Harvard faces backlash for hosting Pak officials after Pahalgam terror attack
A recent event on Pakistan held at Harvard University's South Asia Institute, which is funded by Lakshmi Mittal and family, has sparked criticism from Indian students. Top Pakistani officials, like Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and Pakistan's Ambassador to the US Rizwan Saeed Sheikh attended the conference, which took place shortly after the Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir region.The April 22 attack in Pahalgam claimed 26 lives. India has alleged that Pakistan-based terror groups were involved in the attack. After the incident, anger poured amongst Indian students, who felt that Harvard should not have hosted officials from a country that supports terrorism.advertisementAccording to reports, two Indian students, Surabhi Tomar and Abhishek Chaudhuri, wrote letters to Harvard's leadership and to US Senator Marco Rubio. In their letters, they said the university was wrong to provide a platform to Pakistani government representatives.
"Welcoming representatives of a government that enables or justifies terrorism risks Harvard being complicit," the students wrote. They also demanded that Harvard publicly condemn the Pahalgam attack. "The United States must not host representatives of a state that protects and promotes organisations targeting civilians based on faith," their letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio read.UNIVERSITY DISTANCES ITSELF AS ONLINE CONTENT DISAPPEARSThe event was reportedly organised by Pakistani students at Harvard. Reports confirmed that the institute's involvement was restricted to offering logistical assistance.
(Image Credit:X/@halleyji)
advertisementMeanwhile, controversy erupted after it was found that the institute's Executive Director Hitesh Hathi had participated in a panel discussion with Pakistani-American historian Ayesha Jalal.The session, titled "The Enlightened Muslim: Examining the intersection of religion, modernity, and state formation in Pakistan," was one of several event details later removed from the institute's website. Harvard has not officially commented on the removal, but the deleted web pages clearly indicates that the university wants to distance itself from the issue.
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