The war of ideas

Ideas matter more than anything else in shaping a society, a nation and a culture. There are good ideas and bad ideas; obliviously, they produce opposite consequences. A good society and state defined as peaceful, tolerant and pluralistic are built by ideas that have respect for life, liberty and the free choices that individuals make for themselves. All good societies, regardless of their different histories, cultures and nature of political systems have pursued some of these universally accepted ideas.

For long, our state and society have been deviating from good ideas of peace, justice, equality and the rule of law. The tragedy of Pakistan is that power politics and its unusual characters have destroyed the norms and institutions that could sustain these ideas. Within years of its founding, bad ideas like religious prejudice, sectarian hatred and intolerance of ethnic and religious difference came to dominate the social and political landscape of the country. Jinnah’s vision of a secular, democratic state was actually buried with him. No leader after him was talented, sincere or courageous enough to pursue his line. There was hardly any vision anymore. The pursuit of selfish power interests by the military generals and political leaders rubbished every good idea and principle of state and nation-building.

As we mourn and grieve over the massacre of our children, teachers and brave soldiers in Peshawar, we need to think hard about how and why Pakistan lost its way. Sadly, the drift away from a modernist, democratic and secular (neutrality of state in religious matters) Pakistan has been constant. Many failings of the state, hypocrisy of political leaders — appeasing religious bigots for some political mileage — have created a culture of religious bullying and tolerance for intolerance. Consequently, the bigots, appropriating the bully pulpit of religion, national interests and security, captured greater social and political space. All alternative visions and voices to define Pakistan as truly democratic — equal rights and liberties — began to be marginalised. Every opposite thought and idea proposed by the others — individuals out of the power group loop — have made very little impact beyond narrow circles.

There are many episodes and many ‘visionaries’ in uniform and in civilian garb, very popular indeed with the illiterate masses that have led the country on this path. Only some honest and dispassionate reading of our history may unmask their true faces and take the cover off the horrendous crimes they have committed against this nation. Using every material resource to bribe and every horrible tactic imaginable, they have reduced significant elements of society into sycophancy or silence.

It is not useful to look at symptoms, like intolerance, extremism and violence as a means to political and religious ends. We must get to the roots of our current malaise. There are many foundational ideas that have shaped good modern societies, but two are essential to all of them — secularism and democracy. Both these ideas are misunderstood, misinterpreted and misused in our social climate of religious schism and political divisions. Secularism is not the absence or rejection of religion; it means that all citizens have a right to a religion but the state does not. And democracy is not what the dynastic, personalised politics or repeated military rulers in the name of ‘guided’, ‘Islamic’ or ‘genuine’ democracy have established.

As the Peshawar tragedy forces us to think of a way forward, we must also think backwards, for the two are connected; and so that we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past. Democracy, in essence, and the neutrality of the state in religious matters are time-tested ideas all civilisations have gradually accepted. These are winning ideas.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 24^th, 2014.

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