Maulana Abul Kalam Azad represents our times: Hamid Karzai
Tuesday November 13, 2012 10:36:56 AM,
IANS
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New Delhi: Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai Monday
recalled how relevant the philosophy of freedom fighter Maulana
Abul Kalam Azad was in present times.
"The ocean of peace lies ahead of us, sail the boat, O Maulana
Azad... he is the representative of our times," Karzai said while
translating a verse from Nobel Prize winning Bengali poet
Rabindranath Tagore.
He was delivering the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad memorial lecture
here on the theme "A Maulana For Our Times" organised by the
Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) and the Jawaharlal
Nehru Memorial Museum and Library.
Maulana Azad founded the ICCR in 1950.
Karzai said though he had heard about Maulana Azad and other
freedom fighters during his days as an international student in
India in the late 1970s, he discovered the depth of the freedom
fighter when he started reading about him, including books written
by Maulana Azad.
Karzai did his masters in international relations and political
science from the Shimla University in 1976.
Terming Maulana Azad a revolutionary, Karzai said he was a
practical person and a moralist in the application of politics.
"Maulana Azad said that for him religion was to unite people and
he would shun those who talked of division. His personality
transcends time," Karzai said, referring to Maulana Azad's
autobiography "India Wins Freedom".
According to Karzai, despite the fact that Maulana Azad was raised
in the family of mullahs (Islamic clerics), "he was a great
educator of Islam and his understanding of Islam is relevant today
with radicalism and terrorism coming in the name of religion".
Karzai also took a dig at the Pakistani Taliban, who recently
attacked schoolgirl Malala Yusufzai for propagating education
among girls.
Without naming Pakistan and the radical elements within
Afghanistan, Karzai lamented that "schools are being attacked and
teachers are being killed... bigotry and hatred is being
propagated in the name of religion".
"We must complete his (Azad's) journey of peace and tolerance,"
said Karzai, adding that the "problem was in the politics of the
day".
Noting he did not have the freedom of speech, Karzai said he would
have it once Afghanistan had a new president in 2014.
"I hope the new president would be younger and better than me,"
said Karzai, who assumed office in 2004 and was re-elected in
2009.
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Picture of the Day |
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President Pranab Mukherjee at the National Education Day 2012
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