Scholars of the World

The elders whom I often mention, and especially old man Noor Wale, their style of speaking and their attitude of presenting and wrapping up their talk were very different from the common people. For example, they used to say that whoever does not accept good, good will befall him. They say that prayers are obligatory, not service. Then another similar long statement, which we are a little confused about and now I am a little free from this confusion, was that the sender has sent a person for some work or action, not just for reading and teaching. Those who consider reading and teaching as action waste the time given for action. Now this was a big nonsense. For us, who were supposed to write and teach, it was like a bombshell. But if you think about it honestly, think about it. The kind of conversation that we had while sitting in a tent, the kind that we have on TV or We considered what is done in the program or in university classes or in college graves. Among those who considered it was the late Habib Jalib, who also used to come there and especially Safdar Mir, who is also deceased. He did not participate in the discussion but was present.

Then our Saghar Siddiqui thought and thought and came to the conclusion that this rate of letters is our rate of education and we have given a final verdict about it that the Education rate is 17, 18 or 19, 20 percent and not more than that. So respected Older man said that the education or the rate of knowledge that you are limiting here, according to our estimate, the rate of education in Pakistan is 90 to 92 percent. Now this was a strange and strange thing. He said that when you examine education, you sit and weigh it with your eyes, you do not take the people of knowledge, you take the people of the pen and you allocate the people of knowledge and the cleaners in the pen, although they should be kept together. Among the people of knowledge, all those blacksmiths, turners, welders, technicians, washer men are of high level. Tailors are especially included, and so are all those who own cars because they have their own knowledge with such intensity and strength as the other knowledge of the method. But we consider only people of the pen or those who know the alphabet to be knowledgeable.

This is an excess. So, after being somewhat influenced by that, when I reached home, I talked to my wife Bano Qudsia. She said, "Lal Lahaul, how can you talk like this? We are the knowledgeable people because we write, we are writers, we are writers, our books are published. You say that there is a greatness that is also such that you were sitting with one of our principals, who is still the principal of a very big college, Ashfaq. This is an excess." She said, "How can we call him a friend of knowledge?" I said, "What is your department?" He said, "Chemistry." He was a professor of chemistry. I said, "Professor, if the doors of the chemistry department and your laboratory get damaged and you want to replace them, who will you call?" She said, "Yes, Professor." So they said, we will call the door maker, we will call the car painter, when the car painter comes and examines it, he will say, look, these are three doors, you should order two and a half mixers of wood, now tell your entire college how much two and a half mixers of wood is, is that a complete knowledge, or not? Now when they have said two and a half mixers of wood, then the principal will say, since these doors are inside and they will not be affected by rain, and when we will use a wooden door instead of a door, it is better that you order two and a half mixers of wood, and when your account officer starts to go, then he will say, these are not full six-foot doors, they are five and a half feet, so don't bring yours, tear them off, these are some trims, he has a complete knowledge of the whole, and he will install the doors on these frames while you watch, then he will say whether he is a knowledgeable person or not, we will not call him a knowledgeable person, but we will call him a seal of his art, in the same way, you will also be a seal of your art. He is also a dowry, you should accept it, but it was very difficult for him to accept it.

Then a few days ago, I took this burden and carried this very, very heavy burden. I present it to you. Once, we had a gathering in a hotel. What did the late Hakeem Saeed do? There, great intellectuals used to gather. I said, "This is a problem. Do you accept that he has knowledge?" There was a judge there. He said, "Ishfaq Sahib, fear God. You are saying that a mason, a mason, a bricklayer, is a man of knowledge." I said, "Sir, I do not call him a man of knowledge. I consider him equal to you and me. He is as educated as we are." He said, "Fear God." He was very worried and said, "How can you say this? How can he reach this level?" I said, "Look, Judge, in all the high courts in Pakistan, the judges sitting under the roofs are those built by illiterate masons, and you write your decisions. Where do you place them?" They will do it, they said, "Fear God," they said, "Come on, it's okay, but it's a big problem to tolerate it to this extent." Then they said, "Look, I'll give you this concession." The professor said, "You can call them skilled labor." I said, "You can call them technicians." Whenever you talk, write big articles, talk about science and technology, you reach science, you don't reach technologists. Then what will become of this country?" "Yes, why do you say, "Why do you call them skilled labor?" They said, "No." There was a long argument over this. There was a doctor there. He was a very good man. The doctor said, "Look, Ashfaq, you have been given such a concession that you can call labor skilled labor." I said, "Doctor, inside your beautiful hospital where you bypass the heart, there is a welder outside that, that welder also stitches, you also stitch, so in my opinion, both are equal. See, the welder also does a wonderful job." They said, "How did they become equal?" I said, "Look, I'll give you the welder's gun." How great are you, doctor? I ask you to give me a stitch. If you can't do it, they said, "We never thought of this before. What should we decide about it now?"

I said that this should be decided very seriously. You are cutting off such a great scholar of yours and creating a huge gap between yourself and them, which has weakened your country. Tell me whether you want to give these people back the self-respect they deserve or not. They should be given their due, just as in the civilized countries of the province, they do not get much salary, they do not get much money, but they do get the respect that a lot of people on Bonds Street or a welder in Chile get. They said that since we have a Hindu system going on in our minds, the happiness of the Brahmins, the happiness of the mind, but it could not come out, so it needs to be considered very seriously. Initially, Babaji used to treat us at the camp, but our elders do the treatment, they give alternative medicine. That's when it was discovered that some girls had come there, very beautiful, beautiful girls, but very dark brown in color, four, five, six. There was an elderly woman of about 100 years old, accompanied by an elderly man. She had come to get her treatment. So I asked Babaji who these girls were who had come to get their treatment. She said that she had come to get her mother's blood and these girls were the ones who were picking cotton in Bahawalpur and Multan. So I thought that the backbone of Pakistan is those women who pick cotton or are rice planters. These are the women whose names appear in the newspapers or who claim their superiority every day. No, they are like us. We have gone with them. This is your Pakistan, whose entire economy depends on the cotton economy and which earns you so many dollars, pounds, and Dutch marks. These girls are cotton pickers. Since I have a habit of curiosity, I asked, "Daughters, how difficult is it to pick cotton?" "Yes, yes, elders, this thing that is plucked is very difficult." So I said, "You are very arrogant, that is, in my eyes, you are the most respected." The newspaper lady is not respected. She said, "No, your great kindness." I said, "Tell me, is this a difficult job for you to pick cotton? Can't he do it?" She said, "Men can't do this job?" I said, "Why?" She said, "Their fingers are thick, they don't tear. They know how to pull a whole shoe. If men are given this job, God forbid, your economy, which you earn a little foreign exchange, won't be the same." Similarly, the matter of rice planting, you must have seen in the village, those women who plant standing in the water and walking backwards. When you look back, you are surprised that the line is completely straight. Then they move back.

Then they sing their song. Then they plant in it. At least, according to my calculations, they have an MSc in rice planting or rice agriculture. And the old people who work with them have the right to a PhD. So, those people who are our The backbone of the country is those who are knowledgeable but not those who are pen-wielding. Now we would like those scholars who have practical knowledge to create a situation where this knowledge of writing and alphabet recognition that they have can also be reached. It has not been reached because we do not believe them. Wherever I argued about this, the situation was the same.

There was a soldier who said that these are strange things you are saying, how can we believe them? I said, Sir, you give your 3.2 million rupees worth of motor car to Muhammad Siddique, an illiterate mechanic, and tell him to fix it in two days. He says, no, no, it will take three days. This company is stupid. It is not possible to build it. So now I ask you people, through you, all my gentlemen, whether it is possible for this time in Pakistan that we should include these people in order to keep ourselves strong. We should not have any relations with them, we should not have any love affairs with them, we should not have any financial advancement with them. But when you go, you must give them as much respect as you give to a taxi driver when you go to the province. I am presenting this question to you and to my viewers and listeners, how can this be resolved? I want us all to meet before sunset tomorrow and adopt the strength that you said with great pride and style. We do that in developed countries, this happens. I think we should create a structure in which the writers get a chance to do their work practically. They should be told a few letters. The action you are doing is a person who is raising 23, killing alive. In this, he should know what the wonders of the world have shown in it and what kind of work is being done. There should be a little literacy as well. Like they started from the back, many times the government starts education of adults without any prior knowledge and it is of no use. If, as you said, they do practical work in this line, now they need to be pushed. If some institution or some system is established for them, it is really due to their little lack of those who practically know everything. Now, it is that to explain to others or to do something, this is what someone knowledgeable like Najma said. We will start taking a little pride in our knowledge, then we will be strengthened. Right now, we are a little scared. My niece is an MSc. He is a professor of home economics and has specialized in cooking, but when there is a party in our house, we call Siddique, the cook. Once, at a wedding, it was very late. There were 42 pots to cook. You cannot imagine how the cook was preparing the 42 pots, how diligently and how much knowledge he had. So I have come to your service with this request that people should be given self-respect, which is their right, their respect. It is very important.