ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Tuesday cautioned India of internal strife if it continued persecuting Muslims under its Hindutva ideology, based on racism and hate.
“The future of peace within India greatly depends upon the treatment it metes out to its minorities, particularly Muslims,” the president said at the International Conference on ‘Institutionalization of Hindutva in India: A Regional Security Perspective’.
The conference organized by the International Relations Department of the National Defence University gathered intellectuals from the United States, China, Iran, Germany and Pakistan to deliberate upon the global rise of Islamophobia in the local perspective of Hindutva extremism.
He said India in its historic outlook had never been a country, but a combination of over 500 princely states that could even crumble today if it did not stop genocide and persecution of minorities.
President Alvi said Hindutva ideology was being promoted under the patronage of the Modi regime, which would create violence and unrest in Indian society, adding that resultantly India would blame Pakistan for its flawed and extremist policies.
He stated that the brutalities against Muslims and their ethnic cleansing in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir was the practical manifestation of Hindutva policies.
He said India’s recently amended “Citizenship Act, reflected the prejudiced mindset of Hindutva which aimed at changing the demography of the Muslim-majority Kashmir.
He regretted that such acts on part of the Modi regime were amounting to “ethnic cleansing” that required the special attention of the world to build pressure on India to stop committing human rights violations in IIOJK.
Dr Alvi said the world, due to its vested interests, was not seriously taking the disturbing situation in IIOJK.
“We want the international community to see the ‘true colours’ of India, that reflect an open hatred against Muslims,” he said.
He pointed out that the Muslims constituted almost 15 percent of the Indian population, but regrettably, they had been kept deprived of their due representation in the Indian parliament as well as their share in the government’s jobs.
He maintained that India could not tolerate other minorities, particularly Muslims, and thus wanted to rewrite history by erasing the contributions done by the Muslims for India.
He quoted, in this regard, an excerpt from ‘The Book of Laughter and Forgetting’ authored by Czech historian Milan Kundera who had stated that the first step to liquidate a people is to take away their memory by destroying their books, culture and history.
The president also mentioned the books ‘End of India’ by Indian intellectual Khushwant Singh and ‘Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up’ by Indian woman journalist Rana Ayyub that highlighted the dark contours of India’s history, deeply rooted in violence, bigotry and prejudice.
Appreciating the talent of the Pakistani nation, the president said he was proud of the Pakistani nation which had the resolve and potential to overcome challenges and prove itself in the comity of nations by gaining an ‘intellectual edge’ in all fields of life.
“I can see the country rising which will soon overcome the socio-economic challenges being faced by the country,” he added.
President NDU Lt Gen Muhammad Saeed said Pakistan’s major external threats emanated from India, whose defence capabilities were primarily Pakistan-centric.
He said to maintain the equilibrium, Pakistan was justified in building its military might for the purpose of defending its frontiers and the people. He mentioned that since 2014, India was using religious sentiments for political gains, saying that it could have dangerous consequences for Pakistan as well as the region.
Separately, President Dr Arif Alvi stressed the need for adopting international standards of facility and building management by the government organisations for better service delivery, increased efficiency and ensuring cost-effectiveness.
The president made these remarks while chairing a meeting on “Adopting ISO Standardised Practices” at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Tuesday. The meeting was attended by senior officials of Aiwan-e-Sadr.
He expressed the hope that the documentation of all facility management tasks of Aiwan-e-Sadr, in line with ISO-41001 standards, would enhance efficiency and prolong the lifespan of physical assets of the Presidency. He affirmed the resolve to make Aiwan-e-Sadr a role model for other government organisations in adopting sustainable and environmentally friendly practices.
He added that Pakistan is being affected by climate change and the country needs to adopt renewable energy technologies, and sustainable water and land management techniques to overcome the harmful effects of climate change.
Expressing satisfaction over the adoption of ISO-50001 Energy Management System (EMS) at Aiwan-e-Sadr, the president said that EMS would not only save Rs32 million annually but would also reduce energy consumption by 31.2 percent.
He stated that the recently inaugurated 01 MW Green Presidency Solarisation Project would meet all the energy requirements of Aiwan-e-Sadr, besides contributing surplus energy to the national grid. He said that Pakistan’s Presidency is one of the few in the world which is fully operating on green energy technology.
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