Pakistan Mein Riyasti Ashrafiya Ka Urooj (The Rise of State Aristocracy), released by the Alternate Solutions Institute is a critique of Pakistan's ruling class that have strengthened their hold on the people and the resources of the country during the past sixty years.
The book holds the State aristocracy as the biggest obstacle in the way of the supremacy of the Constitution and the rule of law in Pakistan. It demonstrates that the Pakistani Ashrafiya (gentry) lives via capturing of the State, State Institutions and the resources of the State. It has also hijacked the market and manipulates prices of the commodities against the interests of the small farmers / growers and working class.
The author includes politicians, the establishment and the bureaucracy as the State aristocracy which has made the Constitution subservient to their interests, whereas protection of fundamental rights of the ordinary citizens has now become almost impossible.
Dr Khalil Ahmad, a left leaning teacher of Philosophy and political philosophy is of the view that pre-modern upper class used to derive their power and authority from certain distinctions such as racial superiority while Pakistani ruling class derives its power and authority from the State, be it wealth or clout, privileges or subsidies. It appropriates everything for itself and leaves the ordinary citizens to endless sufferings at the doors of government offices, the courts, and police brutalities.
The author who is one of the founders of the Alternate Solutions Institute in Lahore also makes suggestions to transform the aristocracy's Pakistan to everyone's Pakistan. He invites all the classes and groups to the cause of rule of the Constitution and the law and exhorts them to stay on the singular achievement of human civilisation ie law. The book dwells on the topics which include Ashrafiya's historical perspective, Pakistani state and the Ashrafiya and formation of Ashrafiya in Pakistan.
Dr Khalil Ahmad has already written an important work "Charter of Liberty" which highlights the importance and demand of making fundamental rights a core and the supreme value of the constitution.
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Book : "Pakistan Mein Riyasti Ashrafiya Ka Urooj"
Author : Dr Khalil Ahmad
Publisher : Alternate Solution Institute, Lahore
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