PESHAWAR: Speakers at a seminar accused the West of imposing its culture on the entire world, including Muslims, and stressed greater ties among the Muslim countries to foil its attempt.
| More deep laid plots: sinister conspiracies hatched by men of dark visage in smoke-filled back rooms. Happens all the time. |
The seminar âThe Cultural Dimensions of Pak-Iran Relationsâ was jointly organised by the University of Peshawarâs Department of International Relations and the Consulate General of the Islamic Republic of Iran at the Sir Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum Hall on Saturday.
| I'm sure all the gaily colored turbans made it quite the festive occasion... |
Mohammad Hasan Imani, the consul general of Iran, accused the West of working for the elimination of the historical identity of the Muslim world. He said that modern technologies such as satellite channels and Internet were being used to distance Muslim youth from their culture.
| "It ain't like we can compete in those areas, y'know. Allan knows we've tried and tried, but the little bastards would rather watch MTV than listen to holy men chanting the Koran over an over. I can't figure it!" |
Imani called upon Pakistani and Iranian scholars and intellectuals to chalk out strategies for strengthening relations to face the cultural challenges of the future. He said although the geographical frontiers of the two counties were separate, the depth of cultural and religious commonalities between two nations through out history had embodied a portrait of congeniality and support between these two vast lands in different political, social and international landscapes. He called Persian language the most important characteristic of common culture between Pakistan and Iran.
| "You guys are just like us. Only shorter. And darker. And not as civilized. And Sunnis, most of you..." |
Mumtaz Gul, the vice chancellor of Peshawar University, said that Iran had been dear to Pakistan but relations between them had not been as good as they should have during the past two decades. âWe have found Iran distant from Pakistan. We tend to forget our neighbours because of globalisation,â he said.
| That must be an example of Islamic logic. I'd think that given the nature of globalization you'd become more aware of your neighbors... |
He said the cultural roots between the two nations were being downplayed by globalisation and that the world had become too materialistic and was drifting away from faith. He said that Muslims were under constant attack from the West through the media and that they should unite to defend themselves.
| "They just won't let us practice our religion in peace!" |
âIran and Pakistan are brotherly nations sharing common history and culture and there are many imprints of the Iranian culture over the Pakistani culture,â he said.
| "Most of them shaped like horse shoes, where you rode over us, of course..." |
He asked the International Relations (IR) department of the university to record the seminar proceedings and give them a documented shape so that the suggestions could be passed on to the foreign office for streamlining foreign policy.
| "The fact that our comments are vapid attempts to shift the blame for our own lack of competetiveness onto others is no reason they shouldn't form the basis of national policy." |
Presenting his paper on âPak-Iran Political and Security Relationsâ, Javed Hussain, a former ambassador, said during that during pre-1979 era, Iran and Pakistan were in the Western Camp and during this period their friendship was strengthened because of their common strategic outlook as reflected by their membership of the Baghdad Pact followed by CENTO. During the post-1979 era, bilateral relations were radically transformed by the Islamic revolution in Iran, he said. During the 1980s, their common stand against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and Pakistanâs support to Iran during the Iran-Iraq war helped in maintaining the traditionally friendly ties between the two counties, he said. Dr Adnan Sarwar, the chairman of the IR Department, Faiza Mir of the Balochistan University, Nazir Hussain of the Qauid-e-Azam University also presented papers.
| But everybody was sound asleep by then... |
|