Manifesto 1970
Manifesto 1970
Manifesto 1970
Islam is our Faith - Democracy is our Policy - Socialism is our - Economy - All Powers to
the People
INTRODUCTION
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.
I-THE CRISIS
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 Pakistans 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 rateamong 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
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
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
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 wageworkers, 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.
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
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
commonwealth has been serving the neocolonialist interests of its white members.
Pakistan will leave the Commonwealth at the appropriate opportunity.
c) Confrontation with India
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.
IV - INDUSTRIAL MEASURES
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 owners. In Pakistan, the concentration of wealth is so
excessive that the benefits of industrialization are being passed on neither to the wageearners 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.
V - FINANCIAL MEASURES
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 noncapitalists 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 days 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.
VI - AGRARIAN MEASURES
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 Khans 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 nonproducers.
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 cooperative 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 manpower. 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 conditionscanal 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 cooperative farms and private farms. Since the production of animal proteins is most
g) Special Problems
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 Pakistans 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
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
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
Under Ayub Khans 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
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
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.
IX - NATIONAL HEALTH
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 lifesaving 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.
X - NATIONAL DEFENCE
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.
XI - THE CONSTITUTION
a) The Constitution
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.
All Powers to the People