This August 14, there will be plenty to remember because plenty has been forgotten. As the forces of Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan polish their body armour for the Battle Royale on Independence Day, the memories of what this nation was created for would be far from their minds.
Nawaz Sharif was born on December 25, 1949; Imran Khan on November 25, 1952. Both would be too young to remember when Ayub Khan imposed Pakistan’s first martial law. Neither would have realised that the dream called Pakistan had already begun to go sour.
A decade earlier, words spoken by the Father of the Nation, had already started to lose meaning for those who sat atop the young and promising nation. On August 11, 1947, the Quaid-e-Azam stood before the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan and said:
“Now, if we want to make this great State of Pakistan happy and prosperous, we should wholly and solely concentrate on the well-being of the people, and especially of the masses and the poor … If you change your past and work together in a spirit that everyone of you, no matter to what community he belongs, no matter what relations he had with you in the past, no matter what is his colour, caste or creed, is first, second and last a citizen of this State with equal rights, privileges, and obligations, there will be on end to the progress you will make.”
Little did he know…
The history of the last 67 years is a history of broken promises, shattered dreams and wasted potential. It is a history of pygmies rising to dizzying heights through a system manipulated for personal gain. It is a history of petty agendas dressed up as national priorities; of bloated egos trumping the dictates of nation-building. It is a history of burying the Quaid, then his words, and finally his dream.
It is a history of forgetting.
Perhaps, it is easy to forget that nations — like individuals — need a moral centre. The Constitution reflects this moral foundation. But does it reflect the realities of life in Pakistan? Do the realities of life in Pakistan reflect our Constitution? The discrepancy — and there is a yawning one — is the moral centre that has disintegrated.
Turning and turning in the widening gyre/The falcon cannot hear the falconer/ Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold/Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world/ The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere/ The ceremony of innocence is drowned/ The best lack all conviction, while the worst/Are full of passionate intensity. — William Butler Yeats
For the centre to hold, morality has to return to this land. Beyond the rigours of politics, beyond the vagaries of daily struggles, and beyond the stagnating stench of status quo, the age of morality has to rise again to rule the Quaid’s land. No, it’s not really complicated. Some things are just plain wrong. Cheating is wrong. Injustice is wrong. Exploiting the weak is wrong. Corruption is wrong. Nepotism is wrong. Torture is wrong. Persecuting minorities is wrong.
And yes, lacking conviction is wrong.
There will be much that will happen in Islamabad this Independence Day. Blue Area will be full of red rage. Emotion will surge in waves and anger will swirl like a raging tornado. And Pakistan will yet again vent. Yes vent in anger and vent in frustration. Vent in helplessness and vent in pure agony at the dream promised but not delivered. For the issue is not just four constituencies or a reformed election commission; the issue is not just rigging and cheating and a demand for fresh elections; no these are all symptoms of a much deeper and deadlier malaise that is gnawing away the soul of this nation: the deliberate destruction of the moral centre.
And perhaps, the only thing worse than this destruction is our willingness to live with it; our acceptance of this crime as a fait accompli — something that is integral to life in Pakistan. So we live with the fact that this system only rewards certain families to the exclusion of everyone else; that it bends the law to suit the powerful and crush the weak. We live with the fact that nepotism will always rule here; that sons and daughters of the mighty will always lord over us; that who you know will always be more important than what you know. We live with the fact elections will always be manipulated and minorities will always be persecuted; that police will always torture citizens and VIPs will always break traffic laws.
We live with all this because we are losing the struggle between memory and forgetting; because the best lack all conviction and the worst are full of passionate intensity. So this Independence Day, let us aim to salvage our sense of morality and win the struggle against forgetting by remembering what the Quaid said in his August 11, 1947 speech:-
“I shall always be guided by the principles of justice and fairplay without any, as is put in the political language, prejudice or ill-will, in other words, partiality or favouritism. My guiding principle will be justice and complete impartiality, and I am sure that with your support and cooperation, I can look forward to Pakistan becoming one of the greatest nations of the world.”
Published in The Express Tribune, August 3rd, 2014.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
COMMENTS (8)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1714027629-0/Ranbirtransformation-(1)1714027629-0-270x192.webp){kind=spacer}
Thank you Fahad, God bless you!
"And perhaps, the only thing worse than this destruction is our willingness to live with it; our acceptance of this crime as a fait accompli — something that is integral to life in Pakistan. So we live with the fact that this system only rewards certain families to the exclusion of everyone else; that it bends the law to suit the powerful and crush the weak. We live with the fact that nepotism will always rule here; that sons and daughters of the mighty will always lord over us; that who you know will always be more important than what you know. We live with the fact elections will always be manipulated and minorities will always be persecuted; that police will always torture citizens and VIPs will always break traffic laws."
This paragraph beautifully sums up the Pakistani society.
Keep up the good work and keep writing, Pakistan needs writings such as this one.
We love to quote Quaid-e-Azam every now and then to make a point on how bad things are and how we have wandered away from Quaid's vision of Pakistan.
May be we should stop and think if Qauid's vision was the right one for the people of Pakistan, since over the past 67 years we have proved Quaid wrong. May be there is a form of government that is not the traditional democracy as we all know but a different model similar to China perhaps that will keep us together and keep the economy booming.
Over the years, Pakistan has not had the opportunity to let various institutions mature to produce thought leaders and party leaders who are politically savvy to know what makes most sense for good governance.
With our current system everyone will have a chance to sit on the PM's seat...you too Mr IK...and many more if we cannot sustain an elected government for even 2 years.
The Center is holding just fine. Miscreants in the form of TUQ or IK are just nuisance. The country will keep marching ahead without them.
The British aren't going to come back, Mr. Husain. And the Americans don't believe in colonialism. If you want "the age of morality" you describe to return Pakistan will have to grow the men willing to fight for it in word and deed out of its own soil. These will have to be willing to challenge angry - even violent - opponents, dishonest officials, and criminal-minded enforcers. The court system, crafted more to enforce colonial order than deliver justice, is perhaps more obstacle than ally in this endeavor. If the leadership can't be found to buck the trend, what choice is there other than revolution?
Fully agreed. A nation loses any moral high ground when it fails to stand up against the wrong! If there is no practical democracy and the system isn't working, well why chant slogans of so called democracy! This system needs a total revamp! And I am with IK!
You are quoting one speech on Aug 11, 1947. Does it ever occur to you the Pakistanis are only carrying out the Qaid's call for action based on his 100 other speeches? Call for Muslims to unite, glory of Islam, Islamic democracy, Islamic social justice, etc, etc.?
Fahad, I cannot tell you how moving and uplifting your past few articles have been. Perhaps, you were always like that but for some reason never wanted to show your soul. I respect your courage to break out of your mental cage to tell us all what is at stake. Although we all know what ails us, it is precious to have a clarion call to wake us up from the zombie slumber of our existence and feel again!
Quaid and you parents will be proud of you. God Speed.