The declaration of Pakistan as an Islamic Republic by General Zia has had irreversible repercussions.
MADRAS, INDIA: It’s interesting to read that Pakistanis are lamenting the fact that their country has let Jinnah down in the last 63 years. We in India, despite the usual propaganda, believe that Jinnah was a secular and liberal democrat. However, there are certain things which even great men are not able to foresee and Jinnah was no exception. Jinnah perhaps could not envisage two very pertinent scenarios.
Pakistan declared itself an Islamic state in spite of the fact that Jinnah was totally secular in his vision. When a state has an official religion, the first casualty is secularism. Almost every Islamic country isn’t secular. Not just minorities of other religions but also Islamic minorities like Shias are persecuted from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan. Therefore, for Pakistan to become a secular nation would require a change in its name from ‘Islamic Republic’ to ‘Secular Republic’.
Religion alone cannot make a nation state and bind it together. The partition of Pakistan is a case in point. Although they read the same Quran, the Bengali Muslims of erstwhile East Pakistan were culturally completely different from the Punjabi-dominated West Pakistan. The sense of ‘Bengali Pride’ united them more than Islam did. Although Pakistanis would cite Indian interference in East Pakistan as the reason for the trouble, one cannot overlook the fact that Bengali Muslims were subjected to terrible atrocities. In addition, Sheikh Mujibur Rehman was denied his rightful chance to be prime minister of a combined Pakistan.
Pakistan has the dubious distinction of witnessing the horrible spectacle of Muslims bombing fellow Muslims, all in the name of Islam. There is sectarian violence in major cities like Karachi and Lahore; however, it doesn’t just stop there. The tribal areas in Pakistan have their own primitive interpretation of Islamic laws and they are mostly ungovernable.
Although the mullahs’ involvement in the radicalisation of Islam cannot be denied, they alone cannot be held responsible. The declaration of Pakistan as an Islamic Republic by General Zia has had irreversible repercussions. Moreover, the fact that the army acts independently has affected the situation. In a liberal democratic state, the army has to be subservient to the civilian government and should have no political role to play. All these factors combined together have caused Jinnah’s dream to become a nightmare.
Sonam Shyam
Published in The Express Tribune, October 18th, 2010.
