Painful reflections

We cannot afford being part of another proxy war and must carefully examine the pros & cons of our role in this crisis

This year marked the 75^th anniversary of the Pakistan Resolution. It was an occasion for painful reflections to those of us who belong to the first generation that saw and experienced the formative phase of Pakistan and its creation as a dream of its founding fathers. We could not but agonise over the thought of what Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah had envisioned this country to be and where we actually stand today as a nation and as a state. Pakistan’s creation was not an accident of history. It came into being as a result of a long and relentless struggle of the Muslims of the subcontinent for a separate homeland.

The Quaid-e-Azam gave us a clear vision of a democratic and progressive state which he thought will be “one of the greatest nations of the world”. In his last message to the nation on August 14, 1948, he reminded his people: “The foundations of your state have been laid and it is now for you to build, and build as quickly and as well as you can.” Within the first year of our independence, the Quaid had presciently foreseen the coming events. He was disillusioned with the scarcity of calibre and character in the country’s political ranks. Political ineptitude was writ large on the country’s horizon. The Quaid’s worries were not unwarranted.

After the Quaid’s early demise, we have had a long miscellany of opportunistic and corrupt rulers, who never inspired hope for a democratic state that could guarantee rule of law-based governance and socioeconomic justice to all Pakistani citizens irrespective of their cast, creed or family background. They just could not cope with the challenges of freedom inherent in our peculiar geopolitical location. In his address to Pakistan’s first Constituent Assembly on August 11, 1947, the Quaid reminded the legislators of their “onerous responsibility” of framing the future constitution of Pakistan. But it took our politicians nine years and several governments to frame our first constitution.

The Quaid-e-Azam, on many occasions, reminded the people of Pakistan of the importance of their responsibilities as citizens of this country. He gave us a road map of what he believed were the biggest challenges for the country’s government and lawmakers. He regarded the ideals of democracy, equality, fraternity, brotherhood of man, the rule of law and human rights as the essence of a country’s inner strength. The foremost duty of a government, according to him, is “to maintain law and order and to protect the life, property and religious beliefs of its subjects”. Our performance in these areas certainly does not live up to the hopes which the Quaid had placed in us.



He also warned against the “evils” of bribery, corruption, black-marketing, nepotism and jobbery which he wanted to be eradicated with an “iron hand”. We as a nation have not only failed to grapple with these challenges but are in fact living remorselessly with these problems as an “integral” part of our society. Crime and corruption are rampant in our country both in scope and scale. Aversion to the rule of law is endemic. Poor governance is our national hallmark. No other country is familiar with the practice of forgiving as a matter of rule, criminals of all sorts, including murderers, killers, elite loan defaulters and the known highly placed plunderers of the national exchequer. They cannot have a safer haven anywhere else in the world.

Alas! The Quaid-e-Azam did not get to know us well. Had he lived longer, he would have only been embarrassed to see how miserably we, as a nation, and our successive leaders have failed to live up to his vision of Pakistan, and to protect and preserve our national unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity. Alas, on our part, we are not even ashamed of what we have done to his Pakistan. We allowed Pakistan to become the hotbed of religious extremism and obscurantism. Intolerance and fanaticism led us to violence with no parallel anywhere in the world. Sectarianism has ripped our society apart. Even mosques and churches have not been spared from cold-blooded communal and sectarian killings.

After the Quaid’s death, we in Pakistan have remained confronted with an endemic leadership crisis, and have been experiencing systemic aberrations with endless political merry-go-rounds and jockeying for power. Consistency has never been a virtue as our history of frequent governmental breakdowns and military coups reflect. For decades, we have had a parliamentary system without parliament ever functioning as a “full sovereign body” or playing a role in the decision-making process. Even today, “legislating” or policy-making is a business beyond our parliament’s purview. All-parties conferences are now alibis for all major decisions.

We have gone through traumatic experiences, which have left us politically unstable, economically weak, socially fragmented and physically disintegrated. Our history as a nation is replete with a series of political crises and socio-economic challenges that perhaps, no other country in the world has experienced. No doubt, we have survived these crises and challenges, but at what cost? The deteriorating situation in the Arabian Peninsula might be our next challenge. We are already fighting a full-scale war on our own soil to free the country of the scourge of terrorism. We cannot afford being part of another proxy war and must carefully examine the pros and cons of our role in this crisis.

If anything, our role in any intra-Muslim or inter-Arab feud must be one of a peacemaker, not a combatant party in the dispute. We must also remain sensitive to Iranian concerns. As a country and as a nation, at this critical phase in our history, we cannot also just leave ourselves to the vagaries of time or at the mercy of vested interests inimical to the very existence of Pakistan as a strong and stable, independent state. The onus now lies with the elected leadership. It must prove itself worthy of the challenge and the mandate it received in the last election. If it delivers, the people, too, will stand by it. If not, the people, as in the past, will start looking in other directions for ‘alternatives’.

The armed forces are already engaged to the hilt in fighting the decisive battle of our life and any distraction could have serious repercussions on the ongoing Operation Zarb-e-Azb. The nation now looks towards the government to take stock of the whole situation most dispassionately, rising above any vested interests before accepting any military role in the emerging precarious scenario in our region.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 28^th, 2015.

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