Pervez Hoodbhoy Sacked

Noted Pakistani scientist and activist Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy, who has often been at odds with the state over his views critical of Islamic extremism, will lose his job as professor at Lahore’s Forman Christian College. The Pakistani media reported that his contract will not be renewed from next year.

This comes at a time fundementalist elements in Pakistan are tightening their grip over educational institutions. His sacking is a huge blow to the dwindling community of liberals.

Dr Hoodbhoy, a critic of the two-nation theory that resulted in creation of Pakistan, has faulted the nation’s founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah for not thinking through his idea of Pakistan. He is the author of Islam and Science: Religious Orthodoxy and the Battle for Rationality’, wherein he explains why the growth of Islamism has resulted in the slow decline of study of science in Muslim countries.