Lahore, 2 May: Oxford University Press (OUP) launched its recent publication The Federal Cabinet of Pakistan: Formation and Working, 1947–1977, written by Naumana Kiran Imran, at the University of the Punjab. This book explores the role of the federal cabinet of Pakistan in the decision-making and policy-formulation processes from 1947 to 1977. It challenges the common perception that the federal cabinet was a voiceless institution and only the military and civil bureaucracies played a pivotal role in the decision-making process. The book also highlights how all three institutions, including the civil and military bureaucracies and the cabinet were effective—besides a few prominent individuals—especially in political and economic matters. The book utilizes newly declassified cabinet files, which include minutes of cabinet meetings, decisions taken by various cabinets, and the working papers and summaries presented to them by ministries on important issues, to conclude that the role of the cabinet as an institution in strengthening democracy in the country was a mixed one.
Naumana Kiran Imran is Assistant Professor at the Department of History and Pakistan Studies, University of the Punjab, Lahore. She is additional head examiner and sub-examiner of graduate and postgraduate exams at the same university. Since 2006, Dr Naumana has been serving as Secretary of Faculty at the Department of History. She has published several research articles in national journals and has presented papers in international conferences held in Pakistan, India, Malaysia, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.
Speakers at the book launch included Professor Dr Massarrat Abid, Director, Pakistan Study Centre, University of the Punjab; Professor Dr Farhat Mahmood, former Chairman, Government College University; and Professor Dr Mohammad Iqbal Chawla, Chairman, Department of History, and Dean, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of the Punjab. Professor Dr Zafar Moeen Nasir, Vice Chancellor, University of the Punjab, delivered the keynote speech. The speakers highlighted that no significant study has so far been undertaken to evaluate the institution of the cabinet alone and this well-researched book fills a gap in the availability of any full-length discussion on how the cabinets of Pakistan performed in the area of policymaking. Earlier in his welcome address, Tariq Haq, Regional Sales Director, OUP Pakistan, introduced the author and said that this book must be read, not only for its erudite analysis of the period of the nation’s history to which it applies, but for the many parallels, analogies, and lessons we can derive from examining that period today, forty years afterwards.
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