ANY NATION OR SOCIETY CANNOT PROGRESS WITHOUT EDUCATION

London - 22 November 1999

The Convenor of MQM Co-ordination Committee Dr. Imran Farooq has stated today that in the modern era no nation or society can imagine development without progressing its education system. To make Pakistan prosperous, stable and enlightened in the 21^ST century and to make the country respectable among comity of nations, it is vital that education is made accessible throughout the country. To attain this goal it is not only necessary that it should be given a preference over and above other matters but that sufficient resources should also be provided for education. He pointed it out while talking to various intellectuals, educationists and professors at the International Secretariat in London. Dr. Imran Farooq further stated that in order to redress the rotten system in the country and to resolve the problems faced by the people it is essential to get rid of the autocratic feudal system.

In order to strengthen the nation's economy and increase the national income, he stressed the need to rely more on direct taxation instead the prevalent emphasis on indirect taxation. Furthermore, every sector of the society should be brought into the tax net. He pointed out that at present only a small portion of revenue is from direct taxation and the indirect taxes are levied upon the poor people who rely on their salary income. It is deplorable that the big landowner and waderas hardly pay any tax on their income from agricultural land. On top of this they extract loans from banks and plunder the national exchequer by foul means, he stated. In such crooked manner the rich continue to enhance their wealth whereas the poor and salaried people are burdened with taxation and hyperinflation. He pointed out that by not taxing the agricultural income of the landed gentry and waderas, the government itself is promoting the culture of tax evasion. Obviously when the other sectors of the society look upon waderas and feudal that they are not paying any taxes, they also try to avoid paying tax on their income. That is how a culture of tax evasion has prospered in the country. Dr. Imran Farooq said that the feudal system is also the biggest hurdle in the development of education system in the country because the education and awareness amongst people is the biggest threat to the feudal autocratic system in the country. He stressed the need for deployment of maximum resources for education in the country and to finance this it is essential that the income of feudal class should be taxed in the same way that other citizens of the country are taxed.

Like provision of clean drinking water, employment, housing and protection of life and property, education is also a fundamental right of every citizen. We can certainly put our country on the road to progress and prosperity by developing educational system. Therefore, we should deploy all our resources for the development of education on an emergency basis. We should take immediate steps to ensure that every citizen can have access to affordable education and is treated equally in its pursuit. In this regard we should adopt the policy to "Tax All - Teach All", a formula of 2 Ts should be adopted by the State, Dr. Imran Farooq stated. It is deplorable that after fifty years of independence literacy rate is very low in our country whereas those countries that received independence after us have a much higher literacy rate. This is not only a matter of great shame and concern but if this state of affairs continues our country will further retrogress, he concluded.