Daily Times

I have now been teaching at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), for more than six months. It all started when, last summer, I received an invitation from Dr Anjum Altaf, the dean of Humanities, Social Sciences and Law at LUMS, to teach there. Having lived in Sweden for more than 40 years, and during those years visiting Pakistan once in a while for a few weeks, the new situation was no doubt a very different one. My family was worried about whether it was a wise decision to go to a country that was notorious for terrorism and suicide bombers. After some discussion, I decided it was worthwhile to return to Lahore, where my story began way back in February 1947. I must say, LUMS has been a great experience. Since I have worked in two world-class universities — Stockholm University and the National University of Singapore — and have been to scores of conferences in many others, my comparative experience of university life is considerable. LUMS acquits itself very well in any comparison. The faculty is world-class and the management ensures that all those facilities needed to maintain high standards of education are available.

What I have particularly liked is that everybody minds his/her own business with regard to personal freedoms and choices. I was told that some time ago moral vigilantes menaced social life but that nuisance seems to have been eradicated. I have been asked many times by friends and colleagues to give my evaluation of the quality of students at LUMS. I can say without any hesitation that quality is top class. In fact, the truth is that some of my students write and express themselves even better than me in their examination papers. I am simply amazed. Pakistanis have never been wanting in terms of intelligence and innovation — the problem has always been bad political leadership.

The revival of Europe from the middle ages started with key universities becoming venues where a free exchange of ideas could take place. Out of that freedom, the spirit of enquiry evolved until both philosophy and science were separated from theology. Pakistani universities were quite all right till about the late 1960s but then the left-right divide in politics invaded the campuses and, after that, the decline set in. I am now of the view that university campuses must remain free from political agitation and other disruptive activities. However, all of us have a right to follow the dictates of our conscience and the free word, and open, frank discussions must continue and be guaranteed by all universities. Agitation over political issues belongs to the external realm.

The private sector universities model represented by LUMS is a very successful experiment. I have also visited three other similar universities: the Lahore School of Economics, Beacon House University and, indeed, my alma mater, the F C College, to deliver lectures. It seems each one of them is doing very well. As an old leftist who now describes himself as a ‘left humanist’, I am not entirely comfortable with education being commercialised. However, at LUMS, the elitism that follows when tuition fees are kept high has been mitigated by a generous system of awarding scholarships on merit to students from underprivileged families. Such students are properly groomed and given instruction in English and other necessary skills so that they can function smoothly in mainstream classes. At present, some 10 to 15 percent of the study community hails from such backgrounds but plans are underway to expand such representation. Also positive is the fact that students from other provinces are encouraged to benefit from such a system.

Given the hierarchical nature of South Asian society and culture, and Pakistan being very much a part of it, I am told mixing between students derives from class and different social groups keep themselves to themselves. So, besides ideology, class also matters. This is how society is and we have to take a long philosophical view of what is possible in the realm of ideas and what happens in the real world. Seeking to bridge such gaps has been the concern of philosophers and reformers and there is plenty of scope for them all over the world, of course on the LUMS campus and other campuses in Pakistan.

Globalisation and internationalisation are processes that are now a fact and, as educationists, we should build international links and solidarities. For a long time to come, intellectual leadership will remain with the US and the west in general but that is not to say that if we can build on peace and prosperity in Asia, this ancient continent would not become the leader in the search for knowledge. The greatest contribution of western civilisation has been to maintain an open society and intellectual freedom.

Karl Marx convinced us that freedom without food and shelter is always a privilege of the few and true democratisation of society and attitudes requires the elimination of want and hunger. Experience tells us that social democracy of the Swedish type is the best way to balance freedom with equality.

Another impressive tradition at LUMS is to celebrate pluralism. Pakistan is a pluralist society and we should have no need to imitate either Saudi Arabia or Iran. In fact, the farther we keep them from our lives the better for us. I was glad to know that at LUMS not only Islamic festivals are celebrated with enthusiasm but also those of the minorities. I have been to Christmas celebrations and then Diwali too with the typical lighting of small lamps. The LUMS microcosm should hopefully be the harbinger of another Pakistan of the future.

The writer is a visiting professor, LUMS, Pakistan, professor emeritus of Political Science, Stockholm University, and honorary senior fellow, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. Latest publications: Winner of the Best Non-Fiction Book award at the Karachi Literature Festival: The Punjab Bloodied, Partitioned and Cleansed, Oxford, 2012; and Pakistan: The Garrison State, Origins, Evolution, Consequences (1947-2011), Oxford, 2013. He can be reached at billumian@gmail.com