Chairman Senate talk under the title "Pakistan at 70: Devolution and Democracy (Complete)
Channel: Sindh Madressatul Islam University (SMIU)
Date: 2016-12-28

Karachi, December 18, 2016
Chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani has said that in case of Pakistan, they were the provinces who created it. This he said while delivering his talk under the title "Pakistan at 70: Devolution and Democracy" at the inner courtyard of the historic Main Building of Sindh Madressatul Islam University, last evening.
He said the provincial assemblies of Sindh and the Punjab opt for Pakistan using their democratic right of vote. He said the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, then known as Sarhad province, decided to opt for Pakistan through a referendum, while Baluchistan also joined the federation through 'Maslahati Commission.' Hence, the federation of Pakistan was created by the provinces, giving a part of their authority to the federation.
He said Quaid-e-Azam had been an ardent supporter of provincial autonomy throughout his political career. The stance of the All India Muslim League under Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah had been in favour of granting the provinces more autonomy in undivided India.
Speaking about separation of East Pakistan, he said that it was a matter of record that the first ever privilege motion moved in newly created assemblies of Pakistan related to a question that why the language of the majority of the people of Pakistan (Bengali) was not the national language. He said the seeds of the separation were sowed at that stage.
He said that the youth must know the real account of the history of Pakistan, as they are the future of of the country.
He said we must produce citizens who will go long way and believe in deviation from democratic process which should be fair and for benefit of Pakistan. Emphasizing on democratic education, Mian Raza Rabbani said our young generation needs to be able to put questions to their government and the parliament.
He said the parliamentary form of government and provincial autonomy are two pivotal points to make Pakistan stronger and prosperous. He was of the view that denying the provinces their rights and denying the people of their language would weaken the country.
Chairman Senate said that despite of many failures he is very hopeful about the future of Pakistan through democracy. "In the present democratic era, there are number of issues of governance and weak systems, but I still believe that democracy is better than any other form of government." He further added that the cure of the ills of democracy lied in more democracy and said that the democratic process would eliminate the corruption and other demerits in due course of time.
In his address Vice Chancellor SMIU Dr. Muhammad Ali Shaikh said that the latest research suggests that the Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) in Pakistan was possibly the earliest cradle and model of democracy in the world. He said amongst the four contemporary civilizations of IVC, the Mesopotamia, the Nile Valley, Anatolia and China, the pervasive influence of an imperial authority could be felt. But, the Indus Valley was different as there is no trace of grandiose structures acting as centers of authority such as forts, palaces or great temples.
He said that the evidence behind this assertion has been the city plans of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, where all the houses irrespective of the social status of the residents had a standard layout and size, and only special structures, possibly public buildings, had been treated differently in the city plan.
He said that many historians believed that this type of civic controls and an organizational system could only have stemmed from some kind of "rule by the people" that was exercised in some Greek city-states some two thousand years later. He said in view of this many scholars have been asking: "Did Greece give birth to democracy, or did Greece simply follow a practice developed earlier?"
He said that the Indus Valley script has not yet been deciphered, which is a handicap to attempts to draw any final conclusions.
He said that the democracy was in the genes of the people of Pakistan, being the heir to Indus Valley Civilization. However, he said the invasions and foreign rule had suppressed the longing for democracy to some extent but the desire had not died down.
Earlier, the Chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani visited the Jinnah Museum of SMIU and showed keen interest in relics and academic credentials of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and other old students. He also saw the old record of SMIU preserved at the museum.
The program was also attended by foreign diplomats, eminent educationists, students and faculty members.