KARACHI, Jan 21: Speakers at a seminar on ‘Clash of Civilizations – Myth or Reality’ agreed that by authoring an absurd myth about clash of civilisations, Samuel Huntington had served the interests of capitalist powers in establishing their hegemony on the world.

The seminar was organised by the Society for Research and Dialogue at the Garden Centre, Phase-II, DHA, in which intellectuals of different schools of thought were invited to engage in the dialogue in an attempt to analyse how the political milieu was influenced by Huntington’s book ‘Clash of Civilizations’.

Jamaat-i-Islami’s secretary-general Syed Munawwar Hasan insisted that there was a clash between the Islamic and western civilisations. He said for the Muslims and Islamic civilisation communism and socialism were part of an overall western civilisation while capitalists were against communists because of their own inner differences and interests.

He said the whole Muslim Ummah was one civilisation and it had always kept a different worldview than that was of the west which was why it had never coe at par with the materialistic approach of the western civilisation.

Mr Hasan did not agree to the general perception that the former Soviet Union was dismembered due to western intrigues and conflicts and contradictions within and said the USSR became history because of its defeat at the hands of the Mujahideen in Afghanistan.

“The Americans have no role in breaking the Soviet Union but the defeat the then superpower had tasted was at the hands of the Mujahideen. I am saying this because I am witness to that all for taking part in Afghan jihad for more than once,” said Mr Hasan, adding that the same fate was forthcoming for the Americans and Nato forces in the landlocked country.

He blamed the Pakistan government for breaking the All Parties Hurriyat Conference to cause damage to the Kashmir struggle and benefit the Indians.

Dr Syed Jaffer Ahmad, director of the Pakistan Study Centre, University of Karachi, was of the view that there was no clash among the world civilisations as being incorrectly emphasized by the American intelligentsia.

“This document has no serious content to be worried about. It is just a camouflage to divert the attention of the world from the real battle, which is purely economic between the poor and capitalist forces,” said Dr Ahmad.

He said Huntington’s thesis was written only to throw something ‘different’ in the market to get a bestseller which was part of the general idea in the west to get both – money and fast recognition.

He referred to another piece of work done by the same author in the mid-1960s in which he had termed General Ayub Khan as the ideal Muslim ruler who could inspire the whole Ummah. Ironically, General Ayub’s regime could last for less than a couple of years after that thesis.

He said Huntington’s book had been used for imperialistic designs and was still an effective organ for the capitalist powers to suppress smaller nations. He said there was no incident in the recorded history which gave an account of clash among the civilisations.

“Our world has seen many

civilisations through centuries, which were born, prospered and ended but they became history for inner contradictions and their own weaknesses and not for the clashes among them,” he said.

He said the people of east lived in the western countries in huge numbers thus there was no question of any clash among them and the watertight compartmentalisation was no longer valid.

“Huntington’s document is a shallow piece of work based on international relations with no reference to history, economics, sociology and philosophy,” he said.

He said capitalism lived on expansion and desired to expand more, which was why it had even weakened many small nations of the west, and globalisation, which it had given birth, had killed many vulnerable cultures and small languages. “The situation has become extremely dangerous after the end of the Soviet Union, which was the last obstacle in the way of imperialistic designs,” he said.

Prof Huma Baqai of the University of Karachi said the war on terror had given justification to other powers to suppress the freedom-fighters terming them terrorists, and referred to Chechnya where Russian forces were engaged in stifling the Chechens’ struggle. Besides, it also affected the struggle of the Kashmiris.

She said the Taliban’s worldview was narrow that’s why they termed their rule as Islamic, which was in fact a tribal dispensation and was later termed as Talibanisation.

She said the actual actors of the world politics – the US and its allies – should come forward and initiate dialogue to ensure virtual peace in the world.

Shahnawaz Farooqi, director for research of the SRD, said the Islamic and western civilizations were poles apart, having contrasting ideas and faiths. He called upon the western world to come forward and engage in a dialogue with the Muslims to ensure peaceful co-existence.

“We should learn to live together by respecting each other’s differences,” he said.

Osama Bin Razi, chairman of the SRD, conducted the proceedings.