Social Sciences: Pakistan
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Stating the obvious
This book is a study of six associations of social scientists in Pakistan namely the Pakistan Economic Association (PEA), All Pakistan Political Science Association (APPSA), Pakistan Historical Society (PHS), Pakistan Philosophical Congres (PPC), Pakistan Sociological Association (PSA) and Pakistan Psychological Association (PPA)
These are excerpts from Zahid Hussain’s address at the second All-Pakistan Economic Conference held on August 6-9, 1950 in Dhaka
I am sure it is quite superfluous to emphasise how overwhelmingly important it is to provide facilities for education to the men and women of the country who are destined to be the guardians of the freedom, honour and international position of this country and have to ensure its stability and progress. When Lenin triumphed and gained mastery over Russia, he was asked what tasks he would attend in preference to others, and he replied unhesitatingly that he would educate and industrialise the country immediately.
If due to limited resources you asked me to make a choice between education and industrialisation, I would unhesitatingly advise you to accord first position to education. Further, if I am set the task of distributing our limited resources of money and personnel, within the field of education, I would be distinctly and emphatically partial towards university education in which I include higher scientific and technical education. Sir Frederick Bourne, the erstwhile governor of this province (Sindh), in one of his addresses in London, observed that education was one of the urgent problems of Pakistan, but very wisely he added that Pakistan’s authorities were inclined to take hold of the wrong end of the stick by devoting more attention and funds to primary and adult education than to higher education. I am of the same view for the reason that for our future administrators, judges, lawyers, political leaders, army officers, railway managers, builders, architects, engineers, technologists, professors, teachers, scientists, economists, industrialists, and if I may take the liberty of saying so, even for ministers and members of the parliament, we have to look towards the universities. No state, whether capitalist, socialist or communist, can exist honourably and prosperously without trained leaders in all walks of life, precisely in the same way as an army without trained and experienced officers must degenerate into a rabble with no discipline or capacity for defence or offence. The character and standard of education and training in the universities will determine the future of our country in every respect ...
In undivided India Muslims were deprived of their due share in the life of the country. They were backward in education and their representation in the universities, government departments, and the professions was intolerably inadequate. Education was imparted in two separate water-tight compartments, mundane and religious, a duality which made nonsense of education, spelt disaster for our moral and spiritual life and undermined our defences against the invasions of materialistic philosophies of the West, the latest version of which is Marxian and Russian communism. We prayed and struggled for Pakistan in order that we should have power and opportunity to order our affairs according to our own ideals. To achieve our object and to make Pakistan stable, strong and prosperous it is urgently necessary that our men and women should be given the best and highest education and no delay should occur in making arrangements towards this end.
The advances man has made in his knowledge will have no impact on our life until our men and women are provided maximum opportunities for acquiring it. With a few exceptions, our universities and colleges have lost non-Muslim members of the teaching staff, and consequently the facilities available for imparting higher education, which were already inadequate, have become still more inadequate. Means have therefore to be devised to meet the situation and to bring the teaching staff up to a satisfactory level. To this end, measures were necessary to import teachers from abroad, to send our promising young men to other countries to acquire requisite qualifications for occupying chairs in our universities, to prevent further depletion of university and college cadres, and to improve the conditions of service with a view to making teaching careers less unattractive than they are compared with other careers available to bright young men ...
The facilities existing at present for the teaching and study of Economics are, if anything, more unsatisfactory than those existing for other subjects. Muslims were more backward in this subject than in other subjects such as History, Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry. Being interested in Economics I shall perhaps be accused of partiality in this matter but, even at the risk of such an accusation, I must say that, without a proper knowledge of Economics, the affairs of a country cannot be understood properly, much less arranged, ordered, or set right.
Those who keep contact with the current affairs of the world will bear me out that the overwhelming majority of questions, which keep living nations agitated, political machines in motion, press and platform lively, and the parliaments busy are economic and social questions and nearly all the social questions have important economic aspects. Questions relating to balance of payments, trading conditions, public finance, taxation and its impact on employment and production, etc, are the most burning questions in every country. Economic problems are widely discussed, and an enlightened public opinion exists on economics of which due account has to be taken by the governments.
The science of Economics has made great advances in the last quarter of the century (1925 to 1950) and in order that it should be understood fully in its application to the conditions and requirements of a country, it demands a careful, wide and continuous study. Speaking with a full sense of responsibility and without any exaggeration, I feel that today in the ordering of our affairs, we are not able to utilise the knowledge of Economics fully and properly. The stage is dominated by law and politics, the latter manifesting itself in intrigue with or without chessboard skill, but seldom unaccompanied by arbitrary use of newly acquired power. In these circumstances one had reluctantly to conclude that the science of Economics has little impact upon the management of our affairs.
Even at the risk of causing offence to some of the distinguished men who are present here today and to some others who are not, I wish to say again with a full sense of responsibility, that our country today has no economists whose views on important questions should command respect, or who can consider current questions without any bias and with a full understanding of their implications.
I am making these unpleasant statements because I want you not to live in a world of make-belief but to see things in their true light. The hope of future progress lies in an objective, unbiased, and unemotional approach to our problems. If you want advice on a health problem you can invite a foreigner for a few days and seek light from him. If you want advice on a hydroelectric scheme you can call in a world authority on the subject to visit Pakistan and to give you advice. But it is not so for the economic problems, in which man plays a most important part and disturbs all calculations. His unpredictable behaviour can upset and disprove all forecasts. The economist must live here and study us, our men and women and our conditions before he can venture to advise us with confidence.
It was with the awareness of this situation that last year (1949), immediately after the conference, certain decisions were taken by your executive committee which were as follows:
(1) The government should be asked as a first step to sanction 12 scholarships for the study of Economics in UK and USA with the main idea of providing qualified men for universities and colleges; (2) Some economists should be imported from abroad to strengthen the departments of Economics in our universities; (3) Information should be collected about the present conditions of the departments of Economics.
Regarding the scholarships for the study of Economics in the UK and USA the Association has failed to convince the government that 12 of them would not be excessive either from the point of view of the requirements of the country or from that of the availability of suitable young men. I am sure that the government will discharge its responsibilities in this matter as it thinks fit but I wish to suggest that the Economic Association should also take the matter in its hands and adopt all possible steps to ensure that as large a number of students of Economics as possible, who show distinct aptitude for this subject, are given an opportunity of study and research in one of the leading institutions of the world, specialising in this branch of knowledge.
I am sure that the country will appreciate that Economics occupies a special position and its requirements should not be assessed in terms of those of other subjects. I do not dispute the importance of other subjects and would not neglect them but I do suggest that to ensure that our national interests are safeguarded; both inside and outside the country; in international as well as national assemblies; in trade, industry and commerce, and in international dealings: it is essential to have the advice of well-qualified economists at our disposal and to spread economic knowledge and information throughout the country.
I have dealt with this matter at length because I think the education and training of our young men and women is by far the most important problem of the country. With this question is bound up the future of our country and its progress, stability and prosperity, and we can neglect it only at our peril. No economic problem is more urgent or more important than the question of education. No industrialisation, and no economic development are possible without dealing adequately with the question of education. Universities cannot be properly staffed and our problems cannot be studied without educating our young men. I suggest that the Economic Association should devote special attention to this important question and take whatever steps are possible within its limited means towards remedying the present situation. The Association will render valuable service if it focuses public attention upon it but I think it can and should do more than calling attention to it and emphasising its urgency.
On this occasion I am purposely adopting a critical attitude. There are several directions in which our achievements have fallen short of our expectations. Considering that we have entered upon our responsibilities, which for us are of an unprecedented character, without sufficient experience the inadequacy of our achievement should not dishearten us, and there is indeed no reason, whatever, for despair or defeatism. It is easy to find excuses for inadequate effort and for failures and blunders, and not learn any lessons from them. We are apt to feel satisfied and elated when foreigners, in their politeness and affability, tell us what a fine job we have done in our country.
We must maintain a critical but robust attitude, critical ... lest we forget that our accomplishment is far short of what is not only idealistically desirable but what should be and is within the realm of practical achievement; and robust in order to make every failure or shortcoming a starting point for more determined effort. I am aware that beneath the surface there is, in the country, a sense of insufficiency of achievement; but we refrain from giving expression to it for fear of causing embarrassment or of giving opportunity to those who wish ill to us ... to exult over it, or to take undue advantage of it. Our determination to remain united and to give unstinted support to the government is laudable, and has contributed to the present stability of Pakistan. But we must learn to examine and discuss our problems with complete objectivity (and) with a view to remedying our faults and quickening our pace. We must develop sufficient understanding and moral strength to analyse our problems critically without personal ill will and solely in a constructive spirit. All administrations are certain to become self-satisfied, lethargic, and arbitrary unless they remain constantly exposed to the vitalising rays of independent and honest analysis and criticism.
Excerpted with permission from
Associations of Social Scientists: An Analytical Study
Edited by Dr Inayatullah
Council of Social Sciences Pakistan [COSS],
- 307-Dossal Arcade, Jinnah Avenue, Blue Area, Islamabad.
Email: cossp@apollo.net.pk Website: www.coss.sdnpk.org ISBN 969-8755-07-1 312pp. Rs350
Dr Inayatullah is president of the Coucil of Social Sciences, Islamabad
Zahid Hussain (1895-1957) was the first governor of the State Bank of Pakistan and served as president of the Pakistan Economic Association from 1949 to 1957 x
