Much was the academic approach of the renowned political, judicial, economic and literary figures while identifying the core factors of the country's present state during a seminar "tackling the crisis of internal instability in Pakistan". Pakistan Women's Foundation for Peace (PWFP) organised jointly the function with Pak Federation of Business and Professional Women Organisation (PFBPWO) at Dr S R A Women's Complex here.
All the speakers including former Chief Justice of the Federal Shariat Court, Haziq-ul-Khairi, former Federal Information Minister Javed Jabbar, former Federal Secretary Kunwar Idris, former Chief Justice Sindh High Court, Wajihuddin Ahmed spoke on the causes of the present situation in the country. Economist A B Shahid's speech highlighted the economic problems of the country and steps for their resolution.
Haziq-ul-Khairi rejected the age-old perception that Pakistan came into being as an Islamic state with laws of the divine religion, saying it happened only because of political and social endeavours of the non-religious leadership of the sub-continent in British rule.
If the Pakistan movement was a religiously motivated, the Communist Party of India would have definitely opposed it, which denotes that the country's creation was on secular lines, he said. The wrongly taught history of Muslim conquerors one like Mehmood Ghaznavi, who is glorified for smashing the idols in Indian temples, was a plunderer of the treasures and should not be called a hero of the Ummah and was never a Mujahid of Islam, he said.
Attacking the feudalistic approach into the country's shaky politics, he said that India abolished the feudalism soon after its independence in 1947, after which the democratic culture thrived significantly, whereas it plagued the Pakistani society bitterly.
Haziq criticised the present political system of Pakistan for completely subdued by the politics of inheritance particularly by the feudal class, and not letting the common citizens participate in the democratic process.
The salaried class, who hardly maintains their families, is slapped with income tax, whereas the billion of rupees earners - feudal class of the country enjoys the tax exemption, he said, adding that fair distribution of wealth and tax collection are needed to strengthen Pakistan.
He urged that the strong education system will finally end the feudalism, while the government should hold negotiations with the militants only after they throw their arms. Expressing dejection, he said that for the last 500 years the Muslims have not invented even a "tissue paper", for lack of wisdom and good character.
Javed Jabbar stressed the continuity of democratic process in the country, saying that the exit of one person from power corridors will not topple the political government. He said there is need for strong judiciary also at the grass-roots level like the apex courts.
Good citizenship, he believed, will bring the country out of the present day crisis, urging the citizens for paying taxes to develop the country in a better way. He pointed out that the India's tax to GDP ratio is 24 percent despite its mass population below poverty line, while Turkey's tax to GDP ratio stands at 23 percent, whereas Pakistan hardly accumulates mere 9 percent, annually.
He said strengthening of political parities with active participation will also pave way for resolving the country's problems. Ijtihad is needed to challenge the religious orthodoxy politically and academically to make things easier for understanding of the people and find new ways for progress with intact religion, Javed suggested.
A B Shahid said industrial regression is providing an opportunity for investment in agriculture sector of the country. He said the country is undergoing economic downturn. He said there was need for improved power supply to industries to increase the output with competitiveness. The generation of solar energy for the residential consumers should be initiated, he said and added that the government needs to intensively work on scaling down the electricity line-losses.
Shahid pointed out that the rising trade deficit always drives the country towards external borrowings, which results in high interest rate, adding that Pakistan has the highest discount rate in the world after Argentina. He criticised the landlords for fixing food prices in line with the global markets, despite their cost of production being on domestic mechanism. He said a large number of landlords enjoy power. The economist suggested that the Federal Bureau of Statistics should be made an autonomous body.
Kunwar Idris said the present situation of the country is more worrying for him then ever before, as people still look towards military and judiciary for resolution of their problems instead of the elected parliament.
He said the country has to defend two boundaries - ideological and geographical, the former is still undefined to its limits and how one could defend it? He said. Pakistan can only attain stability if a secular and liberal political system is introduced with abolishment of the existing one.
He pointed out that the dark age of Europe was the golden age of Muslims for their advancement in science and technology, literature, medicines and chemistry, and other important disciplines. He, however, declined to approve the Supreme Court's independence, saying that it alone cannot bring the country's stability back, as the whole political system has to play a pivotal role.
Wajihuddin Ahmed said the country doesn't have governance at all to tackle the issue of instability, which is the chief factor behind the present crisis. He said the feudal system should be scraped immediately.
He said land reforms announced by Ayub Khan and by Z A Bhutto were not implemented at any stage, while the Shariat Court's decision of 1989 finally dashed the remaining hopes of their enforcement. He said the country is facing multifaceted problems including trade deficit and currency depreciation because of bad economic policies besides sugar, fuel, health, education, target killing, and missing person issues.
Wajihuddin said the bridges and roads were constructed during the present city government are crumbling and could fall anytime now. He said the Clifton bridge which is 100 years old is still much better than the newly constructed bridges in the city.
He said there should another Karachi-like city built near Port Qasim where the indigenous people could inhabit in huge number. Wajih said the Supreme Court decision on the NRO should be implemented. Earlier, President PFBPWO Dr Salima Ahmed in her introductory speech stressed spread of education amongst the masses. She criticised the political leadership for not playing role in developing the country's education system. Education should be provided on an emergency basis, she added.