LAHORE, Oct 14: Cities have enjoyed importance during all periods in history due to their hold over politics, trade and culture of a society, said Dr Mubarak Ali while delivering his lecture at a one-day history conference here on Sunday.

Reading his paper on City: History, Culture and Economy, he said since ages the people living in countryside had been considered as imbeciles, backward and uncivilized.

In English, the term rustication is used for expelling students from a college which means that he is being sent to countryside and ignorance, depriving him of the right to education and knowledge, he added.

Due to their role in power corridors and the tactics used by them in trade and business, he said, the people living in cities had been considered untrustworthy.

Dr Anees Alam threw light on higher education in the Punjab during the 19th century. He said there were 234 schools for a population of 50,700 living in Lahore during Sikh rule. But, he lamented, the elite in the Punjab did not take interest in higher scientific education during the British era. Unlike them, the nobility in Bengal collected donations and established an institution on their own once the government had refused to introduce science education in the province. It later produced great scientists.

Speaking on Mughal Kashikari in Lahore during the 17th and the 18th centuries, Sajjad Kausar said the craft had originated in the Iranian city of Kashan. It became popular with the Mughals during the uplift of Lahore because there was no marble or precious stones available in the area.

Ghafir Shahzad presented his research on changing trends in house building in the continuously changing social perspective.

Dr Pervez Vandal presented his paper on importance of cantonment in colonial Lahore, Ahmad Saleem on contribution of Bengalis in the cultural life of Lahore, Saudul Hasan Khan on Lahore in 13th and 14th century, and Nadeem Umar on Mayo College of Arts.