A seminar titled "Seventy years of Pakistan" was held here at the Government College University (GCU) Lahore under the auspices of its History Department to deliberate upon the economic and political journey of the country. Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Hassan Amir Shah chaired the seminar which was also addressed by eminent historian Prof Dr Tahir Kamran and renowned economist Prof Dr Anjum Nasim.
Speaking on the occasion, Prof Tahir Kamran, the former Iqbal fellow at the University of Cambridge United Kingdom, said that the 70-year history of Pakistan was indeed chequered. "Political instability leading to military intervention, sectarian animosity, external threats and a fledgling economy have repeatedly created hurdles in Pakistan's progress as a modern, sovereign nation-state," he added.
However, Prof Kamran believed, that events in the past ten years had indicated unprecedented maturity on the part of various stakeholders. "Political upheaval now does not result in investors rushing to eject capital from the economy or the threat of the democratic and parliamentary system being wrapped up. Instead, political actors show the maturity originally exhibited by Jinnah in capturing a limited political space in the colonial dispensation and then continually vied to extend its remit," he explained. Talking about history of the religious extremism, terrorism and sectarian violence in Pakistan, Prof Kamran, who is currently Dean Faculty of Social Sciences at GCU, says that the state now feels the need to generate an alternative, pluralistic discourse to act as counter-narrative against the sectarian narrative. "That is where the academia must now play a decisive role," he stressed.
However, Prof Kamran said state education policies were currently dangerously skewed towards the natural sciences. He said that state patronage of social scientists and academics associated with progressive field would definitely help spread the new discourse.
"The necessity of studying science cannot be underestimated, undoubtedly, but when a state implements policies that are visibly favoring one sphere of study over other(s), this creates a cleavage in the sources of knowledge production in society", Prof Kamran concluded.
Talking about the economic development of Pakistan from 1947 till today, Dr Anjum Nasim, the Professor on Dr Mehboobul Haq Chair, GCU Lahore, said that in absolute terms, Pakistan had no doubt shown some economic progress since its inception in 1947, but when they compared Pakistan with neighboring countries, which were not very different from Pakistan at the time of independence such as China, India and Sri Lanka, then the performance looked no longer that impressive.
He said that suggestions that Pakistan should be focusing on a growth model that emphasizes productivity growth rather than focusing on brick and mortar should be non-controversial. Investment in human capital, in schools, colleges and universities, in research and innovation, requires a resource commitment on the part of the government and society.
"Places like GCU could be the intellectual hub and the incubators of a new generation of Pakistanis who are innovative and entrepreneurial, hardworking and committed, thoughtful and caring, and who lead us into the next 70 years," Prof Nasim concluded.
In his concluding remarks, GCU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Hassan Amir Shah said the biggest challenge to Pakistan was its population, which had increased five times since 1947, and most of their economic achievements were offset by this huge increase in population. He asked the students to remain mindful of new ideological tendencies related militancy and extremism which had taken over Pakistan in the last few years.
He expressed gratitude to the speakers for providing a very insightful view of 70 years of Pakistan, saying sometimes their young generations tend to think that there were only gloom and doom, but, he hoped that after listing to Prof Nasim and Prof Kamran, they would realize that there were achievements and rays of hope as well.
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