Minhaj University imparting education in counter-terrorism, peace & religions programs

Dr Hussain Mohi-ud-Din Qadri, president of MQI and the Deputy Chairman of Board of Governors of Minhaj University Lahore (MUL), has stated that the University is offering degree programmes of international level for elimination of terrorism from Pakistan, and promotion of harmony and tolerance so that the real problems could be addressed with the help of modern-day research.

Dr Hussain Mohi-ud-Din Qadri made these remarks while addressing the concluding ceremony of a 12-week workshop titled “Religious Pluralism and Peace Studies” that was conducted in collaboration with ‘Religions, Philosophy, Peace & Counter-Terrorism’ Department of MUL. The ceremony was held to distribute certificates among the successful students. Dr Harman, Chairman of School of Philosophy and Religions and Dr Alqama Khawja, Chairman of School of Peace and Counter-Terrorism, also spoke on the occasion.

Dr Hussain Mohi-ud-Din Qadri said that around 70,000 to 80,000 people including children, women and personnel of the security forces were killed in the terrorism-related incident but unfortunately the successive governments did not give focused and sustained attention to this all-important issue. He said that even a single incident of terrorism in other countries led them to set up counter-terrorism and peace departments in their universities but this important area was totally neglected both at the governmental and private level in Pakistan.

The Deputy Chairman BoG said that Minhaj University understood the importance of new research into the issues of militancy, terrorism and extremism and set up a Counter-Terrorism Department at the degree level. He said that in the same way, the degree level Department of Religions and Philosophy was launched at MUL so that those students of other faiths who live in Muslim-majority country are able to acquire education about their religion. He said that church, temple and Mandirs may be imparting teaching in their respective religions but they cannot issue a degree. He said that the students study under the direct supervision of professors and teachers belonging to the same faiths and have access to their original religious texts so that they can carry out real-life research into the areas of specialization without any bias.

Dr Hussain Mohi-ud-Din Qadri said that such initiatives of giving opportunities of research and knowledge acquisition to students of different faiths should be taken by the governments. He said that such academic programmes are avoided because they are not profitable. He informed that Religions and Philosophy and Peace & Counter-Terrorism Departments will soon offer PhD programmes in their respective disciplines.