Guest Speaker Session on Islamophobia in the west and implications for the Muslim world.

The Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Central Punjab (UCP) organized a guest speaker session with Barrister Naseem Ahmad Bajwa, on Islamophobia in the west and implications for the Muslim world.

Mr. Naseem Ahmad Bajwa is a barrister of Pakistani origin based in London. He is a columnist, public speaker and civil society activist. Dr. Rashid Ahmed introduced the speaker and gave background of the current wave of Islamophobia in the world, especially putting light on the recent New Zealand incident. Mr. Bajwa described the term Islamophobia and how it has manifested itself in the present times; he mentioned that there is a minority in every religious state which is an extremist. Overall, the environment in US, UK is Muslim friendly. He shared his personal experiences and observations in this regard.

There is a lot of potential for harmony between the followers of different religion, including Muslims and non-Muslims. Mr. Bajwa was of the opinion that students can play an important role in promoting the inter-faith harmony through participating in student exchange programs with different countries.

He also mentioned the recent Christchurch killing, in which he mentioned that New Zealand is a very peaceful nation and this incident happened due to a minority having radicalized inclinations and thoughts.

In the end there was a question answer session in which he further interacted with the students regarding the topics discussed earlier.