Islam is our Faith - Democracy is our Policy - Socialism is our - Economy - All Powers to the People

• INTRODUCTION

• THE CRISIS

• THE GENERAL AIMS

• FOREIGN POLICY

• INDUSTRIAL MEASURES

• FINANCIAL MEASURES

• AGRARIAN MEASURES

• PEOPLES RIGHTS

• EDUCATION AND CULTURE

• NATIONAL HEALTH

• NATIONAL DEFENCE

• THE CONSTITUTION

Expressing pithily the nature of its ideology, encompasses the whole programme of the Party set out in this Election Manifesto.

The substance and spirit of the Party's programme demands, and activities obey the teachings of Islam. The Party will countenance no laws repugnant to Islam and Qur'an.

The Party's positive proposals derive from the spirit and principles which are contained in the injunctions of the Faith. 'The equality of Muslims enjoined by Islam can be possible only in an economic and social structure so built as to realize it in practice. That can be a better manifestation of Muslim fraternity than institutions based on mutual co-operation.  The Party aims to introduce real democracy in the political field, for which the first condition is the abolition of privileges and the transfer of power to the people. Political privileges are inseparably related to economic privileges and inequalities. In calling for a socialistic solution to the country's problems the Party Manifesto proclaims the only correct way to deal with them.

Political parties have been in the habit for decades of emitting, for public consumption at election time, manifestos chock-full of vote-catching promises, fine sentiments and strings of demands. Such manifestos of traditional political parties have had no connection with the real intentions of their leaders. The result has been that, like bad currency, election manifestos have suffered value depreciation in the eyes of the people all too often deceived.

This Manifesto of the Pakistan People's Party is not of the old type of other political parties. It is a solemn pledge to the people that the Party will endeavour by all means, with or without elections, to fulfill in practice the programme contained therein.

a) A Nation Betrayed

The general will of the Muslims of this Asian sub-continent founded the State of Pakistan, which stands today as a monument to their unfulfilled hopes and aspirations. They wanted its citizens to live in freedom, a nation progressive and prosperous, powerful and pledged to shield from oppression Muslims in the other part. The new State so resplendent with noble purpose, as it seemed in the beginning, has fallen prey to internal weaknesses, grown forgetful of its own people's welfare, not to speak of its neglected duty towards the Muslims of India.

There is no need to delve into the past history of Pakistan's origin to determine the future shape of the country's society, its economy, its politics, its obligations. It is a sovereign nation, a national state; governing themselves democratically, its people will decide what their society's character should be. No people in their right senses can desire the aim of the state's policy to be the increase of poverty, general misery of the masses, rampant corruption, demoralization of all classes. The people must have desired the opposite of the condition to which they have been reduced; they must have desired rapid economic progress, education, good health, social justice, the equitable distribution of wealth, in short, a better way of life than the ancient one of servitude and degradation.

Before going further, we must first understand exactly what Pakistan’s condition is, and how Pakistan is situated in the world. She is one of the poorest among nations. Not only poverty but all the attendant consequences of poverty afflict her people to the maximum degree-ignorance, intellectual sterility, ill-health, dishonesty, crime, corruption, superstitions. All the forms of oppression by authority and by those who exercise power on account of their riches are to be found here.

The average life expectation of a Pakistani is only 33 years, a figure which compares unfavourably even with the 45 years for an Indian and is less than half the 70 for a Briton. While poverty may be the indirect cause of high mortality, the health needs of the masses have 'been grossly neglected because every government of this country has followed the policy of concentrating expenditure in the domains that benefit the privileged classes. 'To this same policy must be attributed the very high illiteracy rate-among the highest in the world and not decreasing either-and the steady deterioration of educational standards. If we were to probe deeper into the causes of the iniquitous taxation, the inefficiency of governmental administration when it is not corrupt also, the prevalence of dishonesty in business, and the other evils which put their specific stamp on life in our country, we shall find that they are connected with the sort of capitalist structure that has been built upon the theory that the concentration of wealth leads to economic progress.

Those classes who know themselves guilty of wrongs done to the nation and the reactionary political parties whose eyes are forever turned backwards, attempt. Now to divert attention by proclaiming themselves champions of fanciful ideologies which they ascribe to the original purpose of Pakistan.

To make matters worse, these are men, some of whom hostile to the very conception. of Pakistan, who are now condemning all Pakistani Muslims, except themselves and their followers, as unbelievers, if ' they will not subscribe to the sanctity of economic exploitation and social injustice. This appeal to ignorant fanaticism is dangerous not only to the State but to the unity of Muslims as Muslims.

We, on the other hand, appeal to reason, to the accumulated wealth of human knowledge, to the methods and techniques devised by human ingenuity through the centuries, to show the way out of our national misery towards life worthy of a great people. The real problems that confront the nation are political and economic, but not religious, since both exploiters and exploited profess the same faith--both are Muslims.

Many governments have come and gone, but the trend towards the relative impoverishment of the people, the enrichment of privileged classes and the growth of parasitic vested interests, has proceeded without abatement. All the past governments are certainly to blame for their wrong policies; but they could not act otherwise than they did, being the representatives of class and vested interests. They could not be expected to change the system, when their vocation lay in developing it for the profit of the classes on whose behalf they were in power.

b) Prey to Neocolonialism

Direct colonial rule left behind as its legacy a social and economic order in Pakistan which could be defined as feudal-military-bureaucratic. All the progress since has been its transformation into a dependent capitalist system typical of underdeveloped countries within the imperialist neocolonialist power sphere. We may say with truth, that from being the emancipated subject of one imperial colonialist power Pakistan has become the camp-follower of all imperialist-neocolonialist powers.

At the end of the Second World War, the Western colonialist powers proceeded, under American guidance, to adapt their methods of' exploitation to new conditions. Direct rule over subject peoples was given up, but the former possessions remained bound by economic, political and military compulsion to the former rulers. The exploitation of the newly independent countries had to continue for the good of all thc advanced capitalist countries. In the first stage of expanding capitalism, the need had been for markets and sources of raw material. In the next stage, the capitalist countries were investing capital in underdeveloped regions where labour was cheap and the necessary natural resources present. In the third, the demand for minerals and oil, of which deposits are found in underdeveloped countries, went up enormously in the industrial countries of the West.

Now, industrial capitalist countries must sell their products to underdeveloped countries to buy the necessary raw materials which these can supply, and must invest some capital abroad to exploit such natural resources as oil and minerals. But the neocolonialist sells capital goods wanted in the underdeveloped countries at high prices and buys their products in return at prices for below what they should be. Pakistan is seriously affected by the prices of primary commodities in the world market, which have been falling for years, so that at the present moment they stand at some 25% lower than in the early ‘50’s. The prices of capital goods, which we need to establish industries, have risen considerably and keep rising. An increase of only 5% in prices of the primary commodities would more than offset the sum of private and public capital and of governments' grants to the underdeveloped countries all put together. This difference between the falling prices of primary products and the rising cost of acquiring capital goods is an essential feature of neocolonialist exploitation. If an underdeveloped country bases its development programme on the conditions set by the neocolonialist powers, it will make very slow, if any progress at all. A measure of the exploitation of underdeveloped countries within the neocolonialist sphere is furnished by the fact that the economic gap between them and the industrial countries is widening, whereas the development plans sponsored by the Western capitalist states should have had the effect of narrowing it, if they were not designed simply to preserve the ascendancy of neocolonialist powers. The terms on which economic aid is given betray the underlying neocolonialist policy.

Another course than the one the government of Pakistan always chose to maintain was theoretically possible, a course taking the nation away from the neocolonialist sphere.

Before the Marshall Plan had completed the work of rehabilitating war-damaged West European economy, such a decision could have been implemented with little trouble. The

underdeveloped countries outside the neocolonialist power sphere have made spectacular progress, in glaring contrast to the plight of the others. The lesson must be learned from the facts.

c) Internal Colonial Structure

Pakistan is geographically separated in two parts, of which the Eastern was the major producer of exportable wealth at the time of Partition. The Central Government's expenditure, however, was mainly in the Western part. Political power lay also in the West on that account and because of the presence there of an opulent feudal class. The development schemes w ere so made or implemented by the Central Government that the private sector under these schemes fell into the hands of a small number of businessmen who either had their original homes in West Pakistan or had chosen to settle there.

The politicians of East Pakistan in government, parliament or outside, seemed oblivious of the danger ahead. They accepted the notions of development on capitalistic lines. The result was that East Pakistan was submitted to ruthless exploitation. The decline of East Pakistan began during the life time of the first National Assembly, and the farce of the last one under the dictatorship of a military usurper failed even to disguise the brutal facts.

We must frankly recognize that the unity of the nation has been gravely imperiled. It is no remedy to brand the victims of exploitation as traitors because they are driven to protest against the treatment they receive. Nor does it help to improve matters by insulting them as bad Muslims.

d) Present State Untenable

It should also be acknowledged that development plans on the old pattern, from which our nation has suffered so much, are incapable of making good the harm already done. During the period of all the five-year plans which could effect nothing to prevent the economic gap between the industrial countries and ours from getting wider year by year, the disparity between the two Wings kept growing. It is possible to conceive a separate capitalist-orientated development plan for East Pakistan, but. the price of a complete division of Pakistan's economy must then be paid. It is certain that such a plan would only add a few ‘sons of the soil' to the handful of non-East Pakistani bankers and industrialists who are at present in control-and who will remain in control in happy partnership.

As a consequence of the misdeeds of our rulers, subservience to neocolonialist powers, the adoption of an economic system permitting outright plunder of the people, the concentration of wealth in a few hands, the sharing out of power, employment and sources of wealth between businessmen, big landlords and the classes that comprise the civil and military hierarchy of government-all these have brought the country to a crisis, another word for general ruin. It should be noted that the corruption of government and other public servants is only a symptom and not the cause of the disease; for the thread of corruption runs right through the social strata. Neither is the world situation the cause of this crisis. Although comparisons can be drawn between what is happening in our country and what has been happening elsewhere in the neocolonialist power sphere, the nature of this present crisis has features specifically Pakistani.

The ruling clique supporting the vested interests of banking industry and commerce, have nothing to offer to save the situation except the same old magical incantations of budgetary formulas and development plans. With rising prices, the working class, the lower middle class, and all sorts of employees with fixed incomes are being rapidly impoverished.. The rising cost of living is the weapon for expropriating wage-workers, salary earners, artisans and a good section of the professional class. The value of earnings falls as the cost of living rises-this is the expropriation of the earning power and the savings of the people. The capitalist loses nothing. His invested capital rises in value, be sells at higher prices the goods he manufactures and trades in, and, to crown all, the government rewards him with bonuses, the load of which the rest of the nation must bear. In a desperate attempt to save the capitalist system the government is permitting the wholesale expropriation of the unprivileged people of Pakistan.

The crisis is in the bones of our rotten system. The Pakistan People's Party programme will abolish the system itself, seizing the means of production which in the hands of the privileged few are the means of exploitation. The immediate need, however, as a financial discipline for any government in power at this juncture fraught with danger, is to stop the inflationary trend and do economic justice to the common people. Wages, salaries and pensions must be pegged to the real value of the currency. This will stop the thievery of the capitalists and their accomplice the administration. The government will be compelled to operate within the framework of a stable currency when the attraction of cheating by inflation has gone.

a) Main Obstacles

The country is called upon to send representatives to a National Assembly for the purpose of framing a constitution. Important as this task may appear, a constitution of merely democratic form will not meet the needs o£ this country unless it is so framed as to allow and, indeed, initiate changes in the economic and social system. It is unlikely that so long as the vested interests of capitalists and propertied classes remain unchecked any thing but a constitution tailored to suit them will be the outcome. The crisis will then continue, to be succeeded by another, still graver. The Party will, however, endeavour its best to help in making a really progressive constitution.

The path of Pakistan's progress is blocked by two obstacles: her socio-economic order and her position as underdeveloped country within the neocolonialist power sphere. If progress is not possible, neither will prolonged existence be. The programme, of the Pakistan People's Party therefore aims at removing these obstacles by carrying through the necessary fundamental change demanded by the objective situation.

The true solution lies in adopting a socialist programme, such as outlined in this 11'Ianifesto, to transform the economy of the whole of Pakistan, stopping exploitation and utilizing available means to develop the country without capitalist intervention.

In this Manifesto attention has been paid to both conditions:-

(a) the exploitative capitalist structure of Pakistan, and

(b) Pakistan's situation as an underdeveloped country within the neocolonialist pourer sphere.

b) Classless Society

At the Convention in December 1967 in Lahore, the Pakistan 'People's Party announced the principles for the practical realization of which it was founded. The ultimate objective of the Party's policy is the attainment of a classless society, which is possible only through socialism in our time. This means true equality of the citizens, fraternity under the rule of democracy in an order based on economic and social justice. The aims follow from the political and social ethics of Islam. The Party thus strives to put in practice the noble ideals of the Muslim Faith.

Since its principal aims are unattainable by petty adjustments and so long as the unjust order of society prevails, the Party considers that indulgence in reformist slogans deceives the people with false hopes, while the country sinks deeper into the morass of present and additional evils, until finally, in a situation of despair, explosive violence will take the upper hand. The Party's endeavour is to bring about peacefully early changes in the economic structure, leading logically to a jester socio-economic order, by opening the gates. to progressive change in the direction of the final goal.
 
 

a) Independent Policy

It is generally accepted that an independent foreign policy is an indispensable instrument for safeguarding and promoting national interest in the sphere of international relations. However an independent foreign policy is understood in different senses by different people. We should like to be precise on our part as to what it means for us.

The first step -must be to get out of' entanglements with imperialist-neocolonialist powers. The ostensible objectives, for the sake of which our governments excused participation in alliances, have either not been fulfilled or have even been frustrated on account of the alliances. On thc other hand, Pakistan has been made use of as a pawn in the international game by her neocolonialist allies. · The first condition, therefore, for avoiding neocolonialist dictation of policy' is for Pakistan to withdraw from the SEATO and the CENTO pacts. The way will than be swept clean for what is in Pakistan's interest and in the interest of all Asian countries- the release from neocolonial interference in their affairs.

Among other harms done, these two pacts have curtailed Pakistan's freedom of action in obtaining the liberation of Kashmir and righting the territorial and other wrongs suffered by her.

b) Relations with Great Powers

The imperialist-neocolonialist war menace in Asia is close at the doors of Pakistan. Pakistan has already had experience of American interference in her internal affairs, and of how dangerous a situation could result from the stationing of American military personnel in her territory, when Pakistan became involved in dispute with the Soviet Union over the U-2 American spy plane. Pakistan will not allow foreign countries to interfere in her internal affairs. No permission to neocolonialist powers will be granted to station any sort of personnel meant for war purposes on, or to overfly for any reason connected with military strategy, any part of the territory of Pakistan.

Pakistan will support the cause of all oppressed peoples in their struggle against imperialist and neocolonialist powers, in particular the cause of the heroic people of Vietnam who have for long years held the imperialist aggressors at bay. We shall join hands with other nations in an effort to bring about the evacuation of Asian soil occupied by the military forces of the United States and other Western colonialist powers. With the great powers Pakistan will maintain good relations on the basis of reciprocity, but will not compromise in any manner her stand supporting liberation movements all over the world and actions to remove neocolonialist encroachments on Asian territory.

Now that the white members of the Commonwealth have all taken the side of the American aggressors against the Vietnamese people, there is one reason more for Pakistan’s leaving the Commonwealth. The fact must be recognized that the conception or a multiracial Commonwealth has lost any meaning it night have had at one time. Even its economic advantages have been lost. On the other hand, the commonwealth has been serving the neocolonialist interests of its white members. Pakistan will leave the Commonwealth at the appropriate opportunity.

c) Confrontation with India

Towards India, a, policy of confrontation. will be maintained until the question of Kashmir, Farakka, Beruberi, and other pending matters are settled. Entirely in consonance with the principle of supporting liberation movements, Pakistan will support the cause of the people of Assam who are fighting for their independence.

Tasbkent: The Tashkent Declaration will be repudiated, being a treaty extorted under duress. No negotiations with India may be conducted under the cover of this invalid treaty.

Farakka: To negotiations on this vital issue a time limit must 'b e set. Pakistan has inalienable riparian rights under recognized international law. That this dispute is not being solved is greatly owing to the patronage India enjoys from the part of neocolonialist powers.

d) Solidarity with Muslim Peoples

Pakistan will follow a positive policy to promote solidarity among Muslim peoples.

Israel: Israel is a colony implanted on Arab soil. The Arabs are the victims of a Zionist aggression aided and abetted principally by Western capitalist powers. Complete and unreserved support to Arab states and the Palestinian liberation movement in their fight against Israel will be given by Pakistan.

e) Solidarity with other Oppressed Peoples

The Eritrean people fighting for their nationhood have the sympathy of our people and will be afforded Pakistani support.

An active policy will be pursed to combat racialism everywhere. In this connection Pakistan must express her sympathy in practical manner with the coloured population of the United States, against whom discrimination is being practiced and whose manpower is being misused as cannon-fodder to suppress the liberties of Asians in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

Pakistan will make what effort she can in the diplomatic sphere to help the oppressed peoples of Latin America in their struggle against neocolonialism. The movement for the solidarity of the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America will be promoted.

f) Pakistanis Abroad

Pakistanis working abroad for their livelihood are in many places being made to suffer humiliating disabilities. It will be imperative duty of the Pakistan government to protect the rights of al its nationals living in foreign countries, especially the working people whose labour is adding wealth to the employing country but is being rewarded with ingratitude.

g) Counterpart Funds

The counterpart funds that arise from foreign aid must be more strictly controlled than at present. The counter-part funds must be kept with the State Bank and may not be used for any political purpose.
 
 

a)  Mixed Economy

The party accepts the possibility of a mixed economy – the existence of a private alongside nationalized sector, sources of the production of wealth will be placed. The private sector will offer opportunities for individual initiative in the areas of production where small enterprises can be efficient. Monopoly conditions will be abolished, so that private enterprise will function according to the rules of competition.

All production of wealth is the result of human labour. Exploitation in capitalist society depends on the possession of the means of production by the capitalist. In big industries the capitalist plays no nationally useful role, but collects his profit and exploits the labour of others, for his factories are run by technicians, his goods are produced by the labour of the wage-earners, and even the direction of an enterprise need not be the factory owner’s. In Pakistan, the concentration of wealth is so excessive that the benefits of industrialization are being passed on neither to the wage-earners nor even to the greater part of the middle classes who constitute the salary earners and professional men with high educational qualifications, such as government officials, except through corruption. The necessary services of education and health, housing and public amenities, are being neglected because the surplus value of production is going into the pockets of the exploiters or spent for administration and defence, and therefore little is available for the general welfare of the nation. The evil is inherent in the system. Taxation tricks, petty reforms, moral exhortation, are subterfuges to deceive the people for preserving the system intact.

b) Nationalization of Industries

On the public sector will be all basic and key industries. The principal ones are:-

1. Iron and steel
2. Non-ferrous metals
3. Heavy engineering
4. Machine Tools
5. Chemicals
6. Ship building
7. Motor car assembly and manufacturing
8. Equipment for electrical power production, distribution and use
9. Electronics
10. Production of arms, ammunition and armaments for defence.
11. Cement
12. Paper

To these will be added the new industries which must be established to enable the autonomous growth of the national economy. For example, it will be necessary to

manufacture agricultural machinery and equipment in Pakistan, and the commonly used hand tools.

All major industries will be nationalized. This will mean taking over into the public sector textile and jute mills over a certain production capacity. In private ownership these have been the sources of excessive profits, inefficient production, wastage of resources and unhindered exploitation of workers.

In the public sector will be not only the large-scale production of electrical power but also all other sources of energy supply – namely, nuclear material, gas, oil and coal.

All exploitation of mineral wealth, both mining and ore-processing, will be in the public sector.

The public sector will completely contain the following major means of public transport, railways, shipping and airways and airways. It will also take over public road transport, whether of passengers or goods, when it is necessary to run it on a large scale. A special concern will be the conveyance of workers and employees between their homes and their places of work.

Large-scale export trading, such as of jute and cotton, will be conducted by- state corporations.

c) Private Sector

In general, the sector of retail and distribution will be left in private hands. Nevertheless the formation of consumer co-operatives, both in urban and rural areas, will be favoured as this will help to stabilize retail prices.

All manufacture, whether in the public or the private sector, will he strictly regulated according to quality norms. Manufactured goods will have to fulfill the condition of coming upto at least the minimum norm required by the regulations. Goods that fall short of standard may not be sold. The quality and purity of drugs will be strictly regulated.

Existing laws applicable against the adulteration of foodstuffs appear to be ineffective. Proper food laws have not yet been promulgated in Pakistan such as have been in many other countries. Food laws, in consonance with accepted international standards, will be enforced, covering eatables, natural and processed.

Efficient artisanal production will be encouraged by affording the small enterprises the opportunity of acquiring efficient working tools and machinery. Factory halls, equipped with power, water and other facilities, will be constructed where artisans and small entrepreneurs can rent floor space for their workshops. This will give the workmen better hygienic conditions of labour and help to separate living quarters from the place of work. This scheme is also likely to reduce the cost of production. Such centers of production will be incorporated in town planning projects.

To encourage artisanal skill, technical institutions will be established for the purpose of imparting education and skill to the artisan class and those who work in small-scale enterprises. A system of apprenticeship and qualification by diploma for grade of master workman will also be introduced.
 
 

a) Nationalization Policy

The possession of money institutions in the hands of private parties is the source of exploitation which uses national wealth and private deposits to create money for the financing of monopoly capitalists. All big industries have been set up entirely on bank loans, which means, on the money of the depositors. Such loans can be said to have been the misappropriation of public money by the bankers. To this short of abuse, which is inherent I any system where banks are in private hands, there has been added the control of banks in cartels belonging to industrial families.

Unless the State takes hold of all the banks by making them national property, it will not be able to check inflation. The State's financial policy is at present a prisoner of the bankers.

All banks and insurance companies will be forthwith nationalized.

b) Investment Policy

Not only to finance industrial development and expansion of the social services but also to pass on to the people a share of accruing prosperity, a system of public investment corporations will be established to attract savings. Direct investment in any national concern will not be possible; therefore the necessity for special institutions, these investment corporations, through which investments will be distributed among the enterprises in their respective sectors. Shares held by non-capitalists in nationalized industries will be converted into investment corporation shares.

A minimum dividend rate will be guaranteed. This policy will help enforce good financial management, guaranteeing at the same time the unhindered flow of savings into investment. Since the financial policy will be to keep the purchasing power of the currency stable, even a small dividend will have greater value than larger dividends in the chaotic profit system of our present day, under which the investor hardly gets back anything in return, on account of currency depreciation.

The whole policy and dishonest methods of bonus vouchers, tax holidays, and so on, will be unnecessary as more than 80o% of the industrial sector will not be in private hands. The self financing of industries will be genuinely from surplus value of production and not, so .often as at present, at the expense of the consumer and tax payer.

c) Reform of Taxation System

The establishment of a socialist order will, naturally, change the present basis of taxation, which being designed for a capitalistic society favours the accretion of wealth with the privileged classes. It is a fallacious belief that taxation methods by themselves in a capitalistic society are cable of equalizing incomes. This belief is sedulously fostered by the vested interests themselves. Seemingly high taxes have not prevented the accumulation of wealth amongst a very small class of people in Pakistan, nor done justice to wither working class or the middle classes with fixed incomes: It must be understood that taxation is merely a way of providing public finances, but the money has to come from the surplus value created in industry, agriculture and the rest of the activities that employ human labour and effort. High taxation has ultimately to be paid for out of the price of commodities and services. The capitalist pays, in fact, least, because the products of his factories carry the taxes. An equitable social structure cannot be built by taxation alone:

However, even in the interim period before large-scale socialist reforms axe elected; it will be necessary to introduce immediate reforms of the present iniquitous and inefficient taxation system. The taxation structure must be radically simplified. It should be made easy for the private .tax-payer to assess his liability to the state without the help of expert guidance. In the present system the taxes are efficiently collected only from the salaries employees and other classes with fixed income. The burden of this incidence of taxation is unduly high upon such classes because others are able to avoid their tax liabilities.

With the banks being in public ownership, it will not be then so easy to evade taxation, but the real remedy lies in the establishment of an economic system that disallows the growth of a dishonest profiteering class. Another defect of the present taxation system is that it calls for a huge army of officials, most of whom do not do a full day’s work. There will be considerable saving if taxation were simplified.

No tax shall be imposed of which the collection cost is unreasonably high, a principle which is not being honoured today. Tax-farming will be prohibited. All public authorities empowered to collect taxes and other dues shall do so only through their proper agencies and not by auctioning collection rights.

Directors and high executives of private and public companies are today being afforded such facilities as enable them to live a princely life at the cost of the shareholders and the public exchequer. Expense account exemptions will be drastically curtailed. In the case of companies that are not nationalized, the state will prescribe norms for housing, transport and other facilities that may be borne in the books of the companies on behalf of their employees. Such measures will have the effect of benefiting the shareholders and the public exchequer, and by reducing overhead costs make the goods produced by the companies cheaper.

d) Wasteful Expenditure of National Wealth

Although Pakistan is a very poor country, her middle classes are behaving as if they were living in an affluent consumer society. Their wasteful expenditure is a national loss. Much of this occurs in the tertiary sector of the economy connected with advertising and the marketing of goods.

All forms of advertising will be restricted on the principle that advertisement should be

(a) truthful, and .
(b) purely informative, helping the prospective customer to know where to buy. the goods or the service advertised, and their nature and quality.

Competition through unfair advertising will be disallowed. Strict norms will be laid down for the advertising of medicines and drugs.

a) Patterns of Proprietorship

Nearly 80% of the population, which means some 100 million Pakistanis live in the countryside. This ratio between urban and agricultural population is an indication o£ the backward economic condition of Pakistan. Another fact is still more revealing: inspite of its large proportion of working population engaged in agriculture, our country has often had to import food-grains and the normal state of affairs is that its agriculture barely supplies the necessities of life for its people. With such a large population engaged in agricultural pursuits, one should have expected Pakistan to produce not only exportable commodities like cotton and jute but at the same time food-grains in ample quantities to feed its own people. The average Pakistani gets too little to Eat, insufficient for human energy requirements for effective work, and, furthermore, his diet is deficient in respect of proteins and fats, substances necessary for health and growth. Thus he is not only underfed but badly fed.

It can be said that the main occupation of Pakistanis, their a agriculture is a colossal failure. Even with the cultivation techniques and implements at present in use, it is estimated that about half the agricultural population is virtually unemployed, and therefore redundant. This hidden unemployment is a mighty drag upon the country's economy. The under-or unemployed have to be clothed, housed and fed in any case, and that is being done at the general poverty level. They represent, however, a manpower capable of being put to use on works needed to improve agriculture. In this sense, the hands at present idle in our bad economic system are an immense potential wealth waiting to become productive. Agricultural programmes for development must

take into account not only the wasted labour power of the excessive population but the necessity of coping with the over-population of rural areas by the removal to urban complexes of the unwanted excess.

In our great country where physical and climatic conditions exhibit a wide range of variations, agricultural problems do the same. Apart from the physical, natural side of the problems-such as aridity and flooding,-property relations,-such as landlordism, tenancy, fragmentation, subsistence holdings,-have to be tackled with. The two Wings show different aspects of the agrarian situation. The patterns of crops and irrigation ,differ greatly between the two Wings, and also the patterns of property relations are not the same. A feudal system of land tenure is prevalent in large parts of West Pakistan, where it can be said to be the dominating feature. In East Pakistan, the small holder at subsistence level is the chief agricultural property owner.

Large estates leased out in lots to tenants present the same pattern of cultivation as areas belonging to peasant proprietors. Generally speaking, the size of an individual holding is small in either case. Unless the estates are cultivated by hired labour and not on tenancy basis, the resulting aspect is no different than where peasants have proprietary rights. But the estate owner takes away a large share of the value produced by his tenants, without performing any service that cannot be performed by public authority or the cultivators themselves. Since peasant proprietorship exists alongside estates cultivated by tenants, one must conclude that the estate owner is a functional superfluity.

With the reclaiming of land by irrigation schemes, the landlord class has been growing. Under Ayub Khan’s regime a systematic policy was being followed of granting fresh lands on easy terms to privileged classes, members of the ruling clique, their relatives and other favourites. For the main part such people have not settled on their estates; they have merely swelled the numbers of absentee landlords and the agricultural economy has been saddled with more consumption-orientated non-producers.

The land reforms introduced by Ayub Khan's regime give the appearance of having broken up the largest estates, although most of the land affected has continued to remain in the possession of the feudal class. Since it was legally permitted, the feudal landowner divided the excess among the members of his family. In the- best of circumstances, the dispersal of family interests would require a couple of generations to become effective. The situation is complicated by the fact that in most parts of West Pakistan the feudal owners live in a social system of castes, caste-clans, and surviving traditions of joint families. Thus even with his estate divided in this manner, the feudal lord retains his power.

The West Pakistani owners of large estates, the feudal lords, constitute a formidable obstacle to progress. Not only by virtue of their wealth, but on account of their hold over their tenants and the neighbouring peasantry, they wield considerable power and are, even at present, a major political force.

The breaking up of the large estates to destroy the power of the feudal landowners is a national necessity that will have to be carried through by practical measures, of which a ceiling is only a part. The size of the agricultural estate will be limited by the ceiling, the norm being the ownership of a maxi of 50 to 150 acres of irrigated land, the maximum varying from tract to tract and being determined on the basis of quality of soil, present productivity and the availability of irrigation facilities. For what the estate owner surrenders over and above the prescribed ceiling he will be compensated in the form of a terminable life annuity, with a maximum duration of twenty-five years heritable and negotiable within this period. But the best way is to replace the system of agricultural production in isolated units by the creation of social co-operative farms as suggested at "C" below. The estate owner, after he has surrendered his excess holding, will be eligible, like any other farmer, to join the social cooperative farm of his area.

There are many peasants who possess land less than the subsistence unit and must therefore be regarded as a class from whom land revenue cannot be justifiably demanded.

Moreover, the cost of land revenue collection from this class is disproportionately high.

The liability for the payment of land revenue should not be permitted to be passed on to the tenant by the land-lord, whether in whole or in part. The sharin5 of land revenue payments by tenants will be prohibited.

b) Party's Aims

The Party's policy for dealing with agricultural problems was laid down in the Programmatic Principles accepted in 1967. Article 6 of the Programmatic Principles states that:

"The Party stands for elimination of feudalism and will take concrete steps in accordance with the established principles of socialism to protect and advance the interests of the peasantry".

Further that:

"The promotion of self help groups and cooperatives is the best way to help the cultivators to improve their lot"

c) Social Cooperative Farms

For efficient utilization of land resources, capital investment in land has to be made. The small holder has not got the means. Moreover, a good deal of the work to improve cultivated areas must be extended over many holdings. In other words, cooperative effort is necessary. This goes beyond the question of proprietary rights and belongs to the organizational aspect of the agricultural system.

There are two main lines of attack which have both to be utilized to raise the level of agricultural economy. Two positive measures are:

(a) Provision of land to landless peasants and peasants holding land below the subsistence level.
(b) Social cooperative farms.

All state lands put under irrigation or otherwise reclaimed for cultivation will be reserved for landless peasants or peasants owning less than the subsistence holding.

Social cooperative farms will be created by grouping together of individual holdings on a voluntary basis. Each peasant will be left in possession of his individual holding, but fragmented portions will b consolidated. The farm will supply labour for common purposes. The co-operative will lend out agricultural machinery and implements and regulate the supply of water and distribute fertilizers. The individual farmer will obtain seed, and market his produce, through the social co-operative. An essential function of these social co-operative farms is the utilization of surplus man-power. The policy should be to increase the size of individual holdings to the optimum in the particular area according to the prevailing conditions. As methods of cultivation improve, by greater use of machinery and in other ways, more and more labour will become redundant in the county-side, except at peak periods, such as harvesting and transplantation. In the first instance, the co-operatives will themselves apply the idle manpower available to the work of improving agricultural conditions-canal digging, house building for school, communal purposes an residence, planting of forests, and so on.

d) The Agrovilles

Small towns linked functionally with the rural areas will be founded. Some 200 such urban settlements, which we would call "agrovilles", will be necessary to begin with. Being new urban-settlements they can be planned to offer their inhabitants the maximum of amenities and participation in civic life. We envisage that each agroville will have a main square in which civic life will be focused. There will be around this centre the town hall, the offices of the cooperatives, the town library, the civic centre with rooms for meetings, festivities, clubs and exhibitions.

The agrovilles will function as market places for the surrounding rural areas and contain establishments for the storage and processing of agricultural produce. Small manufacture can thus be scattered all over the country, utilizing local labour and reducing transport costs. During peak periods, the manpower available in these agrovilles can be sent into the countryside for work. Repair workshops for agricultural machinery in the agroville make machinery maintenance economical for the farms.

The agrovilles will contain hospitals and dispensaries to serve the surrounding villages and from here sanitation terms with doctors and mobile dispensaries will go out to the farms and villages. They will also become educational centres for the areas. Primary and Secondary Schools with boarding facilities w ill afford the future generations of peasants' children the opportunities for education of which they are now deprived.

The spread of urbanization is a necessity for Pakistan and it is a fallacious belief that a proportionately large agricultural population is an advantage. National prosperity cannot increase unless agricultural per capita productivity also increases. The goal to be attained, therefore, is the progressive increase of' agricultural productivity and the utilization of the surplus labour in the rural areas. The policy logically leads to the spreading of urbanization. What has to be avoided is a drifting of the surplus rural manpower to the large towns and the concentration of industries in a few of them. .

e) Animal Husbandry

The deficiency of milk, eggs and meat in their diet seriously affects the health of our people and endangers especially the mental and physical growth of the young. For years meatless days in the week have been imposed In the larger cities of Pakistan and yet the lifting of restrictions on the consumption of the flesh of hoofed animals is now-here in sight. The restrictions prove that the demand is there and that our agricultural economy as it is constituted cannot meet it by increased production but only at the cost of destroying its already insufficient cattle stock.

Cattle ranches and dairies will be established in the form of state farms, social co-operative farms and private farms. Since the production of animal proteins is most economical achieved by raising poultry according to modern large-scale standardized methods, poultry far-ms, either separately or within social co-operatives, will be established m suitable localities all over the country. The manufacture of equipment for cattle raising, dairies and poultry farms will be carried out in Pakistan.

Some of the big land owners can be partially compensated by allocation to them of land and facilities for dairies and cattle and poultry breeding. Such ventures are profitable without lending themselves to the exercise of feudal power.

f) Afforestation

It is a fact established by long experience and confirmed by scientific studies that in any sizeable tract containing cultivable land a balance must be kept between the extent of ploughed surface and that under tree cover, that is, between arable and forest lands. If the correct balance is lost, when more land is ploughed at the expense of the wooded part, erosion, loss of top soil blown away by wind, reduced fertility and, in some places, water-logging and salinity are the result. It has been observed that the climate is adversely affected and rainfall markedly diminished in those regions where the annual rainfall is low, and, conversely, climatic conditions improve in regions where re-afforestation has been done.

In West Pakistan the proportion of forest land is only 2.5 as against the optimum lying between 20% and 25%. For centuries forests were being cut down for timber and fuel without any attempt at re-plantation. The former precious timber wealth of many mountain regions of our country has totally disappeared. Where the plough has not done its destructive work, the habits of pastoral tribes are inimical to the existence of trees.

It should be recognized that forests are as necessary for efficient agriculture as they are valuable in themselves as source of indispensable timber. The planting of forests and woodlands will be scientifically distributed over the country, with the aim of achieving finally the natural balance ratio. In both Wings the destructive exploitation of forests will be stopped can re-plantation of affected areas enforced.

The social co-operative farms will have to contribute towards re-afforestation by setting aside the necessary land for useful trees and supplying the required labour for planting and tending the groves.

In some areas where forests are to be grown ;and may be given on lease, as compensation, to dispossessed land-owners for planting and tending exploiting the forests.

g) Special Problems

It is recognized that conditions in East Pakistan demand special attention. Being densely populated, the rural areas there have a suburban aspect. Intensive cultivation is therefore a possibility which will have to be kept in view.

It is imperative that irrigation, drainage and flood control works are carried out on a vast scale. Large parts of the province can be permanently protected against devastating floods which take a heavy toll year after year. These areas can also be provided with a permanent system of irrigation. In other areas the entry and exit of annual inundating waters can be regulated through constructing embankments and drainage works and also by scientific regulation of the river channels so that crops can be raised without danger from the presence of unwanted water. Through these means and irrigation works the extent of areas lying under crops during the year, can be doubled.

Large areas in the southern part of East Pakistan can be reclaimed from the sea by the construction of embankments. This will add materially to the agricultural productivity.

In West Pakistan a most serious menace exists in the form of water-logging and salinity. Determined effort is necessary to counter this scourge.

Ways and means on a vast scale, as will be required for these works, will not be available without the introduction of social co-operative farms and utilization through them of the surplus manpower which would remain idle otherwise.
 
 

a) Rights of workers

The principle will be followed of offering work to every able-bodied person according to his abilities and qualifications, irrespective of class or origin when an industry is nationalized, the capitalist may be given the opportunity, if he has that ability, to continue in the enterprise as manager for director, being suitably paid, and even allowed for the duration of his employment a fixed share in the profits. Technical and skilled personnel will not be adversely affected by nationalization. At the present moment, highly qualified Pakistan’s are unable to find suitable jobs in industry or, if they are employed, the are badly paid in comparison with poorly qualified foreign technicians. Many a Pakistani has been compelled to emigrate to find a job abroad because he could not earn his living by the work he had learnt, even though highly qualified, in his own country. This ‘brain drain’ is consequence of the inherent inefficiency of our capitalist-owned industrial system and the high margin of profits permitted to industrial magnates under the protection of government policy.

The problem we shall have to face with the introduction of a socialist policy will be of finding enough qualified personnel to fill the technical posts and man the social services. There will be more than enough work to do. The drive to abolish illiteracy alone will absorb the services of educated men temporarily out of a job, and many other avenues of employment will be open.

The growth of trade-unionism and the rights of trade unions will be promoted in all sectors of industry. ILO standards will be enforced as the minimum necessary for the protection of the workers. Since all the important large-scale industries will be nationalized, it will be possible to offer the workers genuine participation in enjoying the fruits of industrial production. Participation of workers and technicians in factory management will be progressively introduced.

As a necessary part of their employment in factories, the workers must be provided with housing and adequate means of transportation to their places of work. They will entitled to paid holidays, and recreation camps will be opened where they can spend their holidays in healthy surroundings. They will have the right to training facilities for improving their skills. Hospitals and free medical attention will be incorporated in the system of works welfare. Workers colonies will be provided whilst they are away from home. The education facilities for working class children will include a system of scholarships for higher education in technical colleges and universities. Provisions will be made for old-age pensions and homes for disabled and pensioned workers.

A system of minimum wages, reckoned according to the cost of living, will be enforced both in the public and the private sector.

b) Local Self – Government

By this we mean local self-government in the accepted sense of the management of local affairs by elected representatives of the citizens living within the area. The so-called system of basic democratic introduced by Ayub Khan was a perversion of local self-government, being meant to bolster up the edifice of corrupt dictatorship. Local bodies under the socialist regime will comprise urban municipalities and agglomeration, in convenient sizes. Of rural areas corresponding somewhat to district councils. Cooperative farms will be represented in such agrarian local bodies, which will have more or less the same responsibilities as the type of local self-government commonly in vogue in advanced countries. For example, they will look after schools, sanitation, health facilities, drainage, public parks, roads, water supply, and similar responsibilities.

Even before the goal of socialism is attained, the party will have measures of reforms carried through in the existing local self government bodies-municipalities, district councils, etc. The reforms will be orientated towards obtaining the maximum direct participation of citizens in all local self-government bodies. The larger municipalities will be divided into either smaller independent municipalities or sub-municipal with each sub-municipal body having it own town hall. A local body proposing action affecting citizens within its area must consult the majority of the inhabitants and not only the elected members. Rules in various matters requiring consultation will be suitably framed. For example, change of street names will be illegal unless it follows a 6~month notice to the citizens and public discussion of the proposal, not only through the medium of the Press and radio but also in public meetings. All municipal bodies will be compelled to give wide publicly to deliberations of all matters that come before them. Twice annually, each local body must hold a public meeting, open to all voters within its jurisdiction, to render an account of its actions and to listen to the views of the public. The mandate of members of local bodies shall always be revocable any time by the electors.

In respect of services, such as the supply of water and removal of garbage, no dues may be collected unless the service is rendered. Disputes in respect of local taxation will come under the jurisdiction of administrative courts.

Town planning is much talked of in Pakistan but has been disgracefully neglected. The great city of Karachi is an instance of how corruption has deprived its citizens of the amenities which are a necessary part of civic life. Sites meant for public parks have been given away to private persons. The management of housing societies has been m most instances grossly corrupt.

Lands meant for public amenities which have been wrongfully given away will be resumed and those responsible will be punished according to law. Not only in government administration but also in local bodies and housing societies corruption has to be stamped out. We will not allow persons who have wrongfully acquired property meant for public use to remain in enjoyment of their ill-gotten gains. Special commissions to investigate the affairs of municipalities, autonomous bodies like the KDA and CDA, housing societies and organizations connected with town planning will be appointed and special tribunals to try the guilty.

c) Administrative Reforms

The present system of administration is a legacy of colonial rule, to which it was, in its time, well adopted. Even in respect of honesty the administration was found to function well when it was watched and controlled from outside. Whatever modifications have been introduced they have been done to meet the needs of the rising indigenous capitalist class and to promote the interests of groups that were acquiring wealth by holding the levers of power within government and administration. The administration then became its own master. But this could happen only by forming alliance with the capitalists who were eager to obtain privileges for exploitation.

The socialist measures will cut at the root of the corrupt side of administration. The socialist regime will need a different structure of administration, and the socialist society, when it comes into being, will itself create the necessary structure. The problem of reforms for the present one is only for the interim period; but this is an urgent matter the reforms will have to be made effective as early as possible. One of the necessary measures is to make the official personally more responsible for his actions, especially in matters relating to his dealings with the public. The present rule of anonymity will have to be drastically modified.

In disputes between departments and the public the Administrative Courts will have jurisdiction; for example, a private party can sue the department in an administrative court for damages caused by official delay; a contractor may sue the government in such a court for obtaining his dues. The administrative courts are, perhaps, the very best method of putting an end to corruption in government and the harassment of the public by government officials. If delay and inefficiency become justifiable, their incidence will decrease.

d) Minorities

All citizen of Pakistan, irrespective of religious belief, race or colour, shall enjoy equal political rights, protection before the law, access to occupation of public office, and shall not be discriminated against in any manner in respect of employment.

e) Administrative Courts and Ombudsmen

For the protection of the citizens against administrative wrongs, a system of administrative courts and administrative law will be established. Furthermore, the functioning of the administration in respect of its contacts with the public will be constantly supervised by Ombudsmen.

f) Jail Reforms

The people’s movement of overthrow Ayub Khan’s dictatorship resulted in the imprisonment of large numbers of honest men and women, most of whom for the first time saw the interior of Pakistani jail. The prisons were already overcrowded, and the influx of political prisoners made conditions no better. The political prisoners were in many cases subjected to ill-treatment and hardships. They could see for themselves also how inhuman the treatment of other types of prisoners could be in a Pakistani jail. Having had experience of what was happening in the jails, they could reveal to the public, when they were freed, the use of torture, the deaths of prisoners under torture, and the whipping of trade union leaders and political workers.

In the jails, corruption flourshies unchecked. All the official regulations about jail inspection were proved to be completely ineffective. The sanitary conditions in the jails are indescribably bad, although it is obligatory on the government to keep up the correct standards in this respect and there is no lack of manpower within the walls. Medical attention is perfunctory. All the cells are infested with vermin, and noting is done to get rid of them. The food is inadequate and bad because most of the official grant is misappropriated by the jail officials. The treatment of the common prisoners is based purely upon brutality, with the result that even the first offender comes out a hardened criminal. Besides the use of torture, which is common in such jails, political prisoners have been subjected to solitary confinement extending beyond the prescribed period recognized as humanly permissible.

The jails will be drastically reformed. In respect of treatment of criminals a distinction will be made between hardened criminals, who have committed serious crimes, and first offenders, to make affective the reformatory work. Emphasis will be laid upon teaching prisoners useful and proper habits of living, which means a training in hygiene and self-respect.

g) Abolition of "Jirga" System

Under Ayub Khan’s regime, a systematic attempt was made to pervert and destroy the civilized procedures of dispensing justice by spreading the "Jirga" system, a most primitive method of trial, in which the most elementary notions of fairness and legality are disregarded. Its object has been to give the administration a weapon for harassing or convicting innocent people. The Jirga system will be abolished. The normal system of criminal and civil courts will be introduced in the tribal areas also, so that the administration of justice may become uniform throughout the country.

h) Abolition of Honours

All honors and decorations of a civilian nature awarded to Pakistani citizens by all previous regimes will be revoked, and the prevailing system of honours and decorations abolished. Not before 5 years’ after a democratic constitution has been brought into force and the basic reforms carried out, shall the question of instituting awards for meritorious achievements be considered.

j) Princely State

No region of Pakistan will be permitted to be governed in the manner of a princely state. All political agencies will be brought in line with the general legal administration of the rest of Pakistan.

Without prejudice to the right of self-determination of the people of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, the government of Pakistan will kept them to abolish princely rule that still exists on their territory in the parts protected by Pakistan.
 
 

a) Educational Goals

Under the regime of exploitation which has governed Pakistan all these year, education and culture occupied no place except as adjuncts at the service of the propertied classes. The neglect of education was a logical consequence of the economic policy pursued. Education cannot be put off untill the day when the country becomes prosperous, because general economic prosperity itself depends upon the spread of literacy and the raising of the educational level.

Along with the neglect to expand education, there has been a complete collapse in the functioning of the existing educational institutions. Educational students have steadily declined to the point when today a Pakistani university degree has lost its value as academic qualification. It is a very grave situation. Not only the work of spreading literacy must be carried out, as a basic effort, but the whole educational system has at the same time to be reformed.

Educational goals have to be defined afresh. The basic problem of education is that younger generations have to be prepared not merely to understand the universe around them but to alter it. They must acquire a deep comprehension of the nature of social change and of inexorable process of history. Not only that they must be armed with scientific tools to unravel the mysteries of observable phenomenon but also they must have intellectual integrity and courage to accept the truth as it emerges before their eyes.

In order to create a truly classless society it is imperative that the horizons of the seekers of knowledge should encompass society as a whole. Their vision must not be narrowed down to that of the proverbial frog in the well. We must reject the conception fostered by the capitalist system that higher education must confine itself to narrow specialization. The capitalist system that higher education must confine itself to narrow specialization. The capitalistic system has an interest in this sort of fragmentation of learning because it is able thereby to prevent the intellectuals from questioning the validity of the prevailing system of political and economic values.

In our present society there is a noticeable resistance to learning, the causes of which are complex but lie in the nature of the social system. The curricula of the university and college courses will have to be thoroughly revised and the divorce between the universities and the life of the people ended. Apart from compulsory military training, which will begin already at the secondary school stage, the student will have to spend a specified period doing national service in labour corps, in fields and towns.

Properly speaking, education should begin in the cradle. The moral collapse and intellectual sterility of our society is greatly due to the repressive en environment in which children are brought up. Their minds get no opportunities for exercising the intellectual faculties. The children must be helped. A way in which the State can do it is to provide the opportunities for the children to exercise their minds in play: The Pakistani child does not get enough toys. It is known that toys of certain types contribute to mental development. Toy factories will be established by the state and their products sold cheap at subsidized rates or given free to the children of poor parents. I t will be incumbent upon every locality, village or urban, to provide open and sheltered playgrounds for children.

b) Primary and Secondary Education

Education will be free up to matriculation and primary education will be compulsory and free. A 5-year programme will be formulated by the end of which all the necessary schools must be built and the primary school teachers trained. Free housing will be provided for such teachers, and their children will be exempted from secondary school boarding fees if they opt for the profession of teaching.

More secondary schools must also be established, with the aim that in due course education will become compulsory upto a prescribed age and level of secondary school education. The children who do exceptionally well as the top of the primary schools will be granted scholarships for studying in secondary schools, and for this purpose special regard will be paid to the children of working class parents. In the secondary schools, the elements of manual skill must also be taught alongside book learning. There will also be educational institutions classified as secondary schools for various branches of artisan training.

Among the compulsory subjects in school, mathematics will be accorded the place of honour and taught by the most scientific modern methods. Mathematics is the basis of all science and technology and it is necessary that its foundations should be laid early in the minds of the students. Moreover, this discipline more than any other develops the power of rational thinking.

c) Higher Education

The institutions of higher learning, as now constituted and operated, are the product of the ordinances promulgated to enforce the notorious educational "reforms" hatched by the last regime. The universities of today are in the image of the despotic rule of Ayub Khan. All the evils of his system stand transferred in the educational field in the present shape of the universities. The vice-chancellor, advised by foreign "experts", assisted by rubber-stamping syndicates,

aided by educational bureaucracy and blue-eyed favorites, helped by police, is on a rampage to exploit the students of awarding them worthless degrees and diplomas and impoverishing their parents. This must change. The universities have to be reorganized on the principles enunciated in the foregoing.

The students and teachers must work in full academic freedom. The students must be allowed pertinent choice in the affairs of the university, which in its turn must be answerable to representatives of the people.

The imperialist, colonialist and neocolonialist influences must be wiped out from our institutions.

Not only through the schools but also by general effort to bring to the consciousness of the masses the importance of cultural values can the general cultural level be raised. Such an effort must include the protection and promotion of regional languages and local cultures.

d) Freedom of Conscience, Freedom of Thought, Freedom of Expression

Thought cannot be divorced from expression. The freedom of conscience and freedom of thought imply the freedom of expressing in public what one believes and thinks even if what is said or written goes against the beliefs and prejudices of others. There is no meaning in talking of such freedom and at the same time insisting that only accepted beliefs may be expressed. The very basis of toleration is preparedness to bear contrary opinions. Bigotry is an insult to faith and intelligence alike.

It can be shown from the history of Muslim peoples that their civilization declined into intellectual sterility because dogmatic fanaticism obtained ascendancy. This type of insensate intolerance has been imposed upon the people of Pakistan by governments indifferent or hostile to the intellectual welfare of the people. Our governments have too readily yielded to the blackmail of ignorant bigots.

The nation has been intellectually blindfolded by class interests which do not want our people to think for them-selves. The bunkers put upon the nation by dictatorial government will be removed.

No book shall be proscribed merely on the ground that its contents differ from the tenets or beliefs of any religion or faith. liberal policy will be followed with regard to the importation of books. The censorship of true news items will be disallowed; we ought to know not only the pleasant things about ourselves but also the unpleasant facts. We must stop thinking of ourselves as condemned to perpetual immaturity of mind under the tutelage of guardians.
 
 

a) The Present State

In respect of public health facilities Pakistan is one of the most backward countries of the world. Diseases, malnutrition, environmental insanitation and squalor take an extraordinarily heavy toll of human life year by year. Microbial diseases, like typhoid, cholera, small-pox, malaria, tuberculosis, which have been wiped out from most of the underdeveloped countries, are still rampant in Pakistan.

Half of the Pakistani population is destined to die before reaching the age of 16. Nowhere else in the world so many mothers die as they do in 'Pakistan during and immediately after childbirth.

The poor are the worst sufferers. For only about 15% of the population are there available any sort of curative or diagnostic facilities. The cost of medicines is beyond the reach of most and even the middle classes are hardly able to pay for essential life-saving drugs.

There are many preventable diseases whose control is easy but which today cause immense suffering and economic harm. Over one per cent of the Pakistani population is blind. Three out of four persons in the region5 of Sind and Baluchistan suffer from trachoma, a disease which can lead to blindness is not treated.

Ten per cent of the population suffer from some mental defect, ranging from idiocy and raving madness to loss of mental equilibrium. Malnutrition and inattention at child-birth are causes of much brain damage.

Existing health laws are antiquated and need complete revision or replacement by modern enactment.

b) Health Policy and Targets

The policy of the Pakistan People's Party in matters of national health is guided by the following considerations:

a. Enjoyment of good health is the fundamental right of every citizen of Pakistan.
b. The State shall ensure protection of all its citizens from communicable diseases.
c. The State shall ensure protection of all its citizens, particularly children and youth, against preventable conditions such as environmental pollution, maternal deaths, accidents, etc.
d. The State shall pay special attention to the health of youth and working population and shall take concrete steps to increase their physical, mental and social efficiency.
e. The State shall arrange to provide medical care and rehabilitation facilities for all those who are physically disabled.
f. The State shall pay special attention to the mentally ill and the mentally handicapped.

The following objectives will be aimed at:

1. To increase life expectancy in Pakistan from the present 33 to 60 years within a generation.
2. The reduce within ten years child mortality between the ages of 1 and 5 from the 35% to 7.5%.
3. Complete eradication within ten years of microbial diseases such as TB, cholera, small-pox, typhoid, malaria, typhus, rabies, leprosy.

The health programme will include the provision and improvement of hospitals, the enforcement of measures to improve sanitation in towns and villages, the local manufacture of as many essential drugs as possible, health care of school children and, where malnutrition is present, the supply of balancing diets in the schools.
 
 

The shortcomings of our system of military defence must be made good. Since previous governments have not taken the trouble of establishing an infra-structure of heavy industries comprising the production of iron and steel, the manufacture of machine tools and the working o£ non- ferrous metals, we are dependent today upon foreign countries for the importation of most types of weapons and military equipment. The greater number of weapons used by the defence forces are capable of being manufactured in Pakistan itself.

The socialist regime will establish an armaments industry adequate fox national requirements. For this purpose the basic industries will have to be established first. For example, the production of steel of the qualities required facilities for manufacturing machine tools and heavy chemicals, plants for the production of chemicals used in the making of explosives. The manufacture of vehicles and motors will be undertaken. It ought to be possible to meet the military requirements of vehicles, even of armoured types, from local production, except for such as axe of special nature and whose production will not repay the trouble. The manufacture of ballistic and guided missiles will form part of the armaments programmes.

Pakistan will develop its nuclear capability to prepare for all eventualities.

The defence of East Pakistan will be strengthened by the establishment there of adequate military installations for ground forces, the air force and the navy, and the stationing in the country of the requisite military personnel so that any attempt a t aggression from outside can be both repulsed and punished.

The Party insists upon:

The right of every man to bear arms to protect his own life and the life and honour of his family;

(b) and his right to defend his against foreign aggression.

A ‘Peoples Army’ will be created in all regions of the country. This will offer the substitute for the defence in depth which is geographically lacking. The existence of a people's is the best deterrent to foreign aggression.
 
 

a) The Constitution

The legal framework of a constitution can guarantee no progress if it is made in the interest of the ruling classes. A constitution, even if democratic m form, will remain in effective unless it promotes the conditions for pr ogress and creates the institutions necessary- for the purpose. The Party's conception of a Progressive constitution includes:-

(a) full democracy
(b) parliamentary Government
(c) federal system
(d) the extension of local self government
(e) guarantee of the freedom of conscience.

Under any constitution the unity of the country can be preserved only on the condition that the economy of the country is not fragmented, and a uniformity of the legal system prevails throughout the republic. There must be no privileged and retarded areas. The areas under tribal regime must be absorbed within the general system. Human rights shall be expressly guaranteed m the constitution. Women will have equal rights with men and will be eligible for every post of authority, including the posts of president and prime minister. The minimum age for voting and election to parliament, municipalities and all local self-government bodies will be 18 years for both sexes.

b) Reform of the Electoral System

The existing electoral system is a most efficient mechanism for giving preponderance to the propertied classes in parliament. The cost of fighting an election is high which in no case can be afforded by a poor candidate unless he is supported by rich patrons with ample private means.

Another defect, equally serious, of this system inherited from the British lies in its entire emphasis on the influence and power the candidate personally wields in his constituency and relegation to the background of the political ideas he is supposed to be upholding. The fight, in the rural areas particularly, is between local bosses. In such circumstances a political party's programme loses its meaning. The electoral system has been one of the principal causes of the political failures since the beginning of Pakistan.

The electoral system will be so reformed as to give primacy to political programmes. This will be done by introducing the system of voting for party lists and not for individual candidates. The number of candidates elected in each party will be proportionate to the total number of valid votes cast. In the case of the National Assembly the total valid votes cast means the total in the whole country, both Wrings together. In the case of the Provincial Assemblies the total refers, of course, to each province respectively.

In this system it will depend upon the political party concerned how its candidates are placed in respect of priority in its list. If only rich men are at the head, or only men from a certain class, the voters will know at once what class interests that party actually represents, whatever be its published programme. Since the local boss cannot by merely spending money hope to get elected, unless his name stands high on his party's list, election expenses will quickly be confined to the essentials only. Political conviction will become more important than personal influence.

In order to discourage the presence of splinter and parochial parties in the National Assembly it shall be a law that no political party that has not secured at least five per cent of the total votes cast shall be given a seat. This provision, acting as a goad to the parties to secure a following in each Wing of the country, will help to shape political programmes on national lines. The same 5% rules will apply in the Provincial Assemblies in respect of each Province.

CONCLUSION

The Pakistan Peoples Party came into being in the hour of need and ahs performed its duty unflinchingly, to overthrow a corrupt dictatorship and to awaken the people to the consciousness of their own power. The Party has acted on what it has preached. In sets up on jumbled list of demands but proposes radical change of the social economic and political structure. The people of Pakistan will themselves will them selves bring this revolution to pass. Hoe the Party says.