July 02, 2006	Sunday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 5, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, July 1: Dr Ijaz Shafi Gilani, dean of social sciences at the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI), in his keynote presentation at a recent seminar here said that research in social sciences would grow much rapidly and more widely in the next decade in comparison to the 1960s to 90s which he termed as barren periods.

The seminar was organised by the Social Sciences Council.

Taking a broad view of the subject Dr Gilani, the former Gallup Pakistan chief, said that he saw larger number of students taking interest in the subject as well as increase of universities from previous seven during the sixties to 26 at present where these subjects were taught, and therefore the possibility of renewed research must be greater because the situation in the academia had improved since the 60s and 70s when the subjects teachers were few and fewer students.

In his opinion there was definitely a trend forward towards greater research because, as he put it the state’s control over the society was weakening and the alternative anarchy favoured greater research process.

Dr Pervez Tahir, the chairperson of the discussion, saw the state giving preference to natural sciences over social sciences although he was quite sure that knowledge could not develop unless social sciences also had complementary role with natural sciences.

“Not developing social sciences at the same time as the natural sciences would lead to fascism”.

A number of discussants including Prof M.A. Waseem, Prof Tahir Amin, research scholar Nur Fatima of the Quaid-i-Azam University, as well as Ashfaque Saleem Mirza also took up the issue with Dr Gilani.

Both Ashfaque Saleem Mirza and Nur Fatima said the sixties were periods of great debate on communism and capitalism, and the quality of teachers and students in the early period of Pakistan were better. Prof Amin spoke of the degeneration that had set in Pakistan academia and the student community was fragmented on ethnic lines.

He decried the reasons for optimism. Even the policy of the Higher Education Commission leaned on favouring natural sciences, and also spoke of “a divorce between policy and academics and there was no realization of the long term benefits of social sciences at the highest level”.