HARKING BACK: Research and meagre tools of scholarship

One major setback to scholarship in Lahore, once the centre of scholars and researchers in the sub-continent, is the pathetic state of its archives and libraries, let alone a paucity of laboratories and botanic gardens.

All these are the hardware of research and even to creativity. Books and rare documents provide the fodder on which newer ideas emerge, are tested and presented for discussion. That is why in research a very tolerant environment is critical, one that depends on facts and reason and not belief. It is almost like bacteria reproducing fastest at 32C. In research in the natural sciences there is a need for botanical and laboratory configurations to suit exact needs. Before we set off on an examination of Lahore’s research capability, a comparison with a first class foreign university might help us appreciate the very long road that lies ahead.

My experience is mostly with the English town of Cambridge. In 2016, this university town had an estimated population of 138,750 persons (UK Census 2016), plus over 50,000 students from all over the world. In comparison the population of Lahore, estimated by ‘UN Population Estimate’, in 2016 was 9,750,800. Unofficially many believe it to be well over 12 million, with some wild guesses being higher. After the British took over following the fall of the Lahore Darbar, the estimated population of Lahore in 1864 was 125,413 persons (Chambers Encyclopaedia, London 1901), which by 1901 had risen to 202,964 persons (Encyclopaedia Britannia 1910). This means that since 1864, the population increase has been at an annual average of 40.6 per cent. On a 10-year average starting 1950 it has been 22.7pc. After the year 2000 the annual increase is steady at 17.9pc. Could anything be crazier? No wonder planning for Lahore is an unforgiving task.

In this bizarre situation, instigated by growing poverty because of virtually no investment in education, let alone in improving life in villages and small towns, it would be interesting to study the hardware for learning and research. The amazing research by Dr. G. W. Leitner in his ‘History of indigenous Education in the Punjab’ (1882) the pattern of education with a basic literacy infrastructure based on private effort was clear. Amazingly women education then seems to exceed that of males. At least the Sikhs had an idea, advised by the French generals, of where they were headed. The ‘Sikh’ rulers of today do not care a hoot about this.

Let us now return to Cambridge to unload some data. In the year 2016, this small town of just 138,750 persons had 149 large libraries and growing. A visit to any library will see them full. Their computer sections with free internet are full. Membership is free and open to all. Take the Cambridge University Library which alone has 7.2 million books and over 1.3 million magazines and weekly publications. Their records start from the year 1424 and today they claim their library shelves if stacked in a line are over 500 miles long, which is from Delhi to Peshawar.

Now on to research laboratories. Cambridge has over 137 specialist laboratories, which ranges from engineering to botanic to electronic to physics. The small city has more Nobel Prize winners than any other city in the world. Their Botanic Garden, which almost 100 years ago helped to build Lahore’s Botanic garden, is among the largest in the world with a row of research centres within it. They even have a Chilli Research Centre which houses the world hottest chilli, over one thousand times hotter than any found in Lahore, and a pinch of which can kill a man.

Now let us return to Lahore. At the time of the 1947 Partition the old walled city had one major library for every gate, with smaller ones in ‘mohallahs’ known as ‘Anna Library’, from which housewives borrowed books to read. The great Punjabi poet Ustad Daman worked in one such library in Taxali. Once the wave of ‘claim holders’ rushed into the city, mostly with false claims, the entire discourse of reading declined. Liberal critical thinking virtually ended and faith-based conclusions still rule the day. Inside the walled city there are just three libraries left and they are on the verge of closing.

Outside the walled city the largest was the Punjab Public Library just behind the Lahore Museum. This held the world’s finest Sansikrit collection and rare books. It officially has 300,000 books, though the space for so many books do not exist. They have 120 magazines. There are other impressive libraries like the GC University Library, the Punjab University libraries, the Dyal Singh Library, and now the fast-growing LUMS Library. In total Lahore has 14 major libraries, mostly attached to old colleges from British days.

The number of research laboratories is less than 12, with government concerns being among them. The GC has three small ones which have not grown since 1965. The largest laboratory, and also the most modern, is the LUMS research laboratory which can be counted as among the finest. Then there is just one Botanic Garden, also belonging to GC, and which has very few researchers and has little to show in terms of internationally-acknowledged research. The Lahore Museum is one place which stands out, and more so because of collections acquired in the colonial era.

Let us now move towards the universities in both Lahore and Cambridge. The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan recognises 183 universities, with the total number being near 256. Of these Lahore has main campuses, or branches of 112 universities. Imagine. Cambridge has just three universities. There are 54 colleges all affiliated to the Cambridge University. In days of old Lahore had one Punjab University with a lot of colleges affiliated to it. Today almost every college has declared ‘independence’ and set themselves up as universities. It is a scandal, and nothing but money-making degree-churning economic units. One can say that the government is incapable of investing in education, which is what the record tells us. The result is a virtually ‘illiterate’ population.

How do we measure ‘illiteracy’? The United Nations has many measures, but the Functional Literacy Rate is the most important. One measure of functionality is the number of newspapers printed in a country. The ‘print order’ has never exceeded one million for all newspapers in every language. This means that for an over 200 million population Pakistan prints a million newspapers, or 0.5pc being functionally literate. This lands Pakistan right at the bottom of the table.

It should be clear in the mind of the reader that a university is primarily an institution that promotes research. That is what 80pc of the students of Cambridge are involved in. In Lahore that is not the case where a faith-based environment challenges critical thinking. The tools for research are just too meagre. Most Cambridge libraries are built on donations of private collections. In Lahore once the collector dies, the collection is sold as ‘raddi’.

If you ever try to approach the Punjab Archives to look up a rare document, they will first seek a security clearance, then permission from some ‘hostile’ bureaucrat, who refers you to a clerk with ‘an axe to grind’. If you make it that far you are told to find the document from the thousands lying on the floor in the old horse stable.

Research is the base on which all societies build the foundation of progress. Even the word ‘Iqra’, the very first uttered to our Holy Prophet (PBUH) by the Almighty, means “to research, to think, to analyse”. At least the oldest Arabic dictionary, the ‘Kitab al-Ayn’, compiled by Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi (718–786) in Basra, tells us so. Try finding that book in Lahore.