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The new Pakistani government on Friday dismissed an internationally renowned researcher from its Economic Advisory Council (EAC), bowing to pressure and objections from Islamist and right-wing parties over its religious faith.
Economist Atif Mian, a professor at Princeton University and a long-time Ahmadi religious community in Pakistan, was recently selected to serve on the 18-member panel to advise new Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Khan's government is facing an imminent debt crisis. Khan is committed to introducing key reforms to solve Pakistan's economic problems.
Just hours after the announcement by the government of the names of EAC members, hard-line Islamists have turned to the traditional and social media to condemn and demand the dismissal of the 43-year-old Ahmadi economist .
Mian has dropped another CAE member, Harvard University professor Asim Ijaz Khwaja, who appears to have dealt a blow to the new government's economic stimulus mission.
"I resigned from the EAC, painful and deeply sad decision, grateful to have had the chance to contribute to analytical reasoning but not when these values were compromised." Personally, Muslim, I do not can justify it.All Allah forgive me / guide us all.Panad Paindabad (long life), "tweeted Khwaja.
The government did not react immediately to Khwaja's announcement.
Strong reaction
Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry initially rejected this reaction, saying that "Pakistan belongs as much to its minorities as to the majority".
His remarks, however, fueled outrage and even prompted calls for the minister's resignation for defending a "non-Muslim".
The strong reaction and threats of street protests by the radical Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) on Friday prompted the government to reconsider its decision to appoint Mian.
"The government wants to go ahead with all religious scholars and social classes, and if an appointment creates a different impression, then it's not appropriate." Chaudhry tweeted on Friday.
Professor Mian is considered one of the best economists in the world and is the author of the internationally renowned book, House of Debt. He has also taught at the University of California at Berkeley and at the Booth School of Commerce at the University of Chicago.
Hardline up
Mian said in a series of tweets (@AtifRMian) that he resigned for the stability of the government.
"I resigned from the Economic Advisory Council because the government was facing many negative pressures regarding my appointment among the mullahs (Muslim clerics) and their supporters."
"Nevertheless, I will always be ready to serve Pakistan because it is the country in which I was raised and I like it very much." Serving my country is an integral part of my faith and will always be my home. sincere desire, "said the researcher. tweeted.
Ahmadis consider themselves Muslims but their belief that the founder of the sect was a "subordinate prophet" goes against the belief of the Sunni majority in Pakistan that the Prophet Muhammad was the last direct messenger of God.
Critics noted that the government's backtracking on a key meeting underscored the growing influence of Islamist extremist groups in Pakistan, which collectively garnered about 10 percent of the votes in the last national elections.
Pakistan declared heretical Ahmadis in 1974 at the request of Islamic parties. This decision has since led to targeted assassinations of members and leaders of the minority community. Ahmadis regularly complain of social discrimination as a result of accusations of blasphemy.
Abdus Salam, the first Nobel laureate of Pakistan for his work in theoretical physics, was also Ahmadi. He left the country in protest shortly after his community was declared non-Muslim.
Salam died in 1996 in England and was buried in Rabwa, Pakistan, where extremists disfigured his tombstone to remove the word Muslim.
