Recently Islamabad hosted a well-attended Social Sciences Expo 2016. Though most sessions were on important topics with panelists of high calibre, the one that discussed academic freedom had the honour of being graced by two outstanding scholars -- Dr Ajmal Khan and Dr Waqar Ali Shah -- who were also victims of increasing intolerance in society perpetrated by state or non-state actors.

Dr Ajmal Khan was appointed the first vice-chancellor of Islamia College Peshawar in 2008 when it was granted the status of a university and was renamed as Islamia College University. Dr Khan was kidnapped in 2010 while going home in his car. He narrated to a spell-bound audience how his car was suddenly surrounded by armed men who forced themselves into his car, put the driver in the backseat with him, and covered both of them in shuttlecock burqas.

In four years’ time, he was moved at least 20 times, finally landing in Waziristan through Orakzai agency. Dr Khan described in detail his meeting with the Taliban leader Hakeemullah Mehsud who told him that they were targeting Awami National Party leader Mian Iftikhar Hussain but being a minister his security was much tighter so they managed to abduct Dr Khan.

While in captivity, Dr Khan was allowed to teach around 30 children of the families living in the surrounding areas of their hideout. Hakeemullah Mehsud had ordered his henchmen to treat Dr Khan well; so he was spared any physical torture but the mental fatigue he had to endure was excruciating. Dr Khan’s misery came to an end when infighting broke out within Taliban and Sajna group took over the area where Dr Khan was kept. He denied paying any ransom to his captors.

The story of Dr Waqar Ali Shah was different. A renowned scholar of history, he has studied at Oxford University. He has worked as Director National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research (NIHCR), Centre of Excellence, Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) of Islamabad. Not long ago, he presented a paper Identity Crisis and the responsibilities of the Pakistani Historians at Shah Abdul Latif University (SALU), Khairpur, Sindh. In his paper, he encouraged historians to focus on neglected areas of history that are normally overlooked in the books on Pakistan Studies prescribed by the government.

He particularly talked about the need to do more research on the pre-Islamic period in this region such as on Moenjo Daro and international trade routes of ancient times that passed through the areas now constituting Pakistan.

His paper highlighted that Sindh’s separation from Bombay and Sindh’s role in the movement for Pakistan needed special attention to explore the factors behind the change of heart in great leaders such as G.M Sayed who initially had supported Pakistan and then ended up as a vocal advocate for the creation of Sindhu Desh. Similarly, he talked about the sacrifices rendered by Sooriah Badshah against the British imperialism that have largely been neglected by historians supporting the state narrative in Pakistan.

He had underscored the democratic struggle of the smaller provinces in Pakistan such as the Movement for Restoration of Democracy (MRD) that General Ziaul Haq brutally tried to crush, especially in Sindh.

When Dr Shah returned, the vice-chancellor of QAU told him that he was under tremendous pressure from the spooks to remove him from the position as the director of NIHCR. He explained to the VC that as a historian it was his responsibility to encourage the new historians to conduct research on important and hitherto neglected topics, but to no avail. The VC was apparently more interested in saving his own seat rather than defending the academic freedom of his staff.

Dr Shah’s removal was prompt and without any plausible explanation, though later on the VC kept denying that any such conversation had taken place between him and Dr Shah.

These two episodes are eye-opening and need to be highlighted as prime examples of how state and non-state actors infringe upon academic freedom of those who are considered opposed to the dominant narrative of the right wing ideology that has been parading in the corridors of power for long.

The Expo was organised by the Jang Media Group in collaboration with HEC’s Inter-University Consortium for Promotion of Social Sciences. Zafarullah Khan, while moderating the session on academic freedom, read a surprisingly long list of scholars and university professors who had been victims of state repression during the past seven decades. But even more surprising was his presentation of two letters, one from Prof. Dr Mansoor Akbar Kundi, executive director of HEC Islamabad issued on October 28, 2014 and the second by Ishtiaq Ahmad, a section officer at the Higher Education Department (HED) of the government of the Punjab, issued on March 27, 2015.

These two letters show that the state’s penchant for suppressing diversity is not only alive and kicking but -- even after almost seven decades -- is still bent on forging a sense of insecurity and fear in the academia. It is worthwhile to reproduce a couple of paragraphs from these letters, copies of which are available with this writer. First the letter from the HED Punjab under the subject "anti-Pakistan and anti-cultural research topics", the section officer writes:

"I am directed to refer to the subject and inform that it has been pointed out by various security agencies that research topics being given to the students in the universities of the Punjab are of anti-Pakistan and anti-cultural in nature. (Sic)"

The officer goes on to mention that "the Component Authority has taken a serious notice of this situation."

The letter from the HEC Islamabad is even more prescriptive in nature; it reads:

"Regretfully, it has been observed that a few activities that are directly or indirectly hosted or sponsored by Universities or DAIs include discussions or presentations contrary to the ideology and principles of Pakistan… Such instances not only tarnish the image of an institution but fortify negativism and chaos."

The letter concludes with an advice to "remain very vigilant and forestall any activity that in any manner challenges the ideology and principles of Pakistan, and/or perspective of the government of Pakistan thereof."

So much for academic freedom in Pakistani universities.

One may request the state functionaries to enlighten us about what kind of positivism and order has been infused in the nation during the decades of unrelenting state suppression of diversity of opinion. Every attempt by the progressive believers in diversity and multiculturalism, to challenge the dominant narrative of faith, unity and discipline, has been squashed with ruthless force since independence.

The only diversity that has been allowed is the proliferation of a multitude of religious bigots and the right wing cacophony. Do our policy-makers realise what they have done to this country in the name of concocted ideologies and principles?

A silver lining is that the same HEC’s Inter-University Consortium for Promotion of Social Sciences in its Expo 2016 witnessed this heated discussion on academic freedom which concluded with a unanimous resolution that resolved as follows:

"Freedom of the academic scholar to pursue research for its own sake being a prerequisite for the production of knowledge, scholars must have freedom to investigate and to teach and to communicate ideas as these occur, and disseminate facts as discovered -- including those that are inconvenient to groups that hold different opinions or to those in positions of authority; and further that scholars must be enabled to do so without being targeted, and must not be subjected to hardship and never to repression."