HYDERABAD, April 3: Noted historian and intellectual Dr Mubarak Ali has said that the people of Iraq are fighting against the invaders not to save Saddam Hussain but to protect their motherland.

He was delivering a lecture at a “Talk for Change” programme organized by the Strengthening Participatory Organization here on Wednesday.

He anticipated very hard days for monarchies and dictatorships after the Iraq war and also for Pakistan because of its strained relations with neighbouring countries.

He said that only those countries could progress which were ready to accept changes adding that status quo and change had always been at war with each other.

As far as Pakistan was concerned, the historian said, it was extremely difficult to bring about any changes because of feudal system and fundamentalism.

He was, however, optimistic that the increase in urban population could prove to be a harbinger of change in the society.

He also foresaw changes at international level.

Dr Mubarak said that in the absence of democracy in Pakistan, common folk could not perform their due role in politics.

He said that was the reason that they always had always had what he called feudal brand of democracy in the country. He added that the feudal lords had always ruled over the country as they were ready to accept terms and conditions of the “real powers”.

He said that the interference of army in civil matters was extremely harmful for the civil society.

He was of the opinion that Europe had learnt a lesson from history but he was unsure about the future designs of America.

Dr Mubarak said that wars only brought destruction and never provided any solution to problems.

Stressing the need for eliminating war hysteria, he said that guns and swords could not guarantee the perpetuation of power.

He said that the rulers of Pakistan had always played an “anti-history” role as they did not want that their misdeeds to be recorded in history. That was the reason, Dr Mubarak said, the subject of history was being thrown out of the educational institutions.

He lamented that there was no one in Sindh to write the history of Sindh and the Sindhis were reading their history written by aliens.

Others who spoke on the occasion included Prof Aijaz Qureshi, Noor Mohammad Bajeer, Zulfiqar Halepoto and Hafeez Kunbhar.