Javed Jabbar Vs. Pervez Hoodbhoy: Round 3 – Scholarship

Mr. Jinnah was a Political Leader and Statesman, not a Professor to write research papers.

By Anjum Altaf

Pervez Hoodbhoy: He [Mr. Jinnah] never wrote a single research paper. He never wrote an essay. 

Javed Jabbar: Mr. Jinnah was a political leader. He was a statesman. He created a new nation. He created a new nation-state. He changed the map of the world. He was not a professor or a lecturer who was supposed to write an essay or write a research paper. If that is what you wanted him to be, fine. Then perhaps we should have waited for another 50 years for someone to come along, an academic, respectable professor, to give us Pakistan.

Analysis

Dr. Hoodbhoy is on weak ground here, although, to give him the benefit of doubt, it is not obvious in what context this very brief statement is embedded. However, given that we can’t speculate on that, it is not clear why the statement is relevant. It is by no means necessary for every leader to have written a research paper or an essay.

In boxing parlance, Dr. Hoodbhoy has slipped on the mat and Mr. Jabbar homes in for some quick punches. He easily shows that the statement has no real importance. Mr. Jinnah was a political leader and he created a nation-state. One doesn’t need to be a scholar to be able to create one. Mr. Mujibur Rahman was also a political leader and created a nation-state without ever having written a research paper or an essay. 

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(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.