08 October 2004	Friday	22 Shaban 1425

KARACHI, Oct 7: Dr Anwer Moazzam, a scholar from India, was the guest of the evening at Irteqa Institute of Social Sciences on Wednesday. He was requested to present an overview on the prevailing socio-political conditions.

Dr Moazzam, a scholar on Islamic history, explained the complexity of political order with different languages and cultures dominating in various Indian states - Communist Party in West Bengal, BJP, a communal party, in Gujrat and Congress in other states. But the element which has kept them united is the system of parliamentary democracy and secularism despite the rise of Hindutva, free expression of opinion from available forums and, of course, the Supreme Court which is subservient to none in that country.

A lopsided economic development in previous years gave rise to a highly rich class, taking full advantage of information technology, but at the general election, the poor class voters turned the table, such was the force of democracy and free media, the scholar explained.

Television channels were also effective in sponsoring discussion on political and economic issues. Indian public opinion in general was opposed to America's war on Iraq and their partisan role in Palestine, Dr Moazzam said.

M. B. Naqvi said that feudalism, which ruled over this part of the subcontinent known as Pakistan and which grew stronger after independence, is the greatest handicap with this country. The power to manage the affairs of Pakistan soon after the freedom slipped into the hands of bureaucracy, civil and army both, he said.

The bureaucracy entered into a pact with America on Oct 15, 1953 for military aid which was the end of parliamentary democracy in the country, he said, and recalled that Gen Ayub Khan, despite the presence of parliament, had negotiated with America in his own capacity. With that, America's interference in Pakistan kept increasing.

It was due to the feudal hold that an integrated industrialization in a scientific way could not be established, Mr Naqvi said, and with that, the poverty and unemployment rate increased.

Social evils, use of narcotics, sale of illegal weapon, and terrorism were rampant. The writ of law was weakened and now it was getting almost impossible to manage an orderly, legal and peaceful society, Mr Naqvi concluded.

Tasnim Siddiqui, known for his enviable rehabilitation work in Hyderabad, said that among those who wanted Pakistan, Bengalis were the foremost, but the Pakistani leadership threw them out.

The bureaucracy, which had from the day one decided to strictly control the government, launched a parallel government. The Act of 1935 was adopted as the Constitution of the authoritarian governor general.

A secretary general took hold of all the powers of the secretaries and the prime minister. A loot maar (rampage) on jobs, land, property and all national wealth overtook the country. And, now, Siddiqui said, an oligarchy of feudals, civil and military bureaucracy and, of course, the mulla has taken over the affairs of the state.

As against the pessimistic note from earlier speakers, Mr Majeed, an industrialist, provided relief when he said that "investment climate in the country has much improved although no investment is coming from outside."

Despite the advent of WTO in coming days, industry in Pakistan was strong enough to face the challenge, Mr Majeed said, and observed that had the law and order situation been more favourable, the industry would have shown greater success. Pakistan had to train the agriculture labour into an industrial one which was a challenging job.

Another handicap with the industrialist was the migration of labour to foreign lands in 1972. Now with the reduction in duties on the import of machinery and raw-material, things had much improved, Majeed Saheb concluded. And now, a few words about Pakistan's literature and culture as delivered by Dr Mohammad Ali Siddiqui. Literature, Siddiqui said, was an x-ray of a country's social and economic order. The traditional darbari (court) culture was no more acceptable to the people who demanded realism. Ninety per cent of our literature was progressive in nature.

The writers, he said, could only cry and protest but could not implement their thought into action. Dr Siddiqui lamented that economic conditions in rural areas were deteriorating.

A farmer owning a four- to five-acre piece of land could no more survive, hence the transfer of population from villages to cities, and their female children working as maid servants in affluent houses.

At the end, Dr Manzoor Ahmad, president of the session, observed that the economic model fashioned for the peoples of Pakistan and India had totally failed. Our institutions of intellect and knowledge did not exist any more, since those were not needed anywhere.

Dr Manzoor said that population explosion was also a major problem with most Third World countries. With that galloping rise of population, no country could meet the challenges of economic production, and the schemes of poverty alleviation shall always remain a dream, he concluded.

Noted story writer Jeelani Bano briefly spoke in the last. She said that fiction the world over was leading the literary trends, and the writers had always built bridges between different countries. She wished all the best for the writers of Pakistan and India. Rahat Saeed conducted the proceedings.