ISLAMABAD, Dec 23 (APP):”Following the golden principles of Quaid-i-Azam and carrying forward his mission is the only ray of hope for the country to achieve political stability which can ultimately lead to economic stability”.
This was stated by Professor Dr. Muhammad Iqbal Chawla who is currently Dean, Faculty of Arts and Humanities and Professor and Chairman, Department of History, University of Punjab during an interview with APP on Saturday.
“December 25 is the day which gives us an opportunity to renew our commitments towards realizing the dream of Quaid and make the country a welfare state following his principles of equality and justice for all” , Dr. Iqbal Chawla said.
He said it was Quaid-i-Azam who saw a dream of Islamic, democratic and a welfare state without any provincial prejudices, religious hatreds which is very essential and relevant today. Quaid-i-Azam always raised his voice for the rights of minorities and women and his first cabinet had also a representation of Hindu.
He said Quaid was of the view that if women will not get education and stay at home, the society will not achieve progress.
Today, women are contributing in diversified fields of life but still more efforts are needed to ensure their representation at all levels, he said.
Elaborating the Quaid’s vision of a welfare state, Dr. Iqbal Chawla said, Quaid’s dream of welfare state was a dream where there will be no economic inequality and unjustified distribution of wealth which creates a sense of deprivation in poor.
Dr. Iqbal Chawla stressed that the steps which can lead to Quaid’s dream of a welfare state are ensuring justice and equality in all spheres of life, implementation of constitution in letter and spirit, strong parliamentary legislations, protection of minorities and giving equal rights to women.
He said sudden death of Quaid-i-Azam after creation of Pakistan created a huge gap of leadership and after him we could not have been able to achieve the objectives of complete democracy, political stability and economic progress.
Dr. Iqbal Chawla said the first basic thing is to provide food and shelter to poor without any discrimination while freedom of expression and other things comes after this.
He said we as a nation are very fortunate to have a project like China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which can bring economic uplift as well as create employment opportunities for the people and we should maximum utilize our efforts to make this project a huge success.
Professor Dr. Muhammad Iqbal Chawala has published numerous articles in national and international research journals.
He also has presented papers on number of international Conferences. His major area of interest is History of Modern South Asia.
He has published two books and his book Wavell and the Dying Days of the Raj, published by Oxford University Press in 2012 was awarded Best Book Publication Award for 2010-2011 on Sep 25, 2013 by HEC, Pakistan.
Because of his services to the discipline of History in Pakistan, he was awarded number of awards, such as HEC Post Doctoral Fellowship Award 2010-2011, Overseas Ph. D. Scholarship (Split program) 2004-2005 and Punjab University’s Best Teacher’s Award 2005-2007.
He has also organized two international conferences and seminars and lectures on different themes and topics related to Arts and Humanities.
