Pervez Hoodbhoy
Quaid-E-Azam University (Islamabad)

BIO
Pervez Amirali Hoodbhoy received his bachelor's degrees in electrical engineering and mathematics, master's in solid state physics, and Ph.D in nuclear physics, all from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has been a faculty member at the Department of Physics, Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad since 1973. In 1984 he received the Abdus Salam Prize for mathematics and, earlier, the Baker Award for Electronics. He was awarded the UNESCO Kalinga Prize in 2003 for the popularization of science. Dr. Hoodbhoy has over 65 publications in international scientific research journals. He was visiting professor at MIT, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Maryland and has lectured recently on scientific topics at over two dozen US and European universities and research laboratories including CERN and Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Apart from his scientific work, Dr Hoodbhoy has considerable involvement in social issues. He is chairman of Mashal Books, a non-profit organization that publishes books in Urdu on women's rights, education, environmental issues, philosophy, and modern thought. He has written and spoken extensively on topics ranging from science in Islam to education issues in Pakistan and nuclear disarmament. In 1988 he produced a 13-part documentary series in Urdu for Pakistan Television on critical issues in education, and, later, two other major television series aimed at popularizing science. He is author of "Islam and Science: Religious Orthodoxy and the Battle for Rationality", now in 5 languages. Dr Hoodbhoy's writings have appeared in Le Monde, Japan Times, Asahi, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Seattle Times, Post-Intelligencer, Frontline, The Hindu, Prospect Magazine and Chowk Magazine as well as in Pakistani publications such as Dawn, The News, Frontier Post, Muslim, Newsline, Herald, and Jang. He has been an engaged speaker at more than twenty US campuses including MIT, Princeton, Columbia, and Johns Hopkins University on political and social issues. He has appeared on several TV and radio networks (BBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, PBS, NPR, Fox, Geo) to analyze political developments in South Asia.

ABSTRACT
The Nuclearization Of South Asia - Contemporary Issues
The new inter-state dynamic which followed the atomic tests in May 1998, first by India and then by Pakistan, soon resulted in two serious nuclear crises and an arms race that refuses to slow down. Recent nuclear developments will be analyzed in this lecture, together with a prognosis of India-Pakistan relations following the Islamabad SAARC conference. Recent revelations of Pakistan's nuclear proliferation activities will also be covered. These have rocked the world community and are likely to have a profound influence on Pakistan's nuclear future.

FILM
KASHMIR, PAKISTAN, INDIA -- Crossing The Lines of Control
A video documentary by The Eqbal Ahmad Foundation 45 minutes)
Nationalism and religion have entangled the fate of Kashmiris, Pakistanis and Indians for over 5 decades. After four wars, Kashmiris and their land are divided between Pakistan  and India, the source of recurring crises. Many feel that the next war may be a nuclear war. In this tragedy, each side tells the story of the injustice and violence of the other, and feels only the suffering of their own. This path-breaking independent documentary film, made in Pakistan, challenges us to look at Kashmir with new eyes and to hope for a new way forward.

Interviews of key figures and ordinary people from every side, rare archival footage and computer animations weave together a rich and moving narrative. We hear leading Kashmiri militants voice the frustration of their hopes for democracy and their desperate rebellion against oppressive Indian rule. We see how Pakistan's relentless determination to confront India created an Islamic holy war that brought terror and death to Kashmir. Radical Hindu leaders in India and Islamic militants in Pakistan explain their  shared conviction that Kashmir is part of a greater struggle that knows no limits. We discover how amid rising religious passions, governments in India and Pakistan seek to build national identity through cultivating prejudice and hatred towards the other. We explore how creating and changing bitterly contested border offers little prospect for peace and justice.

The film chronicles the wars, the failed efforts at peace and the daily toll this failure exacts on those caught on the frontline of this dispute. It shows how India and Pakistan's dramatic nuclear tests spurred the conflict to new heights, and explores the ways in which India's great power ambitions, and the interests of the Pakistani army, continue to make peace so elusive. Rejecting the national ambitions of Kashmiris, Pakistanis and Indians alike, the film offers a vision of a shared future for all of South Asia  built on a common humanity.