ISLAMABAD, Dec 15: Renowned intellectual I.A. Rehman has said no society can progress without dynamic politics.

“Pakistani citizens and civil society have to reclaim space for politics that has presently been usurped,” he said.

Mr Rehman, director of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, was speaking at International Academy for Leadership’s alumni meeting on “Pakistan in the age of globalization”.

Hubertus Von Welck, regional director Friedrich Naumann Stiftung and Peter-Andreas Bochmann, resident representative FNF- Pakistan, also spoke.

Mr Rehman said Pakistan’s economy had developed in the hothouse atmosphere with faulty assumptions that the country would never ever have trade with India and Pakistan had never to compete in the world market.

He stressed the need for debating globalization more seriously instead of trivialising the discourse with generalised statements. The renowned human rights activist maintained that the age of globalization required integration of states and societies, whereas Pakistan was swimming against the tide. “It is crucial for Pakistan to decide whether it wants to progress or remain prisoners of national security syndrome,” he said.

He said feudalism eroded citizens’ capacity to move forward and we need to promote good quality education to survive in the age of globalisation.