‘Our society is still divided into many classes’

The creation of Pakistan would never become a reality if the Muslims of the subcontinent did not have a visionary leader like the Father of the Nation Mohammad Ali Jinnah. It was his dynamic and dedicated leadership that we are living in an independent country.

The Quaid-e-Azam was the best barrister and politician of his era and his wisdom was undoubtedly unparalleled and unmatched. MA Jinnah was not greedy as other leaders we have seen after Partition nor was he a tool of non-political forces of local or international organisations. He never exploited religion like religious leaders.

These views were expressed by poet and seasoned journalist Mahmood Shaam on Thursday. He was addressing a special seminar on the ‘144th birth anniversary of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and our new generation’. The event was organised and held at the Pakistan Study Centre, University of Karachi.

He informed the audience that the Quaid-e-Azam was a leader who understood the demands of the time, he was very attached to the new generation, and even in the days of the Pakistan Movement, he had pinned all his hopes on the youth.

Given the current situation of Covid-19, he said, people were being told to assure social distance, but in our society there had always been a huge distance between the rich and the poor people. It was “so unfortunate that our society is still divided into many classes” and this situation had created a lot of problems, he remarked.

Shaam said it had been a special grace of Allah Almighty on Pakistan that despite our carelessness and violations of the standard operating procedures designed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the situation in the country had been much better than that of our neighboring countries, including Iran and India.

In his address, Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Khalid Mahmood Iraqi said that we all know that nations cannot develop without education but the question is if we are following it. He mentioned that we are not providing education that develops nations nor are enhancing vision and thinking.

“We have not formulated any education policy according to our needs, but we have formulated educational policies for recruitment and not even in the right direction.” While referring to the Quaid-e-Azam’s quote on education that “without education, it is complete darkness and with education, it is light”, Prof Iraqi said education is a matter of life and death to our nation.

“The world is moving so fast that if you do not educate yourselves, you will be not only completely left behind, but will be finished up,” he said, calling for developing policies to achieve what the Father of the Nation MA Jinnah wanted for the country.

“It is very unfortunate that whenever we refer to any statistics, even at the governmental level, we refer to the data gathered and shared by the World Bank, World Health Organisation or other such institutions because we do not conduct research and do not have our own statistic figures.”

The VC urged that public and private sector universities should promote the research and development culture in the country and help out governments by providing accurate data and reasons for societal problems and also come with solutions to these problems.

He observed that the governments hardly allocated two per cent of the budget to the education sector and even that money was not used properly. He emphasised the need to work according to the Quaid-e-Azam’s vision, saying it was the only way to bring betterment and development to Pakistan.

He advised the people to resolve their differences and disputes and work together for the country. “If we want our youth to lead the country in the future, then we must think for our country only, not for ourselves.”

Another speaker, Vice Chancellor Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University Lyari Prof Dr Akhtar Baloch, said there was no precedent for the tireless work of the Quaid-e-Azam to create Pakistan and he wanted to give Pakistan a constitution where everyone had complete religious freedom so that they could play a positive role for the development of the country.

He added that unfortunately, only a year after the creation of Pakistan, he passed away and his dream of giving the best constitution to Pakistan could not become a reality. He said that the constitution should have the supreme power in the country.

Vice Chancellor Hamdard University Professor Dr Shabib ul Hassan shared that we all claim Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah as our role model, but at the same time we need to think about how much we are following in his footsteps. He questioned if, as an individual or collectively, we are doing anything for the development of Pakistan.

Earlier, In-charge Pakistan Study Centre Dr Erum Muzaffar said that the purpose of the seminar was to recall what the Quaid-e-Azam wanted from the youth of that time and what opportunities and challenges the young generation faced before and after Partition.

She further said the Quaid-e-Azam linked education with character building for future generations and emphasised not only bookish but also technical and vocational education. She pointed out that the people should also pay attention to science, trade and industry so that they could play an important role in the development of the country.