Karachi, 3 January: Oxford University Press (OUP) organized a talk on its publication A Concise History of Pakistan written by Muhammad Reza Kazimi. The book presents a detailed history of Pakistan while highlighting contemporary issues in the context of the subcontinent’s ancient and medieval history to explain how Muslim nationalism emerged and how the community interacted with the other communities in the region. Complete with striking interpretations based on neglected but authentic sources, this book breaks fresh ground.
Dr Muhammad Reza Kazimi is a distinguished academic, historian, and literary critic. He has taught Pakistan Studies for more than thirty years in different colleges, at the University of Karachi, the Aga Khan University, and the M.A. Jinnah University in Karachi. He is the author of Liaquat Ali Khan: His Life and Work and has edited the Jinnah-Liaquat Correspondence and M.A. Jinnah: Views and Reviews.
In his talk held at OUP’s flagship bookshop in Dolmen Mall, Dr Kazimi traversed through the confines of political history to depict the intellectual, economic, diplomatic, and cultural history of Pakistan. In covering economic history, the author touched upon unorthodox subjects such as the rise and fall of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International and the Kalabagh Dam controversy. In diplomatic history he presented little known material on the 1971 War and in intellectual history he examined the circumstances that caused piety to develop into terror.