These immortal lines from Allama Iqbal make me very humble
standing before you today to deliver the Allama Iqbal lecture. Mr
Chairman, Mr President, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, friends
all,. thank you very much for this honour and opportunity to speak to
you on a very difficult subject. I would like to emphasise that, thanks
to Professor Naqvi, this is not the first time I am appearing before the
Pakistan Society of Development Economists, but it certainly is the
first time, thanks to Dr Rashid Amjad, I have been invited to give this
very distinguished lecture. Both men are very distinguished in their own
right; they are people whom I have greatly respected over the years.
Professor Naqvi's contributions, particularly on ethics and economics,
and the challenge of rethinking Islam reminds me of Allama Iqbal's
Reconstruction of Islamic Thought and the relevance of it for the
challenges facing the world today, as highlighted by Professor Saith's
lecture yesterday. The lines from Iqbal that I began with are very
relevant, of course, to the whole question of inequality. I met Dr
Rashid Amjad about three decades ago in the context of his work at the
ILO. Over the decades, he provided sterling leadership in very different
and changing circumstances. In a sense, it is his absence from the ILO
today that is particularly felt because we face a very unique situation
in the world today where, unfortunately, various forces seem to have
successfully conspired to prevent a strong economic recovery. This is
the subject of the lecture I would like to deliver.
Building sustainability through greater happiness