Yesterday an online video debate took place between Jehanzeb Hashmi, a staunch Muslim from Karachi, Pakistan and me, Justice Katju, a confirmed atheist from India.
As can be seen from the video above, we strongly disagreed in our views. These were some of the points of our disagreement :
1. Jehanzeb did not agree with me that the Partition of India in 1947 was wrong, whereas I believe it was a British swindle on the basis of the bogus two nation theory, and in fact India, Pakistan and Bangladesh were one really country with a shared culture, and are bound to be reunited some day under a secular government.
2. He said that even if India and Pakistan were to be reunited it should be as an Islamic state, whereas I wanted a secular reunited India.
3. I said that I was totally opposed to sharia as it was outdated, and should be replaced by a common code for all religions. I also said that some things in sharia, like stoning a woman to death for adultery or chopping off the limbs of a thief, were totally unacceptable in the modern age and in fact were acts of savagery. However, Jehanzeb defended sharia strongly, and said harsh punishments which I mentioned are necessary as they will bring down crimes..
4. He believes in one god Allah, and Creation. I am an atheist, and believe in science and Evolution.
I told Jehanzeb that despite our strong disagreements, the important thing was that we talked with each other amicably without acrimony, hostility or anger, holding strongly to our opinions, but remained friends and respected each other. Such talks lead to gradual reduction in differences.
So instead of keeping aloof, people with differences must engage in cool discussions, which may ultimately resolve many disputes.
For instance, after the beginning of the Korean war in June 1950 talks began between the parties involved in July 1951, and went on for two years until an agreement was reached in July 1953. This was only possible because the parties kept talking with each other, instead of remaining uncommunicative, distant, and unapproachable
Similarly an agreement was reached in 1973 between the American and the North Vietnamese governments after talks which began in 1968
Jehanzeb and I parted as friends, though we held diametrically opposite views. This polite ‘agreeing to disagree’ is an essential part of democracy. Humans often disagree on several issues ( in fact sometimes one disagrees with oneself, at one time holding one view, and at other times holding another ). But that is no reason for conflict, strife, violence, or fighting with each other.
