Perceptions of Pakistani Society About Western Enlightenment: An Analysis in the Light of Islamic Teachings

The study was conducted to examine some of the important questions raised by both the religious scholars and the proponents of the Enlightenment movement. The purpose of the study was to interpret enlightenment in Western and Islamic context and to examine the impact of western enlightenment on contemporary Pakistani society in the light of Islamic teachings. The study was quantitative in nature. Survey was conducted to probe into the perceptions of the Pakistani people regarding impact of western enlightenment on various aspects of contemporary Pakistani society. The sample of the study was 1000 people from four provincial headquarters of Pakistan including male and female from urban and rural areas of the provincial capitals. Two research instruments were developed by the researcher based on review of the related literature. First was a questionnaire named WEBI, Western Enlightenment Beliefs Inventory; second was a checklist named WEKAPC, Western Enlightenment Knowledge, Attitude and Practices Checklist. Results showed that most of the respondents were of the view that western enlightenment exerted significant influences on their thinking, lifestyles, and education, culture, media and social practices. Majority of the respondents thought that western enlightenment emphasized on tolerance, cultural harmony, equality, social justice and independent thinking. Gender-wise comparisons indicated that male respondents were more positive towards western enlightenment than the female respondents. It was recommended that Pakistani society needs to be made aware of the philosophy of western enlightenment and Islamic values which are characteristics of western enlightenment movement. There is need to initiate interfaith dialogue to understand socio-cultural dynamics of a Muslim society and a western society.

Effect of Radiation on Varietal Improvement of Regenerated Plants of Lilium and Their Characterization Through Molecular Markers

Lilium is one of the six major bulbous genera crops and also one of the leading cut flowers all over the world. It has three important markets: fresh-cut flowers, potted flowering plants and bulbs for domestic gardens and formal landscapes. So keeping in view the importance of this ornamental plant, the present study was conducted to induce mutation (in vivo and in vitro mutagenesis) in different cultivars of Lilium to get the new varieties having better morphological traits including plant height, leaf and flower size, flower shape and flower colour. For this purpose an efficient protocol has been optimized for micropropagation of ten cultivars present in four major groups (Oriental, Oriental x Trumpet, Longiflorum x Oriental and Longiflorum) of Lilium to get the shoots that were further used as plant material for in vitro mutagenesis. MS medium fortified with BAP 0.1 + Kin 0.1 + IAA 3.0 (mg/L) has been found to be best for shoot initiation. Effect of shaking cultures and sucrose concentration was also observed in the present study. It was observed that cultures inoculated in the same medium but in agitation position with 120 (rpm) showed higher regenerated frequency as compared to stationary cultures. Similarly moderate sucrose concentration (60 g/L) proved to be better as compared to 30 and 90 (g/L). Healthy regenerated plantlets were acclimatized in sterile mixture of sand, soil and cocopeat in the ratio of 1:1:1. Mutagenesis was induced in all the groups of Lilium including by treating the bulbs (in vivo mutagenesis) and regenerated shoots (in vitro mutagenesis) through plant tissue culture during the first phase of current study with different doses of gamma rays 2.0-10.0 (Gy). It was noticed that growth of plants in both in vivo and in vitro mutagenesis was affected by gamma rays. Except in Samur La pink cultivar of Lilium, higher doses have inhibitory effect on plant growth, but in Samur La pink of Oriental group of Lilium, stimulatory effect was observed at higher doses of gamma rays. Superior mutants were selected on the basis of change in flower morphology. Larger flowers with smooth petals were obtained at 10.0 (Gy) dose of gamma irradiation. Similarly changes in flower morphology were also noticed in Montezuma-O-red, Advantage La salmon, Golden tycon yellow and Easter lily cultivars of Lilium at different gamma irradiation doses. It is evident from the results of present investigation that mutagenesis combined with plant tissue technique lead to varietal improvement of different cultivars of Lilium. Further study was also carried out to make the molecular characterization of control and mutants of same cultivar to detect the genetic polymorphism and variations. Two different molecular marker systems including Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPDs) and Simple Sequence Repeats (SSRs) were selected for the purpose. Among the molecular markers, Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPDs) was used as a marker of choice in the present investigation. It was noticed that mutagenesis caused changes at genetic level and separated the control genotypes from the irradiated ones into different groups depending on the genetic variation occurred at different doses. Mostly control and mutants treated at lower doses of gamma rays were combined in one group while genotypes treated at higher doses were separated in another group. Other molecular marker system selected for the present investigations was Simple Sequence Repeats (SSRs) due to high level of polymorphism and reliability. Genetic polymorphism along with the respective allele sizes, PIC (Polymorphic Information Content) values and Hobs (Observed heterozygosity) of the cultivars was also recorded. These markers also separated the control and mutant genotypes on the basis of doses of gamma rays like RAPDs. It is evident from the above results that mutagenesis (in vivo and in vitro) caused genetic variations proved by RAPDs and SSRs which lead to production of new varieties having improved morphological traits.