Staff Reporter
Patron in chief of the Pakistan Hindu Council and member of the National Assembly, Dr. Ramesh Vankwani in his keynote address during a webinar organized by Islamabad Policy Research Institute on Wednesday exhorted the audience to distinguish between Hindutva and Hindu religion. Hindutva as per him was not a religion but a hateful ideology that had taken over Nehru and Gandhi’s secular India. Hindutva according to him was an atavistic and nihilistic creed that that threatened to turn India into a state divorced from the high ideals of its founding fathers.
The proceedings commenced with Acting President of the Islamabad Policy Research Institute Brig (Retd.) Raashid Wali Janjua pointing out the perils of Hindutva exclusivism which threatens Indian minorities as well as regional peace. Director of the Justice Foundation: Kashmir Institute of International Affairs, Mr. Muzzammil Ayyub Thakur spoke about the implacable wave of Indian atrocities saying that what Israelis achieved against Palestinians in 50 years has been achieved by RSS-Modi in one year. He highlighted a spate of human rights violations in IIOJ&K. Mr. Oves Anwar, Director at the RSIL emphasized on the irrefutable fact that the BJP led state machinery in India is using both legislation and ‘system criminality’ as an official policy, despite the CAA violating Article 14 of the Indian constitution which bars the state from denying equal rights to citizens before the law or the equal protection of laws. Dr. Salma Malik from QAU stated during her discourse that Indian secularism must be viewed from a post-colonial lens in South Asia with the undeniable fact that prominent secularists in India had actually fully endorsed Hindu nationalism.
