Institutions not willing to tolerate each other: Raza Rabbani

KARACHI: Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani has said that not just people but institutions are also not willing to tolerate each other despite the fact that the role of every institution is defined in the Constitution.

The Senate chairman stated this while speaking in a programme at Arts Council here on Saturday during the launching ceremony of a book on the life and services of former station director Radio Pakistan and former secretary Arts Council Karachi Yawar Mehdi.

“Despite the passage of 70 years since Independence, the state of present Pakistan is worst than that of Mohenjo-Daro. People had been used to live in a cordial manner in Mohejo-Daro but today we are not willing to tolerate each other. Unfortunately, not just people but institutions too are not ready to tolerate each other, despite the fact that the role of every institution is defined in the Constitution,” he said.

He said that the people of Mohenjo-Daro had made the entire world discover a new civilisation but unfortunately in the present day, intolerance was rife in the country as the people had become so divided that they are not ready to tolerate each other.

“Institutions are not ready to do their work while remaining within the Constitution,” he said.

He said that this situation had been created under a well-thought-out plan of the state. The first public commotion had been created against the dictatorship of Ayub Khan and later on when Ziaul Haq had imposed his rule on the country, he (Ziaul Haq) had completely devastated students’ unions and labour unions.

“A labourer gets burnt but nothing happens in reaction as this is the state of affairs, where we stand today,” he said.

He said that during the regime of former military ruler General Ziaul Haq, students’ unions had been banned but there was no ban on the extremist organisations as they kept doing their work. “Today, the country is suffering due to that situation,” said the Senate chairman.

While paying tribute to Yawar Mehdi, he said: “Yawar Mehdi is such a personality whom we all own. Yawar Mehdi had an important role in securing the position where we stand today,” he said.

He said that Yawar Mehdi could never be detached from the Radio Pakistan and in case it was done, the Radio Pakistan would turn out to become just an empty building.

“Yawar Mehdi’s period was such an era, during which the students were used to be trained through literary engagements as they were given the opportunity to become mature in their thinking,” he said.

He said that Yawar Mehdi had given birth to a new thinking. The Radio programme Bazm-e-Talaba done by Yawar Mehdi had not just remained confined to the Radio Pakistan but it had been amplified in educational institutions as well.

Educational institutions don’t possess academic thinking anymore, said Rabbani.