Quaid's vision of Pakistan: Some reflections - I

Some people have raised questions about the vision, the father of the nation, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, had for Pakistan. They maintain that he was simply a barrister. They are ignorant of his socio-economic version for growth, development and prosperity of the people of Pakistan in general and for common man in particular.
This piece provides insights into some strategic guidelines stated and spelled out by him as his vision for Pakistan. Before unfolding some of the above aspects, it may be noted that leaders, irrespective of their background, have provided sound transformational leadership and produced magnificent results. A focus on Asia can educate us about the miracle of Singapore, which before 1964 was virtually a boat country. Lee Kwan Yee's outstanding leadership visualised three dreams spanning over 25 years namely:
1. Singapore to emerge as an outstanding leader in the financial world.
2. Every Singaporean to have a self owned house.
3. Singapore will be the cleanest city-state in the world where everyone from outside Singapore will yearn to visit.
After 25 years, Lee Kwan Yee appeared in the press in 1989 told the nation that his vision stood translated and he handed over the prestigious office of Prime Ministership to another person. He had legal education from UK and his intellectual education succeeded to pave the way for a peaceful and prosperous revolution in Singapore to earn her a prestigious position in the world. Her annual exports exceed $250bn and Gini Coefficient, reported in the World Development Report released by the World Bank, was 0.19. It is the lowest in the world showing very low inequality of income amongst the people and consequently with the lowest poverty level in the world.
Another outstanding example is that of Malaysia which emerged as a sovereign state in 1957 on the political map of the world. In early days, poverty was rampant in Malaysia and students in schools read that people slept under trees. The great rise of Malaysia, despite facing several challenges, is an economic miracle. Besides others, Dr Mahathir Mohammad provided transformational leadership from 1982 to 2003 and socio-economic development cushioned with prosperity spread across the board. He was a medical doctor and a transformational leader.
The object of above two examples is to prove that a leader may have any professional/academic background but should have a clear-cut vision. To achieve this, he selects his team, defines role of team members and optimises the use of all inputs in a synergistic manner to achieve the goals and after providing leadership role gets his/her vision accomplished. Space is not permitting us to give more examples. Therefore, this piece will focus on one question namely, vision of the father of the nation about Pakistan. This can be divided into two parts namely, before the birth of Pakistan and after August 14, 1947 when Pakistan was established. Some productive thoughts in respect of above are shared below.
BEFORE AUGUST 14, 1947
1. In 1943, Beverly Nicholas, a journalist, had asked Qauid-e-Azam: what will be the focus after Pakistan will be born. Quaid's response was "people". One can see vividly that people's participation was his great vision. Although people elect their representatives, one wonders whether their interests are well looked after or not. One wishes that grass root relationship of people for undertaking development activities takes place. One desires that periodical accountability is seen rather than advising them to wait for five years. Focus on their thick relationship and solving their problems was his vision. To accomplish this, a guarantee of "well being" of people was included in Article 38 of the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan. However, this guarantee of the above Constitution is awaiting for its redemption. When will this dream crystallise? Quaid had given clear-cut vision in this respect.
2. In September 1945, Sir Homi Modi had enquired from Quaid as to what will be the workable economic grounds when Pakistan will emerge as a sovereign state on the political map of the world. His vision was crystal clear. He explained that three pillars will form the foundation of workable economic grounds for Pakistan and these are listed as under:
a. Economy
b. Stability
c. Development
The translation of the above three pillars is our challenge to accomplish his vision. He visualised sustained economic development with wide spread prosperity. He desired to ensure internal and external stability. These are challenges to our current democratic setup. He wished all round development. This dimension, in our view, includes development efforts by all stakeholders including private, public, co-operative, multinationals and other sectors. A synergistic role by all stakeholders is the crying need of the day to accomplish the vision of Quaid.
3. Patel, a prominent Congress leader, thought that Pakistan would collapse after six months of her establishment. After twelve months of Pakistan's establishment, he was questioned by people in India as to why Pakistan did not collapse even after twelve months of her existence. He replied that talented people from all walks of life, namely, lawyers, poets, businessmen, skilled persons, teachers, artists, engineers and doctors etc migrated from the then British India to Pakistan. Consequently Pakistan will not collapse. Quaid's Vision about Pakistan after its establishment was to ensure sound economy, maintain sustainable stability and achieve all round development. We must accomplish these goals to accomplish the vision of Pakistan.
AFTER AUGUST 14, 1947 The rise of Capitalism is ascribed to Adam Smith of Scotland. It continued but the early part of 20th century saw the dawn of Communism, which could not last for a century and petered out by the end of 1980s. Now the whole world is in search of a new economic system. "Free Market Economy" is much talked in the hitherto capitalistic world and in China it is known as "Socialistic Free Market Economy". No country has any clear cut and well-defined economic system. Quaid, in his inaugural speech delivered on July 01, 1948 on the establishment of State Bank of Pakistan, had advised that Pakistan should not follow Western economic system. He advanced two arguments in this respect. Firstly, this system had resulted in two world wars in the 20th century and secondly this was instrumental for increasing the gap between the haves and have-nots. Accordingly, he advised the research department of State Bank of Pakistan to help develop an economic system based on the Islamic concept of equality of mankind and social justice. The dividends out of this system were listed by him as contribution for welfare, happiness and prosperity to mankind. After the lapse of 63 years of Pakistan's existence, we are still in search of evolving the economic system suggested by Quaid and implementing the same. The government of Pakistan may seek motivation from the vision of the father of the nation and be the beneficiary. An extract from his above speech is quoted below:
"The adoption of Western economic theory and practice will not help us in achieving our goal of creating a happy and contented people. We must work our destiny in our own way and present to the world an economic system based on true Islamic concept of equality of mankind and social justice. We will thereby be fulfilling our mission in Muslims and giving to humanity the message of peace which alone can save it and secure the welfare, happiness and prosperity of mankind".
Quaid's vision of Pakistan was to evolve Islamic social justice to establish social stability through narrowing gap between the haves and have-nots. He visualised the adoption of principles of Islamic social justice to be followed. In this respect, an extract from his address to civil, naval, army and air force officers delivered on October 11, 1947 in Khaliqdina Hall, Karachi is quoted below:
"The establishment of Pakistan which we have been striving for the last ten years is by the grace of God an established fact today but the creation of State of our own was means to an end, not end in itself. The idea was that we should have a state in which we could live and breathe as free men and which we could develop according to our own lights and culture and where principles of Islamic Justice could find free play".
For development of a country, the urgent need is to exploit the resources of all types Quaid had visualised the existence of unlimited resources in Pakistan and urged upon the stakeholders to exploit these to our advantage. In this respect an extract from his message on the First Anniversary of Pakistan on August 14, 1948 is quoted below:
"Nature has given you everything; you have got unlimited resource. The foundations of your state have been laid and it is now for you to build, and build as quickly and as well as you can; so go ahead and I wish you God-speed".
Quaid's vision had forecasted the presence of enormous resources and potentialities in Pakistan. He had urged all of us to make the best of these resources to our advantage. In this respect, an extract from his radio speech from Lahore on October 30, 1947 is quoted below:
"Enormous resources are in your hand we have undoubtedly talents; Pakistan is blessed with enormous resources and potentialities; providence has endowed us with all the wealth of nature and now it lies with man to make the best of it".
Human resource (HR) development is considered as a pre-requisite for economic development. It is firmly believed that man behind the machine is very important. Nations who invest in HR continue to develop and exploit the resource to their advantage. Human Capital has emerged as a driver for economic development. Quaid had visualised these aspects. An extract from his speech delivered on September 26, 1947 is stated below:
"Funds are, no doubt, necessary for development but, at the same time national growth and re-generation do not depend on funds alone. It is human toil that makes for the prosperity of a people and I have, no doubt, that we have in Pakistan a nation of industrious and determined people whose past traditions have already distinguished them in the field of human achievement".
Quaid's vision on HR was absolutely clear. He had visualised use of HR for increase in prosperity of the people. Events, which globally followed showed that the world famous scholar namely, Harbison and Meyers declared human capital during 1970s as vital for economic development. Later this term "Human Capital" got into big currency.
Several countries of the world have achieved socio-economic development by using education as an economic driver. Quaid's vision in respect of using education as an economic driver was contained in his several speeches. However we have selected his two speeches. The first one has been extracted from his message to All Pakistan Educational Conference, Karachi on November 27, 1947. He emphasised on the purpose of education and stressed on technical and vocational education and on character building. This was his vision. An extract in this respect is quoted below:
"We must earnestly bring our educational policy and programme on the lines suited to the genius of our people, consonant with our history and culture, and having regard to the modern conditions and vast developments that have taken place all over the world. There is an immediate and urgent need for training our people in the scientific and technical education in order to build up our future economic life and we should see that our people undertake science, commerce, trade and particularly well-planned industries. But do not forget that we have to compete with the world, which is moving very fast in this direction. Also we must emphasise that greater attention should be paid to technical and vocational education. In short, we have to build up the character of our future generations which means highest sense of honour, integrity, selfless service to the nation and sense of reasonability and we have to see that they are fully qualified or equipped to play their part in various branches of economic life in a manner which will do honour to Pakistan".
On April 18, 1948, he emphasised on specialised education. An extract from his reply to the address of welcome at Edwards College, Peshawar, is quoted below:
"I entirely... that instead of turning more clerks and government servants, your college is now offering suitable subjects for students, which would enable them to take their place in commerce, trade, industry, banking and insurance business. It should be the aim of our colleges to produce first class experts in agriculture, zoology, engineering, medicine and other specialised subjects. Only thus shall we be able to come to grip with the problems that are now facing us in the task of raising the standard of living, especially of the common man".
The future series will examine Quaid's vision on various aspects of the economy of Pakistan with focus on agriculture, industry and services sectors. It is high time that we must keep on mentioning Quaid's vision of our country and also simultaneously try to implement the spirit of his vision as explained in this piece. We must refresh our memory, develop an action plan and implement it so that the true picture of Pakistan emerges and people of Pakistan with clear-cut emphasis on "common man" are the beneficiaries of wide spread prosperity across the board.
(To be continued)