Pakistan's Ideological Ambiguities

The seemingly never-ending debates swing from one extreme to the other, from a Secular state to a Khilafat. From a homeland for Muslims to What Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah intended Pakistan to be, what it has become and where is it going?What drove Mr Jinnah from an Indian Nationalist to a champion of the two-nation theory? Did Muslims in India constitute a nation? How relevant is the two-nation theory after the separation of East Pakistan and with more Muslims living in India than in Pakistan? Seventy-three years on, we are still struggling with these and many other similar questions. We don’t seem to come out of the ideological crisis.

Our guest, Professor Dr Ishtiaq Ahmed, a political scientist and a historian, is one of the few scholars who can provide objective analyses, a historical perspective and help us guide to find real answers.

Among several other famous books, he is the author of the recently published and internationally acclaimed book “JINNAH – His Successes, Failures, and Role in History”. This book is a result of four years of intensive research, analyses of thousands of documents, dozens of interviews and assembling of compelling historical evidence. A must-read.

This online dialogue with Professor Dr Ishtiaq Ahmed will be an eye-opener for most of us. It will bring to light many events and historical facts which may be confrontational. It will challenge our perceptions and our knowledge about the past and help us think of the future more realistically in today’s context and realities. In the words of Søren Kierkegaard, “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”

Our Guest:

Dr. Ishtiaq Ahmed is a Swedish political scientist and author of Pakistani descent. He obtained a PhD in Political Science from Stockholm University, where he is currently Professor Emeritus, having retired in 2010. During 2015-2019 he was Visiting Professor at the Government College University, Lahore, and in 2013-2015 Visiting Professor at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). He is Honorary Senior Fellow of the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS) at the National University of Singapore and was Visiting Research Professor at the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS). He was also Visiting Professor at the South Asian Studies Programme, the National University of Singapore from June 2007 to June 2010. He is member of the editorial advisory boards of "Asian Ethnicity"; "Journal of Punjab Studies"; "IPRI Journal, Islamabad"; and "PIPS Research Journal of Conflict and Peace Studies, Islamabad. He is author of several books including "Punjab Bloodied" and Pakistan, the Garrison State".