Source: LUBP
It is disturbing but hardly surprising to learn that LUMS administration has refused to renew the employment contract of Pakistan’s eminent scholar Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy. Apparently the decision to fire him has to do with the content of his course Science and Religion.
In the last few years, LUMS has established reputation of a pro-establishment academic institution dominated by Punjabi-Muhajir Islamists and pseudo-liberal elites. Financed by Punjab’s mercantile class, LUMS administration and faculty members have continued to serve the wider interests of Pakistan’s ruling classes, particularly those of military establishment.
For example, while we witnessed big demonstrations organized by LUMS students and faculty members in support of a corrupt PCO judge Iftikhar Chaudhry and a pro-Taliban politician Imran Khan, there has been complete silence over genocide of Shia Muslims, Balochs, Pashtuns etc at the hands of Punjabi-establishment dominated army and its Takfiri Deobandi proxies (ASWJ-LeJ, Taliban etc).
This article is the worst sort of despicable and baseless character defamation, and all over the non-renewal of a contract.
@Sultan. Yours seems to be general statement. Articles is full of quotes and concrete data. Better would be if you also support your view point concretely.
We were taught the principle: It is sufficent to prove a man a liar that he repeats everything that he hears.
It is not up to LUMS to defend itself, it is up to the lunatics at LUBP to substantiate their allegations.
1) The allegation is that PH was fired.
He was not fired, his contract is ending, LUMS offered him another one with substantially different terms as LUMS has the right to do, he turned it down.
2) He did not offer the course Science and Religion as mentioned in the article, as a simple google search would show.
3) There is no evidence of an ideological bias against PH. There are those at LUMS that would agree with his views against religion and those who would not.
4) LUMS is a hotbed of deobandi takfirism?
What kind of idiot believes that? LUMS is a national institution with students from all over Pakistan and the wider region. The faculty is from various backgrounds also. Various viewpoints are held by different people in the LUMS community.
5) LUMS is comparable to Jamia Binoria. Ask the Ahmadi or Christian students at LUMS if they would find them the same.
6) Adil Najam, Rasul Bux Raees and Noman Ul Haq are right wing bigots? Do you know any of these scholars? Have you read their works? What makes them right-wing except that they do not have exactly the same views as the people at LUBP?
Again, article is atrocious, some of the ‘facts’ are demonstrably wrong, and differences over the merit of a hiring decision have been used to slander people without evidence.
We will be very open to publish anything Pervez Hoodbhoy has to say on Science and Religion.
@Sultan. Thanks for prompt and bold rebuttal. MT policy is to have different views and to search for the truth. Your points are being raised with LUBP. Let us see what response is given by them, later can also be carried in MT.
@Sultan. You can have the response of LUBP on raised points:
@Zubair Khan
Usually I don’t respond to comments (due to lack of time), but let me offer a quick response:
1. “PH was not fired, his contract was not renewed.” What’s new here? Did we not record the same fact in the above post? Obfucators usually resort to semantics to deflect from the core issue. This case is no different.
2-3. LUMS was concerned that he wants to ‘fix the world’. Some of the contentions, as far as we know, were also related to Hoodbhoy’s views on religion and science. Refer to Hoodbhoy’s email to Adil Najam (now published on LUBP)
4-6. Selective reading. We said LUMS is a hotbed of pro-establishment urban class comprising pseudo-liberals and right-wing bigots. (Bear in mind that Sharia enforcing Takfiri Deobandis (Taliban, ASWJ etc) are sponsored by whisky drinking liberal-looking generals.)