Islamabad, August 15, 2021 (PPI-OT):Every movement owes its origin to multiple factors mainly including emotional and instrumental. Emotional factors further include ideology, language, culture and civilization etc. On the other side instrumental factors include historical, political, economic and social dynamics of the community launching the movement. Partition of India or genesis of Pakistan was not only included all these factors rather was quite natural and historical in its nature.
This was the content of the webinar on Discourse of History on Contemporary State of Pakistan, arranged on Saturday, August 14 to mark the Independence Day. Leading historians hailing from each province, one from the Federal capital and one from abroad cascaded their views.
The event was arranged in continuation of the series of webinars on the Discourse of History organised weekly by the National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research, Centre of Excellence, Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad every Saturday. Historians, academia, scholars, students, media professionals and civil society attend this series widely from all across the world.
Prof Dr Aslam Syed, Center for Religious Studies, Ruhr Universitat, Bochum, Germany said that the demand for the creation of Pakistan was based on a historical narrative built around the centrality of the Muslim community in India and its distinctiveness in terms of religious beliefs, cultural traits, and historical traditions. A particular understanding of the past was central to the idea of Pakistan. The prevailing trends in the historiography of Pakistan challenge the grand narratives and also nationalist viewpoints about some aspects of history, he said.
“At this watershed moment, Pakistan’s policy makers need to assess the national, regional and global realities carefully to devise a long-term strategy for overcoming the dangers lurking ahead, ensuring Pakistan’s security, promoting its economic well-being, and attaining the goal of a satisfactory resolution of all the issues in all the fields of the state. The need for building up our national power for safeguarding our national interests, therefore, cannot be over-emphasized. Further, we need to adopt a comprehensive approach in building up our national strength covering political stability, economic development and military muscle,” he said.
Dr Syed further observed that nation building is not a short-term enterprise. It involves continuous struggle by a nation, spanning over decades, in which the people as a whole have to brave hardships and overcome obstacles which may come their way. Economic power and advancement in science and technology hold a special position in the calculus of national power in the modern times, he said.
Prof Dr Razia Sultana, Vice Chancellor, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University, Peshawar opined that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (then named North-West Frontier Province) remained a trend setter during the Pakistan Movement since the idea of getting a separate homeland for the Muslims was mooted. All the federating units are equally facing the contemporary issues along with the Federation, she said.
“Historians limelight issues of the past in consonance with the prevailing situations. Regrettably, successive governments’ policy makers have not taken pains to read what historians as well as other writers have written in their research papers and books on history as well as all other fields of state for the collective benefit,” she opined.
Dr Saad S. Khan, Director-General, National Institute of Public Administration (NIPA), Quetta was of the opinion that the Baloch and Pashtoons are two main ethnic groups residing in Balochistan. Balochistan got the status of full-fledged province after the dissolution of One Unit. Balochistan inherited inbuilt the issue of provincial autonomy being the vigorous one, the passions were stronger, he recalled.
“The demography of Balochistan is the main cause of the misfortune of province. The tribal chiefs themselves are also the main hurdle for the development in Balochistan. Balochistan has both economic and political issues which have created feelings of disappointment and deprivation among the people,” he observed.
Dr Syed Jaffar Ahmed, former Director, Pakistan Studies Center, Karachi University, Karachi said that Sindh is home to a large number of marginalised communities that have proved vital to the province’s economy through the ages and have performed an important role. We need to have more research on all aspects of Sindh as not a lot of work has been done on the social and economic history of Sindh’s pre-colonial times, he said.
“Sindh has been a cradle of the Indus civilization since time immemorial. Sindh keeps its unique position with its incredibly long human history. Hand-axes and cleavers, the oldest form of stone tools, found in Rohri could be the clues of the Afro-Asian connection of that time. There are several aspects of history that are yet to be explored as, being located between two great ancient civilisations – the South Asian and the Middle Eastern – Sindh enjoyed a degree of isolation throughout its history due to physical barriers on three sides,” he observed.
Prof Dr M. Iqbal Chawla, former Dean Social Sciences, Punjab University, Lahore recalled that Lahore remained a center of Pakistan Movement politics. It was in Lahore where the Lahore Resolution, also called Pakistan Resolution or declaration of independence of Pakistan, was written, prepared and passed by the All-India Muslim League session in March 1940.
“In real sense, it was not partition of India rather division of the Muslim majority provinces of Punjab and Bengal and the public polarized along religious lines. Partition led to massive loss of life and livelihoods,” he said. “The Lahore Resolution marked the beginning of the Pakistan Movement. At Lahore, the Muslim League formally committed itself to creating an independent Muslim State, including Sindh, Punjab, Baluchistan, the North West Frontier Province and Bengal,” he said.
Dr Samina Awan, former Dean of Arts and Humanities and Head of History Department, Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad said when the decision to transfer the official capital of Pakistan from Karachi to Islamabad was made, a commission and nine sub-committees were formed in February 1959. Islamabad represents Pakistan’s first new town project primarily because Islamabad’s plan shows connectivity on all levels; within the city, natural landscape is integrated with open spaces, which creates an urban system that is connected to the natural areas surrounding the city, she said.
“Now increasing economic activities have given birth to high rise building, residential apartments, housing schemes, educational institutions, industrial units and new markets. Islamabad is a unique example of a large new city that has been planned for the future and built for the present, fully respecting the long-term planning,” Dr Awan observed.
The NIHCR Director Dr Sajid Awan finally thanked all the participants and concluded the event with the resolve that such intellectual forums may play an important role in making and evolution of the nations. He attributed the establishment of Pakistan to the Aligarh University with its valuable academic contribution in building up a nation and a nation state in the name of Pakistan.
For more information, contact:
National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research (NIHCR)
Quaid-e-Azam University, New Campus, Shadara Road,
Islamabad, Pakistan
Tel: +92-51-2896153-54/102
Fax: +92-51-2896152
Email: dirnihcr@gmail.com, nihcr@yahoo.com
Website: www.nihcr.edu.pk
