(A PAPER READ AT THE SEMINAR ON Quaid's Day at AIOU)
First of all I am thankful to the organizers of the event who thought of me as a speaker for the celebration of birthday of the great leader and founder of this lovely homeland that we are living in.
First of all I am thankful to the organizers of the event who thought of me as a speaker for the celebration of birthday of the great leader and founder of this lovely homeland that we are living in.
After spending a few years away from my homeland I feel great to be invited to speak to students of today and to share my understanding of Quaid’s ideologies and his vision for a democratic Pakistan.
Here I begin with a quote of Quaid from his address at a public meeting in Dhaka on March 21, 1948
“My young friends, students who are present here, let me tell you as one who has always had love and affection for you, who has served you for ten years faithfully and loyally, let me give you this word of warning: you will be making the greatest mistake if you allow yourself to be exploited by one political party or another and don’t be misled…. Your main occupation should be — in fairness to yourself, in fairness to your parents, in fairness to the state – to devote your attention to your studies.”
Now let me repeat a small piece of it again
“if you allow yourself to be exploited by one political party or another”
Quaid never wanted the youth of the newly born country to be exploited and especially in the age when young boys and girls should be focusing their education only. Political agendas of one direction or the other can only fix you to one ideology and at this age you must not be fixted. You should keep your minds and hearts open to explore and gain knowledge.
My young fellows sitting here today celebrating this day with us I want you to re-learn the the lesson and please get to know what is to be done at certain stage of life. In the coming years of your life there will be a time inshaAllah when you will be standing as a responsible person as well as a leader within your own field, but right now your responsibility only is to focus upon your academic career.
At another occasion addressing the Punjabi Muslim Students Federation at Lahore on October 31, 1947, our quaid notified you of your responsibility as well and he said:
“You are the nation’s leaders of tomorrow and you must fully equip yourself by discipline, education and training for the arduous task lying ahead of you. You should realise the magnitude of your responsibility and be ready to bear it.”
When I read these quotes again today I found them more meaningful and significant than ever before. Pakistan today is at an edge where we need more and more trained and qualified professionals. A person if not prepared and qualified well for his or her field of work will only be a burden on the economy and will ruin the developmental process. Quaid had a long term vision and he knew how hard it will be for the country to stand up and face the rapidly developing world. He knew that the young leaders of tomorrow are the ones who will be able to help and support this newly born country in the coming years. He knew and he was telling in a warning tone about the responsibility of tomorrow. To face the challenges he also gave the key solution to face the future in his address at the All Pakistan Educational Conference in Karachi on November 27, 1948 as he said:
“What we have to do is to mobilize our people and build up the character of our future generation. In short, this means the highest sense of honor, integrity, selfless service to the nation and sense of responsibility, and we have to see that our people are fully qualified and equipped to play their part in the various branches of economic life in a manner which will do honour to Pakistan.”
Building up the character of our future generation was a priority that he set out for the educational planners. He wanted the education system to develop the characteristics that I just now noted above. He wanted education policy makers to have clear goals in their mind. I am telling you that recently doing a detailed policy analysis I have come to the conclusion that the policies of education made in the early years of Pakistan had very clear agenda and very clear vision built in for the coming generations but instead of developing further on these agendas and goals we got lost somewhere when we began to follow the lights of heavy vehicles and lost our direction. Quaid wanted us to built this generation into independent thinkers, workers, and professionals who could have made this country develop at a much faster pace. He wanted us to build the young fellows as leaders of tomorrow but alas the political agendas of many many key parties in this country made them followers and even blind followers.
I do not want to look back and address to those who ruined the Quiad’s philosophies of equality, justice, democracy and development rather I would like to address today to the leaders of tomorrow. Those who are sitting here and those who might be able to read this speech on the net tomorrow or afterwards...you the young girls and boys please keep your lines straight. Please do not follow the directions given by x y z ...keep your goals clear you want to be a doctor, engineer, lawyer, teacher, businessman, artist, journalist, musician, painter, photographer or whatever you must be focusing your study and training within your chosen field, This country needs many more of well trained and learned professionals so seek education of your choice with a goal of becoming an active and responsible citizen of today and a true leader of tomorrow. I shall close this note at my Quaid’s words when he declared Pakistan a moral and intellectual achievement and he called upon Pakistanis on August 31, 1947, to rebuild the nation:
“It is in your hands, we undoubtedly have talents, Pakistan is blessed with enormous resources and potential. Providence has endowed us with all the wealth of nature and now it lies with man to make the best of it.”
