ZULFIQAR AHMAD
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government on Friday dropped Dr Atif Mian from Economic Advisory Council (EAC) over his Ahmadi faith.
PTI Senator Faisal Javed Khan confirmed that the government has asked Princeton University economist Atif R Mian to step down from the EAC.
The decision follows mounting pressure from religio-political parties against the appointment of Dr Mian, who belongs to the Ahmadi faith.
Senator Javed said that Mian has agreed to give up his position on the council, adding a replacement will be announced later.
In a series of tweets, Dr Mian said that he has resigned for the sake of stability of the PTI-led government. However, he added that he would always be ready to serve Pakistan – a country in which he was raised and which he loves.
The tweets came hours after another member of the Economic Advisory Council, Asim Ijaz Khwaja, resigned in protest against the withdrawal of Atif Mian’s nomination. Khwaja, an economist and professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, called it “painful, deeply sad decision.”
Information Minister Fawad Chaudhary who had warned those protesting against Dr Mian’s appointment, saying that ‘Pakistan belongs as much to minorities as it does to the majority,’ sheepishly retracted his statement, saying the government has decided to withdraw the nomination of Dr Mian from the EAC as it wants to avoid division.
“The government wants to move forward alongside scholars and all social groups, and it is inappropriate if a single nomination creates an impression to the contrary,” he tweeted.
In a second tweet, Chaudhry said the ideal state, according to Prime Minister Khan, is of Medina and that the Premier and members of his cabinet hold Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in the highest esteem.
“Khatm-e-Nabuwwat [belief in the Finality of the Prophethood] is a part of our faith and the recent success achieved by the government in the matter of blasphemous sketches is reflective of the same connection,” he wrote.
The appointment of Dr Mian of Princeton University (Department of Economics and Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy) to the 18-member EAC set up to advise the government on economic policy was opposed by some individuals and groups, including Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), which objected to his Ahmadi faith.
The news of his removal from the body comes as a surprise since the PTI government had only three days ago defended the academic’s nomination. Chaudhry had taken to Twitter to recall that “Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah appointed Sir Zafar Ullah [also an Ahmadi] as foreign minister of Pakistan; we’ll follow [the] principles of Jinnah, not of extremists.”
His thoughts were echoed by Minister of Human Rights Shireen Mazari, who tweeted: “Exactly. Well put indeed. Time to reclaim space for the Quaid’s Pakistan!”
The first meeting of the recently reconstituted EAC was presided over by Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday last, but it could not be attended by three international economists of Pakistani origin, including Dr Mian, because of technical reasons.
A social media smear campaign had erupted against the economist’s appointment, with many calling for his removal.
A call-to-attention notice had also been submitted in the Senate by opposition parties against Mian’s inclusion in the EAC. The notice bore the signatures of the PML-N, Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party members.
No member of the PPP had signed the document, with the party making it clear that it would not be part of a witch-hunt based on someone’s faith.
A large number of supporters had also defended Mian’s appointment on social media, saying that one’s religion should not be a factor into one’s professional qualifications or employment.
Dr Mian has served as a professor of economics, public policy and finance at Princeton University and as director of The Julis-Rabinowitz Centre for Public Policy and Finance at Woodrow Wilson School. He is the only Pakistani to be considered among International Monetary Fund’s ‘top 25 brightest young economists.’
