Seen at the event are (from l to r): Lt Gen. (Retd) Talat Masood, defence analyst, addressing the gathering; Arif Nizami, Chief Editor, The Nation; Ameena Saiyid, Managing Director, Oxford University Press Pakistan; Sartaj Aziz; Shahid Hamid, former Governor, Punjab; and Khaled Ahmed, Consulting Editor, The Friday Times.
Lahore, 11 August: Oxford University Press launched a new publication on Pakistan's political history by Sartaj Aziz. The book entitled Between Dreams and Realities: Some Milestones in Pakistan's History chronicles the milestones and turning points in the political and economic landscape of Pakistan. It explores the basic causes of the failure of democracy in Pakistan and tries to demonstrate that only a genuine democratic dispensation and not military rule with a civilian facade can ensure its survival as a viable federation. Sartaj Aziz also argues that the vitality of a nation comes not only from economic progress and military might but also from the value system, cultural heritage, and social energy of its people. The book offers an insider's view of the national economy. As Finance Minister under Nawaz Sharif, Sartaj Aziz was the main architect of many of the far-reaching reforms introduced in the early 1990s. He describes in considerable detail the changing processes of public policy in Pakistan. As Foreign Minister during the Kargil crisis of 1999, Sartaj Aziz presents an authentic and insightful account of that unfortunate phase in Pakistan's history.
Sartaj Aziz has had a distinguished career as a civil servant in Pakistan in the Ministry of Finance and the National Planning Commission. In 1971, he became Director of the Commodities and Trade Division of FAO. He was Assistant President (1978-84) of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). He was Minister of State for Food and Agriculture (1984-8); Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs (1990-3), a position he rejoined from February 1997 to August 1998, when he took over as Minister for Foreign Affairs till October 1999; and a member of the Pakistan Senate (1985-99). In 2004, he became the Vice Chancellor of the Beaconhouse National University, Lahore.
The launch ceremony, held at a local hotel, was well-attended by diplomats, bureaucrats, academics, and people from the media. While lauding the author's outstanding career and the important role he has played in the development of Pakistan, the speakers Khaled Ahmed, Consulting Editor, The Friday Times; Lt Gen. (Retd) Talat Masood, Defence Analyst; Shahid Hamid, former Governor, Punjab; and Arif Nizami, Chief Editor, The Nation, hoped that the publication of the book will help awaken the conscience of all concerned to dedicate themselves towards building the nation to the visionary heights dreamed of by the country's founders. In his concluding remarks, Sartaj Aziz said that having actively participated in the political life of Pakistan, he considered it his duty to record the events and decisions that he had witnessed so that historians can draw from them. He further expressed that his eternal dream will remain the advent of a vibrant and self-sustaining democracy in Pakistan. Calling the information in the book as authentic and dependable, coming from an observer who has the reputation of being evenhanded and honest, Ameena Saiyid, Managing Director, Oxford University Press, in her introductory address, added that the contents of the book are important links in the chain of Pakistan's political history, to which our author has been a close witness in his capacity as a senior cabinet member under five heads of Pakistan's government.
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