Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani has said that distorted history is being taught to students through academic syllabus books which glorifies the benefits of dictatorship and diminishes the role of democracy in the country.
He was addressing a seminar at Sindh Madressatul Islam University on topic “Pakistan at 70; Devolution and Democracy”. ‘How we can expect the patriotism towards Pakistan from those who are not being given the ownership of their own resources’? Rabbani questioned. ‘Solution to all the ills is in consistent and strong democratic process and transfer of the powers and resources to the federating units as Pakistan cannot afford further experiments and dictatorship. We should move towards progressive Pakistan through consistent democratic process,’ he said.
Speaking at a large gathering, the Senate chairman said, “Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, in 1927, clearly defined and elaborated the powers of the centre and that of the federating units in the federation as his famous ‘14 points’ gave a clear description of the rights and powers of the provinces. The 1935 Constitution of the undivided India which was adopted as the first Constitution of Pakistan also hints at division of powers among the provinces,”
Raza Rabbani said that Quaid-e-Azam wanted and struggled for Pakistan as a progressive welfare state but unfortunately, Pakistan even till today could not be made a welfare state. Rather the welfare state of Quaid-e-Azam was turned into a security state. First Karachi and later Islamabad became the centre of all powers. He said that the national language was not the language of the majority. ‘The rejection of the Bengali as a national language became one of the causes of Dhaka fall.
The federation was changed to one unit. Our children are being taught lessons against democracy. The fall of Dhaka has been narrated in one paragraph in the curriculum books. ‘Our children are reading false history about the creation and division of Pakistan,’ he added.
While concluding his speech, Raza Rabbani said that the people of Balochistan wanted ownership in their resources. ‘Our leadership should learn from the history otherwise history would haunt us. He emphasized that there was dire need of good governance, transparency and betterment of system in democratic process,’ he concluded.
Earlier, Sindh Madressatul Islam Vice-Chancellor of Mohammad Ali Sheikh, in his welcome speech, said that Indus Valley Civilization first gave the concept of democracy and Mohenjo Daro was its vibrant example.
