District Administration in West Pakistan Its Problems and Challenges 1964

Abstract

The present book has grown out of a symposium held on district administration at the Pakistan Academy for Rural Development, Peshawar on 3rd and 4th April, 1964. The papers presented at the seminar were prepared in advance in accordance with an outline circulated among the potential contributors. The outline explained the objectives of the symposium in the following words— This symposium is intended to discuss the concept of district administration as it was understood in pre-partition India, and its evolution before and after partition. To achieve this objective it is suggested*that, in the papers presented in the seminar, attention is focussed on describing the structure of district administration as it exists at present, locating and analysing the problems in this field as far as possible and predicting the future trends of tljis type of administration in Pakistan. Efforts may also be made to compare the structure and function of comparable units of administration in newly developing and developed countries. The symposium i's further intended to offer an opportunity for determining if a balanced blend of theoretical analysis and empirical insights can be gleaned from the practical experiences of the administrators. The aim will be to attain a fairly high intellectual level without sacrificing pragmatic interests. Hence, scholars with interest in administrative problems of the country and the administrators who are interested in translating their experiences into scientific concepts are cordially invited to participate in it. % Nearly 25 scholars and administrators agreed to write the proposed papers and by the second week of March, 1964 most of the papers were received. The symposium was held on 3rd and 4th April and was inaugurated by the then Secretary of Government of Pakistan, Establishment Division, Mr. G. Mueenuddin. CSP. In addition to the inaugural session, there were four sessions of the symposium presided over by Mr. Inayat Ullah, CSP. Director National Institute of Public Administration, Mr. Justice -Anwar^ul-Haq, CSP., Syed Qasim Rizvi, CSP. Director General, Public Relations, Government of Pakistan, and Raja Muhammad Afzal Khan, the Director, Pakistan Academy for Rural Development, 'Peshawar. In the light of the discussions at the symposium, the contributors were requested to revise their papers. As most of the papers deal with district administration in West Pakistan only, the book has been entitled “District Administration in West Pakistan.” None of our several efforts to get papers written on the district in East Pakistan succeeded. We hope the present book will stimulate interest in East Pakistan and prepare ground for production o f a book with wider scope. I feel grateful to Raja Muhammad Afzal Khan, Director of the Academy, who not only welcomed the idea of holding such a symposium but also provided necessary help in persuading the scholars to write papers. I owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Glynn McBride, Advisor to the Pakistan Academy for Rural Development, Peshawar from Michigan State University who was of immense help in editorial work. In fact without his cooperation the publication of this book would have taken much, longer time. I am thankful to many others who helped me in organising the symposium, especially Mr. Muhammad Azim of Research Department and several typists of the Academy, especially Mr. Zaman Khan. Much credit for keeping the book relatively free from spelling mistakes and good quality of printing goes to Mr. Zakaullah, Printer of the Khyber Mail Press, where this book has been printed.