A link to a webinar on Zoom video calling app was shared in the official Whatsapp groups of Stella Maris College comprising of students and professors for them to attend on September 8.
The webinar titled “The Gender Challenges in Pakistan” was addressed by Dr. Salma Malik, an Assistant Professor at the Department of Defence and Strategic Studies at the Quaid-I-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
The Commune found that the host of the webinar was Dr. D Suba Chandran of National Institute of Advanced Studies, Professor and Dean of School of Conflict and Security Studies.
Upon looking at NIAS website, The Commune found no information about the webinar being organized.
A source who wished to stay anonymous told The Commune that the link in the group was sent late at 6:30 PM on Tuesday while the seminar started at 4:30 PM. She said that though it was not compulsory to attend, it was shared in the official Whatsapp group comprising of students and senior staff of the college.
More on Dr. Salma Malik
Dr. Salma Malik had earlier worked as a Research Officer at the Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad. She is said to be a regular visitor to India and part of several bilateral and regional Track-II diplomatic talks.
Digging more, The Commune found that Dr. Salma Malik had made several statements against India echoing the Pakistani establishment. Here are few examples.
#Global community fully acknowledges huge sacrifices rendered by #Pakistan’s security forces in the fight against #terrorism. Dr. Salma Malik https://t.co/02si0gZIJS pic.twitter.com/PCfjvUhMD6
— Radio Pakistan (@RadioPakistan) October 17, 2018
'Pakistan has consistently strived for good relations with India, never missing on the initiative towards normalization of ties. However, there has not been a reciprocation of warmth and goodwill from New Delhi.' – Dr. Salma Malik pic.twitter.com/sao2Huz4ii
— Islamabad Policy Research Institute (@IPRI_Pakistan) October 9, 2018
At a conference titled ‘Expansionist Hindu Nationalism and Nuclear Politics”, Salma Malik speaking about the Supreme Court mandated and monitored Assam’s National Registry of Citizens (NRC) she says “there is a huge humanitarian crisis brewing up on the eastern side of India.. If you’re looking at Kashmir which is something that is close to our heart then there is another Muslim population which would face the ‘Modi’ (inaudible).. that you know of several decades back as they did in Gujarat. And he has ways of justifying it.”
She also claims that she saw Muslims ‘living like dogs’ when she had visited Delhi.
She also says Modi’s current policies towards Indian Muslims have cleared it for Pakistani people why Jinnah was pursuing an independent state for the Muslims of Pakistan in initial stages of Pakistan Movement.
She also likens the Hindutva and Hinduism to Nazism.
Post the abrogation of Article 370, Dr. Salma Malik in a video to a Youtube Channel says that Kashmir is like a ‘son who has not returned home’, a story of ‘half-widow’ and a place of ‘human rights violation by security forces’. She goes on to say that Kashmir is a ‘disputed legacy of the partition’ and is a ‘humanitarian crisis’ and calls for secession of Kashmir from India by using the words ‘Kashmiriyon ke liye Kashmir’ (Kashmir for Kashmiris), an opinion that finds place among India’s liberals.
The source who had also run a background check on Salma expressed shock about how an institution in India could invite a ‘defence strategist’ from a country that carries out brutal terror attacks on India. She also noted that if their aim was to expose the students to the domain of military, war and defence why not invite retired personnel from Indian Armed Forces.