In this powerful message, President Wasif A. Rizvi responds to the recent Pakistan-India ceasefire, urging the Habib community to remain vigilant, ethically grounded, and committed to truth, ecological justice, and intellectual leadership in turbulent times.
“Dear Habib Community,
We welcome the news of a ceasefire between Pakistan and India—a desperately needed moment of relief after days of extreme anxiety, violence, and the horrific loss of innocent lives. But even as we breathe easier, we must not lose sight of the grim truth: the subcontinent once again stood at the precipice of nuclear catastrophe, and only the thinnest thread of fragile diplomacy held back the abyss.
The unresolved and dangerously escalating breach of the Indus Waters Treaty remains a stark reminder of how climate and conflict are now terrifyingly intertwined. What once was an abundant, generous riverine system—nurturing civilizations for millennia—has, in just a few decades, been depleted into a political weapon. This is not merely a diplomatic issue; it is an existential one, and it will define the future of all who call this land home.
In the past week, we have also witnessed a cognitive and moral collapse on conventional and social media—platforms that trivialized war, mocked suffering, and indulged in an appalling orgy of nationalism and bravado. That too is a war of a kind: a war against truth, dignity, and human solidarity. And it places a profound responsibility on institutions like ours.
Habib University’s faculty, students, and staff have consistently sought not only to understand the crises of our time but to meet them with courage, clarity, and care. Whether it is the long-term healing of our ecological systems or the ethical reform of our public discourse, our community stands apart for its spirit of reparation—for the Earth, for the truth, and for our collective future.
Let this ceasefire not be an end, but a beginning: of reflection, of engagement, and of renewed resolve, with a steadfast commitment to our mission and with deeper clarity about the kind of world we must work to build—where we are not so flippantly swept by rage, obsession, or despair, but where our potentiality for restraint, patience, and wisdom is actualized.
ضبط بھی صبر بھی امکان میں سب کچھ ہے مگر
پہلے کم بخت مرا دل تو مرا دل ہو جائے
“Zabt bhi, sabr bhi, imkaan mein sab kuch hai magar
Pehle kambakht mera dil to mera dil ho jaye.”
(“Restraint, patience, all possibilities exist—but first, damn it, let my heart become my own heart.”)
With duas of hope, peace, and wisdom,”
Wasif A. Rizvi,
President, Habib University
