International Conference
History of Nonviolent Resistance
in Pakistan
Organised by
Institute of Peace and Diplomacy (IPD) and Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF)
In collaboration with
Department of History, University of Warwick and The Leverhulme Trust, UK.
Hotel Margala
Islamabad, Pakistan
27-28 February, 2014
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A
n International Conference entitled “History of Nonviolent Resistance in Pakistan” was
organized by Institute of Peace and Diplomacy (IPD) and Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF)
in collaboration with Department of History, University of Warwick and The Leverhulme
Trust, UK at Hotel Margala, Islamabad, Pakistan on 27-28 February, 2014.
The objective of the conference was to highlight various strands of nonviolent movements
that have continued to survive in post-independence Pakistan in particular and in South Asia
in general representing an important resource for fighting ethnic, communal and other forms
of violence in the region, which includes the militarization of politics. The conference was
aimed at reflecting the history to see how and when such nonviolence has succeeded, and
to understand the reasons why it has failed in certain circumstances. Various sessions in the
conference was also meant to explore whether nonviolence can provide answers to the violence
produced by the ‘war on/of terror’ in modern-day Pakistan.
The conference was divided into Six working sessions: Inaugural Session, Non-Violence :
A Concept in Peace Studies, Non Violence in Political Struggle: Case Study of South Asia,
Non Violence In Civil Society/Social Movement in Pakistan I, Non Violence In Civil Society/
Social Movement in Pakistan II, Protagonists/Historical Figures of Non Violence Post 1947,
Key Reflections and Conclusions. Highlight of the conference was keynote speech by Prof.
Johan Galtung, Eminent Professor, founder and Reactor of TRANSCEND –Peace University
(TPU)). Title of his speech was “Non Violence From Protest Movement to Peaceful Conflict
Resolution.”
In all, there were fourteen papers presented in different working sessions by academicians
from across Pakistan. The speakers highlighted various concepts of non violence and their
significance in peace studies, non violent movements within the region, various social non
violent movements, role of civil society in these movements, historical/protagonists’ figures
and their roles in highlighting their ideas and actions through non violent means.
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The general thrust of the conference was:
 Pakistan has vast history of non-violence resistance movements,
 People of Pakistan had always shown resilience and never opted for violence.
 When seeking solutions to age-old problems, one must go beyond old ways of thinking;
one must transcend into a new reality and find solutions for the future.
 Any nonviolent movement should try and be with the other party.
 Revisit history and learn from the experiences of the past.
In her welcome address, Ms.Farhat Asif, President, Institute of Peace and Diplomacy
highlighted the aims and objectives of the institute. While addressing, she said, that based on
the concept of non violence resistance, the conference aims at highlighting the concept of non
violent resistance in Pakistan’s history through academic discourse. The practice non violent
resistance is symbolic and is based on achieving goals through different modes of protests
without using violence. World’s history is full of various non violent resistance movements
including Pakistan, it’s only that we need to explore and learn from the experiences.
“Pakistan is widely regarded as most violent countries in the world. The figures of death must
not be forgotten but the history of nonviolent resistance too, must also not be over looked”,
were the opening remarks from Kristof W. Duwaerts, Resident Representative, Hanns Seidel
Foundation Islamabad, while sharing his views on the topic. He discussed about the 60% youth
population of Pakistan that wants peace and harmony by giving example of past great leaders.
Mr.Sartaj Aziz, Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs
and Chief Guest of the Conference, said that nonviolence is relevant issue for the current
Pakistani socio-political landscape. The topic is extremely effective in shaping the mindset of
people in the Pakistani society towards building resistance against violence. He said that the
Pakistan Movement is shining example of nonviolence as the Muslim League did not resort to
violent tactics against the British; rather it peacefully gathered support for a separate country.
Mohatarma Fatima Jinnah ran a non-violent movement against a dictatorial regime in 1960s.
Religions also preach non violence, he said. He said that the violent movements started in
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the region following the Russian invasion in Afghanistan and those further escalated after the
US invasion following 9/11 incident. People of Pakistan are peaceful and non-violent despite
imposition of violence by outside powers. History of movements in the country was the true
manifestation of this fact. He pointed out that the movement for restoration of judiciary in 2007
and 2009 was an ample example of non-violent attitude of Pakistani people. Despite decades
of violence on western border, he said people of Pakistan had always shown resilience and had
never opted for violence. He said the incumbent government also believed in non violence and
preferred dialogue to resolve all the issues including that with the Taliban to establish peace in
the country.
Dr. Johan Galtung, the prominent Peace Theorist and negotiator, acknowledged as founder of
peace and conflict studies, in his first ever conference in Pakistan, gave his key note speech on
“Non violence From protest movement to peaceful Conflict Resolution”. While speaking on
the occasion, he said that non violent resistance movement should engage with the other party
in a conflict because a sense of ‘togetherness’ is crucial to peaceful conflict resolution. Talking
about the negotiations, he said, “Negotiation is the continuation of war as there is an idea of
winning or losing but in a verbal sense”, he added. He said non violence resistance and conflict
resolution should not be seen as a “zero-sum game”.
It should not be a position of one party winning and other party losing; it should be about both
advancing. Professor Galtung said one truth about most non violent movements is that they
tend to succeed. But success is not immediate and it depends upon the amount of sacrifices
poured in to the movement. It took 100 years of non-violent movement against ‘Jim Crow’
[racial segregation] laws for Blacks to get their civil rights. It was also important to note that
that the symbol of the 1960s US civil right movement was Blacks and Whites walking together.
They were exposed to police brutality but they still had the courage to be together. He even
suggested that if the Tahrir Square resistance forces in Egypt would have invited their main
target President Hosni Mubarak, to join them, some things would have worked out better.
While speaking in Pakistani context, he said that the Pashtuns are the largest nation without a
state on earth with 40 million individuals divided through boundaries. Colonial powers draw
boundaries around the world especially what British did in subcontinent has created conflicts.
The wish of drawing lines exposed the nations in the regional into various difficult scenarios.
First session “Non Violence: A Concept in Peace Studies” was chaired by Senator Afrasiab
Khattak, Chairman of the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights. Speakers of
the session Dr.Ishtiaq Ahmad Chauhdry, Prof and HoD of Peace & Conflict Studies, NDU
Islamabad, presented his paper on “Non Violence – A concept in Peace Studies” said that as a
concept in peace studies, the motivation for nonviolence comes from the objective aiming not
so much at changing the opponent’s behavior; rather it aims to change the opponent’s values
which in turn will lead to a change in behavior. Changed behavior without changes values and
attitudes can only be maintained through coercion which is inconsistent with the philosophy of
ideological nonviolence. Second speaker Dr.Syed Riffat Hussain, head of the Department of
Movement policy and Public Administration at NUST said that if Taliban continued killings
of people how the government will continue to talk with them. Peace is difficult to define and
sometimes it can be unjust too. So many people have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan by
using the name of peace. Afrasayab Khattak, while chairing the session added his statement
saying that nonviolence has deep roots in Pashtun culture. He said that our peace promoting
movements are not a part of syllabus and that is unfortunate.
The second session “Non Violence in Political Struggle: Case Study of South Asia” chaired by
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Mrs. Naela Chohan, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan. Mr.Hammad
Malik addressed on behalf of David Hardiman, Professor of History Department- University of
Warwick that was about the struggles of Indian leaders like Gandhi, Nehru and Patel for freedom
of India. Prof.Dr.Moonis Ahmar informed the audience about the culture of non-violence in
Bangladesh in post 1971 and also highlighted several aspects of non violent movement in
Bangladesh. He said that during the days of united Pakistan (1947-1971) it was the erstwhile
province of East Pakistan which was in the forefront against authoritarian and dictatorial
regimes. However, in view of the culture of political agitation which transformed into violence,
Bangladesh has no known practices of non-violence. ‘If there is one Bengali, its fine, if they
are two- they make a political party, if they are three-they will split the party and if they are
four they will start a movement, he added. Mr.Siddiq Mansoor Ansari Chairman-Federation of
Afghanistan’s Civil Societies (FACS) & President- Peace Humanitarian Organization (PHO),
Afghanistan, spoke about the non violent struggles within Afghanistan. He said that people
of Afghanistan and inherently non violent and one could found Afghans as peaceful nation if
approached positively. When war is imposed on any nation then people tend to become violent
in self defence. Chair of the session, Mrs. Naela Chohan stressed the need for highlighting non
violent culture of the region.
Third session of day one was “on Violence in Civil Society/Social Movement in Pakistan
I.” Dr.Rubina Saigol, a feminist and a writer, spoke while comparing the past violent and
nonviolent moments. She described the role of Woman’s Action Forum in different eras and
their conflicts with the state in Zia ul Haq regime. Her paper title is “Encountering the StateWomen’s Movements in Pakistan”. She concluded by saying that not always a nonviolent
moment succeeds, but sometimes violence is the only left choice for public. Second speaker
Mr. Zafar Ullah Khan, Director, Centre for Civic Education, Islamabad, gave a power point
presentation of his paper ‘Election-2013: Reclaiming democratic space peacefully” in which he
described the election scenario in 2013. He said that on May 11, 2013 the nation went to polling
booths and witnessed first civilian-to-civilian transition in the country. More than 55 percent
of 86 million voters privileged democratic freedom and rejected fear spread by the extremists.
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He gave details about the participation of civilians and general thrust of the elections during
that time in various regions of Pakistan including Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA),
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan to examine the citizens’ efforts to reclaim democratic
space peacefully. He also was of the view that one should not undermine TTP’s power to
surprise the civilians.
The first session of second day of the conference was entitled as “ Non Violence In Civil Society/
Social Movement in Pakistan II”. The chair of the session was Ms. Farhana Faruqi-Stocker,
a renowned Development Expert. In this session, Mr. Hammad Malik, PhD research scholar,
University of Warwick, shared his paper on nonviolent resistance against Zia-ul-Haq that laid
emphasis on the MRD movement. He discussed how Zia took over the government guarantying
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, to hold elections in 90 days and later hanging him. He highlighted that US
didn’t support MRD against army because they wanted to defeat Soviet Union. Role of Youth
in nonviolent movements’ post 1947 was discussed by the later speaker, Shabbir Bukhari.
Mr.Bukhari is Head of Strategic Communications and Outreach, Khudi, a youth focused
organisation. He talked about the student unions and their struggles for democracy in different
regimes.
Second session “Protagonists/Historical Figures of Non Violence Post 1947” was chaired by
Prof.Dr.Moonis Ahmer. The session had six speakers, all the best in their fields who talked
about the protagonist figures of non-violence post 1947. Professor Fazal ur Rehman Marwat,
Vice Chancellor Bacha Khan University, talked about Bacha Khan and his revolutionary efforts
while talking about his role in non-violent resistance in the history of subcontinent. Illustrating
the ambassador of peace, Fatima Jinnah, Dr. Samina Awan, Chair person, Department of
History, AIOU, mentioned her struggles for the social welfare of the society. “Mohtarma
Fatima Jinnah has been trying to condition the society with her words and behind her words
has been a character, which was trained by Mohammad Ali Jinnah” said by Dr.Samina Awan.
Senator Taj Haider, renowned scholar, chose Benazir Bhutto as a nonviolence resistant figure
to talk about. In his three parts of speech he talked about understanding political conflicts,
how Benazir Bhutto tackled the problems, and her legacy. While talking about the friendship
of US, he said it’s just military duties and not about the people. ‘We need to give Mr. Eidhi as
a choice to Muslims between militant Islam and Humanitarian Islam’, said Tehmina Durrani
while taking about her book which she spent 3 years to write. ‘Why do we only follow people
when they are gone?’ she added while describing the efforts of this man and how unfortunate it
is that he has not been thrown light on.
The two day conference was concluded remarks by Prof. Dr. Johan Galtung, Kristof W.
Duwaerts and Mr.Hammad Malik. After all is said, I think we have passed on the knowledge to
people to think upon it.’ said Kristof W. Duwaerts at the end of the conference.
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