KARACHI, July 9: Speakers at a meeting of Hamdard Shura, Karachi Chapter, stressed on education, self-employment and maintenance of law and order for political and economic progress of any country.

The meeting with the theme of "Controlling fear and law and order situation is a sine qua non for political and economic progress", was chaired by Justice Haziqul Khairi, former provincial ombudsman, at a local hotel on Thursday evening.

In a unanimous resolution adopted at the meeting, the Shura condemned the act of damaging the Quaid-i-Azam Academy in recent disturbances and demanded that the lost books should be regained and arrangement of their safety be made.

Present valuable manuscripts of the academy should be preserved through micro-film processing and the security of the academy be ensured in future, added the resolution.

Justice Haziqul Khairi said that there were many countries in the world which did not have religious system of governance, however, they made tremendous progress in all fields. "It means there are some other elements, too, which play an important role in making progress," he noted and termed social justice and national character the key factors in progress of any nation.

Ghulam Umer, a retired army officer, said that Islam had given some important principles and every nation could make progress by following them irrespective of its caste, creed and religion. He said that the non-Muslims followed those principles and made progress.

Mursarrat Akram was of the opinion that all the problems being faced by Pakistan were the outcome of intolerance prevailing in society. "A home filled with fear cannot progress, so is a society and a country. We should have to remove the fear, promote understanding and work for the social development," she said.

Mohammed Said Siddiqui said that economic worries and unemployment promoted terrorism. He called for fighting against ignorance and poverty to root out terrorism from the country.

Dr Syed Hamid Mahmood lamented that people had become habitual of backbiting and blaming each other, which had made their lives a symbol of double standard. He said that the allegations and counter allegations could never lead the nation towards the path of progress. "As a nation, we must take responsibility of our deeds," he added.

Dr Syed Amjad Ali Jaffery said that social justice, better administration and the rule of law, which were absent in Muslim countries, were the major causes of progress made by non-Muslims societies. "They value scientists and give away awards to them while we ignore them," he remarked.

Qutubuddin Aziz was of the view that a high-powered commission for administrative reforms should be formed to control law and order, without which no foreign investment would be made in the country.

Engineer Anwarul Haq Siddiqui said that education had been given least priority by governments in the last couple of decades which had resulted in lawlessness in the country.

He said that only 27 per cent of children were going to schools and the education, which was being imparted to them, was purposeless. Rural population was shifting to cities due to poverty and unemployment, which was resulting in creation of street urchins and terrorists, he said.

He opined that a new social contract may be introduced in the country, otherwise, a revolution was knocking at our doors. Mohammed Ahmed Sabzwari lamented that it was a matter of great shame that prayers were being offered under the protection of police in an Islamic country.

He regretted that criminals were safe while public was unsafe in the country. Khalid Ikramullah Khan said that terrorists wanted to destabilise the government and it was an irony that some people were abetting them as they considered their activities as noble.

Mohammed Hussain said that accumulation of wealth in a few hands and absence of social justice in our society were the causes of lawlessness in the country. Mrs Sadia Rashid said that the rule of law, transparent system of accountability and moral education and training were essential for the economic and political progress of the country. -PPI