Javed Jabbar Vs. Pervez Hoodbhoy: Round 1 – Pakistan

 Mr. Jabbar has declined to respond to Mr. Hoodbhoy’s contention. He has dodged the assertion by channeling it into a completely different direction.

By Anjum Altaf

Pervez Hoodbhoy: Pakistan is in a state of confusion because it was born in a state of confusion.

Javed Jabbar: Confusion. Confusion is actually good. Confusion means change; confusion means evolution. Every nation evolves. The United States in the late 18th Century had a declaration which said “all men are created equal.” Equal? The Afro-African Blacks were never equal. The Native Americans were never equal. Even in the 21st Century they are fighting for equality with White Americans. Pakistan from the word go said “all citizens are equal.” The French revolution said Liberty, Fraternity and Equality. It took France 150 years to give women the right to vote in 1944 – Evolution. Not confusion.

Analysis

In this case, we can set aside Dr. Hoodbhoy’s assertion because, whatever its merit, Mr. Jabbar has declined to respond to it. He has dodged the assertion by channeling it into a completely different direction.

The only connection of the response to the assertion is the repetition of the first word “Confusion.” After that, Mr. Jabbar makes an assertion of his own — that “Confusion is actually good.” This is strange because, while confusion might do some good at times, in general it is not considered a positive state or attribute. When one says to someone “You are totally confused,” it can rarely be interpreted as saying “You are a really good fellow.”

Continue reading here.

(This is part of the series of articles, a detailed analysis of former Minister and Senator Javed Jabbar’s video he had released in response to a speech of Prof. Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy at a literary festival in Karachi. The Preamble of the analysis can be read by clicking here. For rest of the rounds, click here.)

Source: Sindh Courier.

The writer has PhD from Stanford University. He was a Dean at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and Provost at Habib University in Karachi.