KARACHI: The Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Karachi has canceled an online seminar, which was to feature celebrated economist Dr Atif Mian, due to pressure by extremists.
Taking to Twitter, the university said, “Dr Atif R. Mian’s lecture ‘Why has economic growth fallen behind in Pakistan?’ scheduled on November 5, 2020, has been cancelled.”
Dr. Atif R. Mian’s lecture “Why has economic growth fallen behind in Pakistan?” scheduled on November 5, 2020 has been cancelled. Inconvenience is highly regretted.
— IBA Karachi (@ibakarachi) October 22, 2020
In this regard, economist Dr Atif Mian, in a Tweet said that he was sorry to report that the seminar, which was to take place over Zoom, for students in IBA Karachi has been cancelled.
Dr Mian further said that the seminar, due on November 5, had to be put off due to threats that the university administration was facing from extremists. He wished the students of the varsity his “very best wishes and prayers”.
Sorry to report that my zoom economics seminar at IBA Karachi has been cancelled due to threats that the university administration was facing from extremists.
My very best wishes and prayers are with the students of IBA. https://t.co/tp10alXpNM
— Atif Mian (@AtifRMian) October 22, 2020
Dr Mian is a Pakistani-American economist who serves as a professor of Economics, Public Policy, and Finance at Princeton University and is also the Director of the Julis-Rabinowitz Center for Public Policy and Finance at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.
Dr Mian became a widely discussed name in Pakistan in 2018 after the PTI government appointed him to the Prime Minister-led Economic Advisory Council (EAC).
However, the government, a month after asked Mian to step down from the EAC amid mounting pressure from religious and political parties.
Ahmadis were declared non-Muslims in Pakistan through a constitutional amendment passed on September 7, 1974, during the tenure of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
Soon after his announcement, Twitter was abuzz with messages of solidarity for Dr Mian. Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Canada Wendy Gilmour said, “An opportunity lost for the students and wider interested community.
I am very sorry to hear this. An opportunity lost for the students and wider interested community.
— Wendy Gilmour (@gilmour_wendy) October 22, 2020
“So terrible. What a loss! We are all hostages,” wrote sociologist and academic Nida Kirmani in a tweet.
Pakistan didn’t deserve Dr. Abdus Salam, and it doesn’t deserve Dr. Atif Mian.
— Nida Kirmani (@NidaKirmani) October 22, 2020
