KARACHI, Aug 13: Speakers at the meeting of Shura Hamdard, Karachi chapter, on Friday underlined the need for maintaining law and order in the country without which they said no political change can produce any good results , progress or development in the country.

The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Qutbuddin Aziz, deputy speaker, Shura Hamdard on "Recent political changes and possibilities of economic progress" at a local hotel. National president of Shura Hamdard Pakistan Mrs Sadia Rashid was also present.

While addressing the meeting, former vice-chancellor of the University of Karachi Prof Dr Manzooruddin Ahmed urged the government to give an economic road map to remove economic disparities from the Pakistani society.

He said it was the economic disparity that had paved the way for dismemberment of the country in 1971. He was of the view that political changes of 1991, at least, had put the country towards its destiny, saying without setting the right direction, any advancement was tantamount to going back.

Col (Retd) Mukhtar Ahmed opined that Shaukat Aziz had been dealing with economic affairs of the country for the last four years. However, he pointed out that in his tenure, flour prices had increased from Rs8 to Rs18 per kg.

After becoming the prime minister, his priorities would be to definitely change the situation, he added. Gen (Retd) Ghulam Omar said that it was for the first time in Pakistan that Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain was completing his tenure, irrespective of the period of his premiership.

"A change of prime minister would result in the country's betterment, as we will have to establish a society, based on social justice and literacy," he added. Abdul Haseeb Khan, an industrialist, said that Bangladesh had now 95 per cent local and only five per cent multinational industries, while it was just the opposite in the past. "We have resources, but we were not using them. We only make good policies, but fail to implement them."

Dr Syed Amjad Ali Jaffery said that the masses were not receiving the fruit of economic progress, because of the attitude of those in power, who have always kept in view their interests and that of particular groups.

Syed Mustafa Ali Barelvi, Islamuddin Agha, Engr Anwarul Haq Siddiqui, Dr Mirza Arshad Ali Beg, Ikramullah Khan and Muhammad Ahmed Sabzwari also spoke. Jamal Naqvi presented his new book to Mrs Sadia Rashid on the occasion. - APP