January 17, 2003	Friday	Ziqa'ad 13, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Jan 16: The government can enact a law for equitable distribution of resources and assets among the people, the former chief justice of Lahore High Court, Dr Javed Iqbal, said.

He was speaking at a session of the annual meeting of Pakistan Society of Development Economists titled “The Economic Vision of Allama Mohammad Iqbal” here on Wednesday.

Mr Iqbal drew the attention of the participants to the relevant Quranic injunction proclaiming the share of have-nots in the wealth of haves.

He said in the great poet-philosopher’s view, Shariat did not stand in the way of any measures towards welfare. He said Pakistan was not created to let a large number of people suffer from hunger and deprivation. Such a situation “nullifies the very raison d’etre of Pakistan,” he added.

The former chief justice deplored the emphasis on penalties as if these were the only constituents of Islamic Shariat. In a country characterized by misery and indigence, the nation did not need punishments, but relief from utter poverty, he added.

Likewise, he said merely prohibiting alcoholic drinks and forcing women to wear ‘Burqa’ was no answer to the problems. Nor would the tendency of condemning the profits of banks on their loans as “Riba”, he added.

Not only Iqbal, but also Shibli stated that profit paid to banks for loans was not Riba. The contrary view was detrimental to development, he said.

Responding to comments by members of the audience, he conceded that Iqbal wanted abolition of landlordism, but suggested that Pakistan Institute of Development Economics should undertake research to work out a model of Islamic economic system for Pakistan as was also visualized by the late poet.

Earlier, former vice-chancellor of the Punjab University Prof Rafique Ahmed and an economic thinker Khawaja Amjad Saeed extensively quoted the verse and articles of Iqbal and Quaid-i- Azam’s speeches in their scholarly papers. They said both the leaders had envisioned Pakistan as a society based on true Islamic concept of equality of manhood and social justice.

The chief economist of Planning Commission, Dr Pervez Tahir, said the issues raised by Iqbal in his book Ilmul Iqtisad about poverty and his call for abolition of feudalism a hundred years ago continued to be relevant.

In fact, multifarious issues like poverty, landlessness etc. could have been gleaned from Iqbal’s economic writings, political statements and poetry, Mr Tahir said.

During the three-day proceedings of the PSDE, a number of papers were presented on agricultural issues, which stirred heated discussion.

In one of these, Prof Boris E. Bravo-Ureta from the University of Connecticut, USA, said there was considerable room to increase agricultural output without additional conventional inputs and without requiring the introduction of new technologies. He, therefore, advocated a policy to support producers in achieving higher efficiency from the technology already available to them.

Chairman, Agricultural Prices Commission (APCOM), Dr Abdul Salam, for his insights and hoped that the finance ministry, as the custodian of the purse, to benefit from his observations of the unfolding agricultural scene.

Enumerating the different ways in which agriculture contributes to national economy and general weal, Dr Salam said the peasant farmers could perform as rational economic agents. This was, however, dependent on availability of opportunities that, in turn, arise from technological developments and policy environment.

Commenting on Dr Ureta’s remarks, Dr Salam cautioned that in a country like Pakistan, liberalization could impact peasant farmers unfavourably, especially when the rich countries continue to subsidize their agriculture.

Chief Justice Dr Javed Iqbal (retired), elaborating Iqbal’s views on economic system, said Allama Iqbal was in favour of reduction in population growth, land reforms, and advocated the establishment of a welfare state for the middle class.

Dr Javed Iqbal said: “Different governments had tried to implement land reforms, but unfortunately we have not been able to implement them properly. Resultantly, feudalism is still prevalent in our country, whereas India and Bangladesh have been able to eradicate it.”

He stressed the need for building up of a model about land reforms, industrial policy and taxation. He said the main idea of Pakistan’s creation was to reduce poverty.