on borrowed time, Musharraf's science adviser, Atta-ur-Rahman, has recalled. On the one hand, politicians, judges and lawyers were pressing for a return to democracy; on the other, the influence of the Pakistani Taliban was increasing. Suicide bombers twice tried to assassinate Musharraf — once by blowing up his motorcade as he returned from making a speech to scientists. If the reformers didn't get their programme in place quickly, they feared they might not get it in place at all.

The result, however, is that the body created to implement the reforms, the Higher Education Commission, has operated with minimal oversight by academics, parliamentarians or anyone else. There has been some waste, although no one has yet accused the commission of egregious abuses of power. But it has exhibited blind spots that an outside influence might have corrected — notably a total lack of investment in the social sciences and policy research, disciplines that encourage the asking of questions that autocratic regimes frequently dislike answering.

This must change. Pakistan is no longer a dictatorship. The elected government, under President Asif Ali Zardari, has expressed cautious support for continuing Musharraf's education reforms. It therefore has an opportunity to build on their successes and correct their shortcomings — starting with an independent review of the commission's performance.

Dr Anwar Ahmad Siddiqui: (New) President IIUI

After our following post, the web team has rectified the name error and “Dr. Anwar Ahmad Siddiqui” is now again Dr. Anwar Hussain Siddiqui. This is not the first time that IIUI’s IT & web team is showing such an excellent level of efficiency and competence. In response to some of our earlier posts, they have done the same thing but never bothered to fix the systematic problems in their working. However, they should be applauded that at least after realizing some problem, they are ready to act. Isn’t it a rare character in our university?


Yesterday morning, we were surprised either at our ignorance or ignorance of one of the scribes who submitted the report of a seminar on Gaza held at IIUI. The first few lines of the report read like this:

"A Seminar on the Israeli War on Gaza: Causes and Consequences was organized by Iqbal International Institute for Research & Dialogue at International Islamic University Auditorium Islamabad. Dr. Anwar Ahmad Siddiqui, President International Islamic University was in the Chair. While the panelists included Professor Amir Ali Hoodbhoy, Ambassador Tayyab Siddiqui, Professor Amna Mahmood Sandhu and Junaid Ahmad,…..( http://www.iiu.edu.pk/News/january_09.html#discussion)"

The most terrible mistake is very obvious: Dr Anwar Ahmad Siddiqui or is it because of our ignorance of Dr Sahib’s recent name change which most of us are unaware of. But what might have prompted Dr Anwar to change his name at this stage of his life?? Then he might not have changed his name and it is all a mischief of a newly recruited reporter or an intern who has not been briefed about the president. The mistake of not knowing the name of a top gun at an institution is forgivable if institutions are more important than individuals but at IIUI, it’s the president of the university who wields all the powers and we feel pity for the scribe who has got the name of the president wrong.

Its not only the President’s name that needs correction. Dr Hoodbhoy’s name is incomplete and we wonder what does Ambassador Tayyab Siddiqui mean? It is nothing but bad taste.

The most important lesson that we learn from this episode is that IIUI does not follow any systematic procedures to upload new materials on the website. Otherwise, mistakes of this kind are easy to avoid. It is our conjecture that the report was prepared by one of the reporters working in the protocol department. His seniors should have approved the report before sending it to the web master who works under a director in IT Centre whose efficiency is limited to ban IIUI blog being accessed from University network. He should also be responsible for approving all the content that goes online. In this case it seems that there is no filter between the reporter and the readers like us and one day it may result in some weird happening that will embarrass all at the helm of affairs. But do they ever get embarrassed????

The Dark Side of the Enlightenment Project

Author: Dr. Asad Zaman, Professor, International Institute of Islamic Economics-IIUI, Email: asadzaman@alum.mit.edu

The article below has appeared in Turkish Daily News (https://turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=89584), and also in The News, Pakistan.

An extremely important element in the current thinking and psychology of Europeans is the "Enlightenment Project" undertaken by large numbers of European intellectuals. Achievements of Newton, Galileo,and many other prominent scientists created a dramatic impact on the mindset of Europe. A few simple laws could lay bare the secrets of the movements of the stars, and a few observations could upset centuries of belief in the central place of man (and his planet) in universe.Imagine what progress would be possible if these principles of utilizing observations and fact, and building upon them in the light of reason, were applied on a much larger scale. Enlightenment thinkers were inspired by fantastic achievements of science, and technology.They thought that application of the scientific method in all areas of human thought would lead to a radical improvement in the human condition. All social problems such was wars, famines, disease, misery were due to traditions and superstition (that is, Christianity).Opposing tradition, establishment, encouraging fresh and innovative ways of thinking, and subjecting all ideas to the iron test of reason would lead to the improvement of the human race, and to 'moral progress'.

The first and second world wars came as a shock to believers in the Enlightenment project. The scale of violence, barbarism, and cruelty of Europeans to others was easily equal to the worst happenings in the 'dark' and unenlightened times before the triumph of reason. Centuries of diligent study and application of scientific methods to shape minds and construct societies did not appear to have improved human beings judged as humans. Blind faith in progress through application of science was tempered by a dark dose of reality. Warnings that the Enlightenment project might not turn out so well on the human front had been present all along, but the few naysayers had been ignored by the enthusiastic mainstream. Hume had clearly stated that moral values could not be discovered or established by the scientific method.Everyone saw that morals, integrity and honesty were necessary for civilization. Religion, custom and tradition form the basis formality. Enlightenment thinkers felt confident that they could find alternative bases for a superior morality on the solid foundations off acts and reason. The far-sighted Nietzsche saw much more clearly than his contemporaries the implications of the rejection of religion as superstition, and the magnitude of the task facing the Europeans in constructing an alternative basis for morality, and human behavior.He described this in the parable of the madman who claimed that "We have killed God" – meaning that we Europeans have lost faith in God.He goes on to say the this tremendous news has not yet reached the ears of men, even though they did the deed themselves. That is, the full implications of loss of faith have not been absorbed by European intellectuals, who continue to believe that rational foundations for morality can be found. The implications of living without any basis for morality have not been absorbed.

The twentieth century can be viewed as a report card for the Enlightenment project. As recorded by philosopher and ethicist Jonathan Glover in his Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century, the report is not good. Violence, murders, atrocities,destruction of entire cities, and large masses of innocent people using deliberately cruel methods, has been done on a scale never before seen in the annals of history. Glover writes that the challenge of Nietzsche, to find an alternative basis for morality, has not been met, although he continues to be optimistic that a solution may be found. Many authors have written books and articles on the decline of morals in the West, which has been extremely rapid in the last fifty years. As a small but significant illustrative example, consider the affair of Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. Only twenty years prior to this event, similar scandals could and did bring down governments and terminate political careers. However, with the erosion of moral values, this affair was dismissed as a personal quirk which was so widespread in the society that it would be hypocritical to chastise the leader too severely for it. According to contemporary conceptions of morality, this is a trivial personal matter, and to take it seriously is the sign of a narrow minded prude. Clinton's affair is the butt of many jokes and limericks it would be improper to cite herein a public forum. Nonetheless, there is a very serious dimension to this affair. If the wives of leaders of the Western world cannot trust them to keep their promises, and to not deceive them, then who can trust them? Surely it is not the case that a person is compartmentalized so as to behave with integrity in public affairs,and not in his personal affairs.

For us living in the Muslim world, there are some very important lessons to be learned from this history of the Enlightenment project.Those of us who have absorbed the lessons of the West have learned to consider tradition and religion as inferior to reason and observation– this lesson permeates all Western thinking, literature, and other media. The fact is that the science and religion occupy different spheres, and experience shows that science offers no guidance on moral affairs. Physics can lead to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and also provide atomic power. Biology is capable of genetic manipulation of crops to enrich multinationals at the expense of the masses, and equally capable of providing substantial increases in production to feed the starving. We are living in a world which has lost its moral bearings,at least partly as an outcome of commitment to Enlightenment principles. The law of the jungle prevails in the international arena.Any country with sufficient power can invade, capture, occupy, and kill innocents and large numbers without even the pretext of a moral justification. Our Islamic tradition offers strong moral guidance,which is becoming more and more a desperate need of the times.

Islamic Economics: An Alternative Perspective

The debate of Islamic economics, banking and finance has come a long way since last 20 years and the theory is now somehow put into practice. The International Institute of Islamic Economics-IIUI was among the pioneering attempts to teach and disseminate the cause of Islamic economics in an academic setting. However, things have substantially changed over the last several years and we can see many "Islamic" banks operating all over the world with Shariah compliant products under the supervision of a whole bunch of Shariah Advisers. A Karachi based "family of scholars" have really made their fortune out of this boom and they are now "green" cardholders when it comes to Islamic Banking. Quite understandably there is a dissent too and we are sharing here a critical voice of a young scholar who is raising some very crucial concerns about what is happening in the name of Islamic economics. The reason why we are sharing it here is pretty straightforward: the nexus between IIUI-IIIE and contemporary Islamic banking & finance.

This is a series of articles which Muhammad Zahid Siddique Mughal (National University-FAST, Karachi) is currently writing in monthly Al-Shariah. Because of space constraints, we are only giving links to both parts of the article:

Part 1: http://www.alsharia.org/articles/monthly_alsharia/2008/Aug08/islami_maeeshat.html

Part 2: http://www.alsharia.org/articles/monthly_alsharia/2008/Sep08/islamiMuashiat_zahidSiddique.html

Links

Some IIUI related communities:

1. The largest Orkut Community:
http://www.orkut.com/Community.aspx?cmm=121802

2. Another Orkut Community: http://www.orkut.com/Community.aspx?cmm=531943

3. IIUI Women Campus Orkut Cmmunity: http://www.orkut.com/Community.aspx?cmm=1802217

4. IIUI Faculty of Shariah & Law on Orkut: http://www.orkut.com/Community.aspx?cmm=15019545

5. IIUI Computer Sciences Students: http://www.orkut.com/Community.aspx?cmm=1449059

6. IIUI FMS: http://www.orkut.com/Community.aspx?cmm=1456142

7. IIUI Engineering: http://www.orkut.com/Community.aspx?cmm=34420546