Three-day International History Conference concludes

ISLAMABAD: The three-day International History Conference on "Historiography on South Asia concluded at Quaid-i-Azam University, (QAU) here on Sunday.

The conference was organized by Department of History (QAU) Hanns Seidel Foundation and Higher Education Commission (HEC).

Dr. Aslam Syed, Professor for Islamic Studies, School for Asian and African Studies, Humboldt University Berlin said history only repeats itself for those who do not learn from history.

He asserted that it was a duty of the historians to bring forth unbiased facts and do social engineering which is required to de-radicalize the Pakistani society at present.

"We need to set our facts straight and then interpret them. History as a social science should not manifest destiny one should be very clear that the humans were behind the various events," he added.

While reiterating the need to live in present he said "those who do not have a satisfactory present find escape in past".

There were three sessions at final day of the conference. While presiding over the session on Historiography of Pakistan Dr Saeed ud Din Ahmed Dar stressed on the role and significance of ideology in shaping the identity of Pakistan.

Dr. Dushka H. Sayed in her address stressed the need to focus on people's histories and to explore the socio-cultural trends in Pakistan. Dr. Razia Sultana,Chairperson, Department of History thanked the scholars and said the conference has been successful in projecting new research on historiography of South Asia.

In conference three broad sub themes that range between Ancient, medieval and modern or contemporary historiography were determined.

During the three-day conference interesting researches were presented, which explored new avenues and dimensions in the discipline of history.

Some interesting articles were listed as Frontier Archeology: Items for Colonial and post colonial Historiography by Dr. Luca Olivieri, Female slaves inthe Historiography of Delhi Sultanate: Deconstructing the Stereotypes by Ms. Fouzia Farooq, Arab and Indian Muslims views on partition in South Asia and the Palestine Madate, by Dr. Lucy Chester from University of Colorado, History of special status of FATA by Dr. Sarfaraz, Pakistan post 9/11 regional strategic environment, challenges and responses by Dr. RasidAhmed Khan Pak-Afghan Relations: A history of Political Ramblings by Dr. Umer Farooq Zain.