This study is a sociological revisit of a Punjabi village in Pakistan after over 50 years. The village was previously studied by Eglar (1960). Since then no viable research is conducted to throw light on changes in social structural aspects of the village. Keeping this in view, we designed a retrospective longitudinal study on changes in various social institutions from 1960s through 2008. To understand changes in the social structure in a holistic way, institutions covered in this study are caste system, marriage and family, gender roles, decision making, traditions, belief system and leisure. For objectivity and representativeness of the results, quantitative data was collected through a probability sample survey. An extensive, complex and comprehensive interview schedule was developed to interview persons, age 55 + years. These persons are assumed to have observed changes during the study period. Of all the households in the village (350), every second household was systematically selected resulting in 109 respondents. Our findings are based on descriptive, trend and regression analyses of the data. Our results show that social structure of the village has changed substantially since 1960. The transition in traditional stratification structure started in 1970s leading to significant changes in 1990s and onwards. This shift from traditional to non- traditional occupations occurred mainly due to infrastructure, international migration and education, in about that order. Influence of caste on various social aspects (except marriage) declined significantly in 1990s and onwards. During the same time period, class system has partially replaced the rigid caste system in the village. Overall, caste system has weakened primarily due to economic factors. Our data shows that most of the marriages were taking place between close relatives from 1960s through 1980s. Substantial decline in these marriages was replaced by corresponding increase in inter-caste marriages after 1990. Education and economiciv factors are significant for the change in marriage patterns. During the same period, a shift is observed from joint family system to nuclear one, primarily due to lack of integration and intolerance. This resulted in fading away of role of grandparents in decision making which got replaced by parents and grownup children. Traditional gender roles, particularly of women are also changing since 1980s, mainly due to education that has partially influenced their autonomy. Positive change in attitudes towards daughters is observed to have appeared in the recent past. However, the majority celebrates birth of sons than daughters at the time of study. Our findings suggest that one-half of the villagers believe in various superstitions. Beliefs in black magic, taweez, ghosts and dreams are strong perhaps due to their religious relevance. Trend regarding visiting sufi shrines remained consistent throughout the study period. Changes are also found in traditions regarding deaths and marriages. Many traditions on death are losing their significance. On the contrary, some new traditions on marriage emerged during the last two decades. Economic conditions and influence of media, particularly television played important role in bringing about the change. Watching television is a popular leisure activity in the village. Leisure activities such as folklores, visiting neighbors and smoking huqa disappeared during the last two decades. Traditional sports are almost replaced by modern ones such as cricket, football and badminton from 1990s and onwards. The trends show that changes have occurred in almost all the social institutions in the village over the period of time. Pace of changes, in general, was slow before 1990 which got accelerated afterwards. Major agents of social structural changes in the village include education, international migration, television, computer, infrastructure (e.g. highway) etc.. If the trends in our study are extrapolated, one may expect that the traditional socio-cultural elements in future will be replaced by the unconventional ones.
مولانا محمد اسحق جلیس یہ محسوس کرکے بڑادکھ ہوتاہے کہ تین مہینے کے اندر اندر دارالعلوم ندوۃ العلماء اپنے تین نامور اور لائق وفائق کارکنوں سے محروم ہوگیا۔جون میں مولانا محمد الحسنی ایڈیٹر البعث الاسلامی کی جواں مرگی کاحادثہ پیش آیا تھا۔جولائی میں مولانامحمد اسحق جلیس ایڈیٹر’ تعمیر حیات‘، اچانک ۴۴برس کی عمر میں داغ مفارقت دے گئے۔ مرحوم گوناگوں علمی وعملی خصوصیات کے مالک تھے، ندوہ کے فارغ التحصیل، انگریزی میں گریجویٹ اوربی لب، ہندی،پشتو اورمرہٹی زبانوں کے عالم اور تحریر وتقریر دونوں میں فردتھے۔ ان خصوصیات کے باعث ’’پیامِ انسانیت‘‘ تحریک میں مولانا سید ابوالحسن علی میاں کے دستِ راست تھے اوراس کے بعد اگست میں یہ تیسراحادثہ پیش آگیا۔برہان ان حوادث ِپیہم میں مولانا علی میاں اور تمام ارباب ندوۃ العلماء کے ساتھ دلی ہمدردی اورشرکت غم والم کااظہار کرتا ہے۔ [ستمبر۱۹۷۹ء]
One of the core issues in contemporary economic trends is the fair and just distribution of wealth into the society. In this research, a comparative study of ‘distribution of wealth’ in Capitalism, Communism and Islam has been conducted. Qualitative research method is adopted for the analysis of data. The review of literature reveals that central ideas of Capitalism, Communism and Islam are ‘liberty’, ‘equality’ and ‘justice’ respectively. After evaluating the basic infrastructure, methodological framework and practical consequences of these three systems, it has been established that Capitalism and Communism have badly failed in maintaining fair distribution of wealth. Both (Capitalism and Communism) enhanced global inequality which could be assessed from the present economic condition of world as half the world’s wealth is now in the hands of just 1% of the population. On the other hand, Islam has ensured the just distribution of wealth by taking two revolutionary steps: by giving 18 compulsory and 6 optional commandments about circulation of wealth and by overruling all means of hoarding. Moreover, unlike Capitalism and Communism, Islam has given special instructions to distribute wealth among poor, disable, and helpless persons of society who are incapable of participating in the process of production. These measures promote peace and prosperity in society and reduce the ratio of poverty. In the light of above findings, it is concluded that only Islamic economic system can guarantee the just and fair distribution of wealth. It is, therefore, recommended that Islamic countries should implement the Islamic economic system in order to get rid of economic instability.
Until today, type-II diabetes mellitus remains one of the most devastating metabolic disorder affecting millions of people around the world. It is expected that the number of diabetic patients world rise to 70 million by 2030. Diabetic retinopathy is one of the three very significant microvascular complications of progressing diabetes that leads ultimately to blindness. Sustained hyperglycemia causes generation of advanced glycation end products thereby forming reactive oxygen species. The resulting stress causes retina to become hypoxic and anemic. As a result, traumatized retinal tissue induces a number of cytokines and growth factors to promote neovascularization in order to supply oxygen to the failing retina. Tortuous growth of blood vessels however impairs the vision, and at times hemorrhagic retina is the complication that appears due to rupturing of fragile vessels. On fundoscopy, retinal artery microaneurysms, dilated veins, hard exudates, edematous retina exhibit in non-proliferative retinopathy. Further worsening and advancement of retinopathic damage leads to proliferative retinopathy characterized by appearance of cotton wool spots, hard exudates and marked neovascularization. Factors like obesity, hypertension, and elevated random and fasting plasma sugar, raised cholesterol level, hyperlipidmia, and serum creatinine contributing to diabetes are very well known risk factors. Situation in Pakistan is no different from the rest of the world. According to relatively recent estimates the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy is 4-5 million. The current study was designed to determine the specific parameters, viz. serum and vitreous vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and leptin in diabetic retinopathic patients. Serum levels were also compared with diabetic but non- retinopathic patients and normal healthy subjects. Determination of all major conventional risk factors and complete fundus examination were also carried out to correlate changes in these parameters with the specific parameters. Over 2000 male and female patients of median age of 50 years ranging between 37-65 years were screened in the outpatients departments of four main hospitals, Khyber Teaching Hospital, Hayatabad Medical Complex and Lady Reading Hospital, located in Peshawar city and Al-Shifa Eye Trust Hospital located in Rawalpindi city. Patients with confirmed type-II diabetes mellitus (338) were selected, and patients with complications otherwise were excluded. The duration of the disease and retinopathy was 5-20 years. Normal healthy subjects (39; age range: 35-61; median age 53) were also included in the study to get comparisons with the diseased patients. Standard methods were followed to determine the body mass index (BMI), fasting (FBSS) and post prandial plasma glucose (RBS), glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), cholesterol, triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoproteins (HDL), low-density lipoproteins (LDL), serum creatinine, urine creatInine and urinary protein. Commercial kits were used to determine the serum parameters and IL-6, leptin and VEGF concentrations. For obvious reasons, vitreous concentrations of IL-6, leptin and VEGF could not be determined in normal subjects and DNR patients. Data were analyzed statistically to determine correlations between predicator variables with those of specific variables, and differences between males and females were done by one way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Combined analysis was also done to get population estimates. The results demonstrated significantly higher (P < 0.001) concentrations of serum IL- 6 (70%), leptin (64%) and VEGF (55%) in DNR, NPDR and PDR patients. Vitreous IL-6, leptin and VEGF concentrations were alarmingly increased (100%, 93% and 100% respectively P < 0.001) in NPDR and PDR patients. For conventional parameters significantly (P < 0.001) elevated BMI, RBS, FBS, HbA1c, TG, LDL, serum and urine creatinine and urinary protein concentrations were found in DR, NPDR and PDR patients. Values of these parameters were remarkably low (P < 0.001) in normal subjects. All parameters were affected linearly with the severity of the disease. Accordingly highest levels were found in PDR patients. Serum cholesterol concentrations were well in the range. HDL concentrations were significantly reduced (P < 0.001) in DNR patients, NPDR and PDR patients; but group comparisons showed slightly greater levels of HDL in NPDR and PDR patients than the DNR patients. TC/HDL ratio and LDL/HDL ratio were also increased in NPDR and PDR patients. Separate male and female comparisons did not show any significant differences with combined male and female analysis demonstrating that the disease prevalence is irrespective of gender; however a small female predisposition is evident from the data. Most importantly, since all of the above patients were being treated with oral hypoglycemic and several PDR patients had already underwent laser photocoagulation, elevated concentrations of specific and conventional parameters raise questions about the therapy. Of 338 diabetic patients following were the frequencies of non-retinopathy and retinopathy: DNR (11 %), NPDR (31.95 %) and PDR (56.80 %). Gender-wise, 38 % (129) were males consisting of 12% DNR patients, 36% NPDR patients, and 52% PDR patients. Of 209 female patients, 11% were DNR patients, 29 % were NPDR patients, and 60% were PDR patients. The study points out that IL-6, leptin and VEGF can be significant diagnostic factors in clinical settings to predict the probability of retinopathy. They also demonstrated correlations, positive or negative, with some conventional parameters. Alarmingly elevated levels of these factors indicate them to be independent risk factors. Although most conventional parameters can be controlled via intensive treatment but the chain of events that hyperglycemia induces for the first time initiates the vicious cycle of biochemical changes that cannot be controlled with routine therapies and ultimately lead to failure of retina culminating in certain cases into complete blindness. Associated outcomes were obesity, dyslipidemia and microalbiminuria. The study suggests that ophthalmologists and diabetologists working in the clinical set ups should emphasize on the determination of serum IL-6, VEGF and leptin levels in patients presenting with diabetes and retinal problems to reach an early diagnosis about the severity of the disease and future affliction with retinopathy. This may help for an earlier decision to proceed for invasive therapies like the application of antibodies injections against VEGF and IL-6. Currently, for unknown reasons the role of leptin could not be ascertained. Further detailed studies from around different geographic regions of Pakistan and analyses of even newer retinopathy promoting and inhibiting factors are definitely required to get a more comprehensive data from this region of the world.