Before 1979 Iran was a completely under the immense influence of western culture and was the center of American interests in Asia. It lost its own identity of values, culture and religion. The rulers and people became blind followers of western culture. It preferred to protect American interests in the region ignoring its own interests and became a puppet at the hands of superpower. There was no freedom of expression, no democracy, and the country was under a harsh dictatorship yet it was the darling of USA and the west. Then emerged a ray of hope for people and it was the dynamic, honest and sincere leadership of late Imam Khomeini.
Imam Khomeini changed the entire scenario after his return to Iran from his exile and enlightened the minds and hearts of people with Islamic revolution and made a new history. Since then Iran did not look back, moved forward and we see array of achievements in 45 years after the revolution. All the credit goes to its dedicated, committed, enlightened, sincere leadership of Iran after revolution. Iranian leadership pursued unanimous objectives in its uprising, which were translated in three aspects, namely, independence, freedom and Islamic governance. The Islamic Republic no doubt is the greatest achievement of the four decades of the Islamic Revolution. Through the four decades of the Islamic Republic Iran, 38 elections have been held, including three referendums, 13 presidential elections, 11 parliamentary elections, 5 Assembly of Experts Elections, 6 Elections for city and village councils and an election for constitution. Iran followed Islamic democratic principles. Its democracy is accompanied by spirituality and religion; it became the Islamic Republic. The message of the Islamic Revolution is the message of spirituality, brotherhood, integrity and bringing the elements of spirituality in human life and heeding of morality and firm belief in Allah. The Islamic Revolution shook body of colonialism and global imperialism. It made people’s mind free from all kind of oppression, blind following of the western culture and enhanced their spirituality, independent thinking, innovation and exploration.
There are many features of economic achievements and successes. Iran reduced its dependence on oil revenue and changed its economic driver from oil to innovative, services and manufacturing sectors and Iran’s non- oil exports increased by 54% in 2021-22. For the last more than forty years Iran bore illegal, inhuman sanctions imposed by west and USA because Iranian people and leadership refused to bow down their heads before foreign intervention and dictation. Iran exhibited great resilience and resistance in this regard.
After the Islamic Revolution in Iran the length of roads in Iran has increased to more than 215,000 km and it ranks 26th in the world, it has 739 commercial ships and ranks 30th in the world. In addition to logistics infrastructure, it has very strong industrial infrastructure too. Iran’s steel production flourished after the Islamic Revolution and the rate of growth was eighteen times more than the world’s average rate. Iran is ranked the world’s 10th biggest steel producers in the world as per report of World Steel Association in 2021. Its annual cement production capacity is 80 million metric tonnes. It ranked 7th most cement producer country in the world. Among the world’s top Iran stands 18th place producing 880,997 vehicles in 2021 and 1.6 million vehicles in 2022. It also started producing electric bus.
After the Islamic Revolution, fruit production increased 20 times. Iran is the first and the largest exporter of agricultural products like barberry, pistachio, caviar and saffron in the world. The country is 2nd largest exporter of dates and apricots. It is the third largest exporter of other fruits like cherry, water melons, melons, apples and figs. All these achievements have been achieved due to Iran’s advances in science and technology. In this regard Iranian scientists have gained great achievements in the new found fields of stem cells, nanotechnology, space science nuclear energy science, robotics etc.
There are 737 innovative and creative companies, 118 innovative centers, 5,222 knowledge based companies, 49 technology accelerators which are the main driving force for the development of new technologies in Iran. 321 companies are active in nanotechnology in Iran which has developed 834 Nano Products. In a report,” Towards the year 2030” which is about the scientific advancements of countries , UNESCO indicated that Iran is the most advanced country in the Middle East and in the Muslim World with regard to nanotechnology. Iran is now exporting surgical robots and drones to other countries.
Iranian women unlike the western propaganda which is the part of Islamophobia and media war, have made astonishing progress in achieving women’s literacy rate which is 84% and 97% Iranian girls have access to quality education. The employment rate of Iranian women is 80%, of which more than 20,000 Iranian women are professors at various universities. Iranian women have also presence in sports and there are about 140,000 women professional athletes. Some of them won Olympic and Paralympic medals.
Iran with 23 cultural heritage sites is one of the 10 countries with the most cultural heritage sites in the UNESCO’s world heritage list. With diverse natural attractions like mountains, lakes, caves, forests etc., Iran is very attractive place for tourists. About 9 million tourists visited Iran in 2020.Iran also attracted 600,000 health tourists annually.
On Friday 10th February,2024 a magnificent gathering was held on the auspicious occasion of “45th Anniversary of The Victory of Iranian Islamic Revolution “ at the Consulate General of Iran which was graced by many dignitaries including Consul Generals of Qatar, Oman, Turkiye, Malaysia, Afghanistan, Morocco, Yemen , caretaker minister for Tourism, Environment, Climate Change Mr. Arshad Wali Muhammad, Consul General of Iran H.E Hassan Nourain highlighted the significance and importance of this day and retrieved the leadership’s pledge to continue struggle to further develop Iran and to have strong and friendly ties with brother country Pakistan. Mr. Hassan Nourain is a dynamic, down to earth and committed diplomat and is very much liked by business, intellectual and social communities of Pakistan.
The News Lark is committed to promote Pakistan Iran relations and is rendering valuable services and I , as Senior Research Editor and Analyst produced dozens of articles, research reports , a poem on Iran which was presented to Foreign Minister of Iran His Excellency Dr. Hossein Amirabdollahain on 4th August,2023. I am going to translate these articles in Urdu and Sindhi as well.
In current global scenario Pakistan and Iran relations are very important and there is a need of coordination between the intelligence agencies of both the countries to cooperate to root out terrorism from the region as both the countries are victims of terrorism. There is also need to do further efforts to enhance bilateral trade volume and to bring the business communities closer. There is much lesson for Pakistan, its leadership and people to learn from Iranian revolution that how this country developed itself wonderfully despite inhumane sanctions of USA and other western countries against it and it relied on its own resources and made its way to counter all the efforts to isolate Iran among international communities. Iran is an important country of the region similar is Pakistan, and strong bilateral relations and cooperation between them is in the larger interest of the Ummah and I hope with the passage of time both countries will move forward towards strong and strategic relations. ( In shah Allah)