Being in United States for the
last three months almost, as a researcher and activist I kept a keen eye on the
socio political and economic environment of this country and comparing it with
Pakistan. I kept on wondering how far my country, my people are from human
development. Despite the fact that Pakistan is rich in resources, especially
the human resource and can grow very fast if these are exploited and utilized
in the right way. Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world,
having 180 million population according to the 2012 census. To many this is a
problem but I consider it an opportunity for growth and development especially
when 67 percent population is comprised of youth. This is a rare case with many
countries in the world. This large number of young people could be utilized as
a significant catalyst in the country’s development.
Pakistan produces a significant
number of agricultural, dairy, textiles, surgical and sports products which are
exported to earn foreign exchange revenue. Its military is one of the most
capable, trained and organized army in the world. It is a nuclear nation, which
again very few states in the world have this capability. Some of the greatest
ancient civilizations in human history progressed and evolved in this country.
Strategically and geographically, the country holds a very important position
in the region. It is a connecting point between South and Central Asia, China,
Gulf and Middle East and Russia (via Vaakhan stripe). This important
positioning of the country could have earned us enormous economic and political
benefits contrary to the problems. Moreover, the country is rich in lots of
natural resources including coal, chromite, potassium, marble, natural gas, gem
stones and some areas like KP, FATA and Baluchistan have gold and platinum so
far largely unexplored due to variety of reasons.
Despite all these capabilities,
human and natural resources, important geo-strategic and political positioning,
we are a country that has not only become a threat to the regional and global security
but to the very existence of our own diverse population and culture. It is considered
to be one of the worst countries for women, children, disabled and people with
alternate religious, political, sexual and gender identities.
Our young population has been always
used and manipulated at the hands of extremist and radical political forces. A
large number of youth is uneducated and unemployed. Those who are educated and
employed are obsessed with envy against others. Half of the country’s
population is women and girls. Except in some urban centers they are victims of
violence, abuse, exploitation, neglect and discrimination. Those who have been
able to get employment in various sectors face sexual harassment, negligible
say in decision making processes and have limited access to growth and
opportunities. In my personal experience, even in the social sector they are
considered to be waste of resources and capital by many of their male counterparts
and colleagues. Women empowerment is still considered a subject of women
development ministries, departments, NGOs and not the state and society at
large.
Pakistan is one of the major
agricultural countries in the world producing a huge amount of valuable
agricultural products like wheat, rice, variety of fruit and vegetables as well
as dairy products each year. On contrary, only three percent children are
receiving standard nutrition. Majority of new born babies die before reaching the
age of six. More than fifty percent mothers face death at time when they are
giving birth to a new life. The reason is that most of these mothers face blood
and nutritional deficiency during pregnancy.
Our nuclear assets despite being
empowering the government and the people had become a major security threat for
the country itself, the neighbors and whole of the international community. It
has made the military more in a position to demand greater share which is
roughly 80 percent of the annual budget each year. This nuclear capability is
one of the major resources to overcome the energy crisis that had emerged as a big
challenge for the subsequent political governments over the last few years. Its
affects are unfortunately mostly negative. It is continuously undermining the
hope for successful development and sustainability of civil political culture, sustainable
economic, industrial and agricultural growth. Majority of the people foresee
military take over as the ‘only solution’ to overcome the problems of inflation,
energy crisis, unemployment etc which in fact has always led to more problems
and crisis in the history.
When you ask the common people and
the so called analysts, experts, research scholars, religious leaders and
parliamentarians about the reasons for the country’s underdevelopment, most of
them will blame the USA, India and corrupt politicians. Religious leaders will
give the worst explanation by blaming the victims, the very people of the
country. They will say that because of the people’s excessive sins and
transgressions which mostly relate to women’s emancipation and empowerment like
education and employment in various sectors; Allah is punishing us by imposing
a democratic government over us. They forget or deliberately deny mentioning
that in 66 years life span of this country, half of the time military dictators
ruled. These military regimes made the country worse than ever by making it a
‘security state’, introducing sectarianism, religious extremism and
radicalization of armed forces which still are extremely powerful than the
political forces in the country and beyond the reach of law and judiciary.
Very few people will mention that
our country’s underdevelopment is because of ‘lack of leadership’ which generates
some hope in the mind of interviewer as I experienced myself. But when you ask
them, what kind of leadership do you think can take the country out of anarchy,
instability and put it on the development track? The majority will respond by
referring to a leader who is strict follower of a certain version of Islam (the
one that respondent will believe), have unmatched hatred for America, India and
Afghanistan and above all its own people who will have diverse ethnic,
religious and political identities and history. In my opinion, here is the source
of all problems and evils we see in Pakistan.
The reality is that most of the
leaders in the history of Pakistan were unethical and hence devoid of universal
moral principles. At certain points their own values’ system and belief
structure clashed with what they wanted to see as ‘change’ in the country.
Their personal behavior and lifestyle were not reflective of the values they
used as rhetoric to come and stay into power. As an outcome they failed to promote
the same among their followers and the vast population of the country. They
were leaders guided by self-interest than selflessness. The character driven
leaders and those whose values and leadership messages were universal were
demonized by these leaders, the state and its radical forces. Resultantly, the
leaders in the history of this country were never able to make the country a
nation and bring the diverse population together for a shared purpose and goal.
They on contrary contributed to more division, hatred and mistrust among the
various factions of the population.
The story starts with Muhammad
Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan himself. He demanded a separate homeland
for Muslims from the newly independent United India. Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and
other religious and ethnic populations in the subcontinent fought together for
independence against the British Raj. However, Jinnah was consistent in his
stance that Muslims by all means are a separate nation from Hindus and thus
creation of Pakistan is inevitable. He failed to foresee that among Muslims
there is a great diversity. There are fundamental differences of belief and
practice of one sect from another. Also the historical evolution, traditions
and cultures of major ethnic factions are hugely different from one another. More
ironically, he failed to understand or did not wish so that the Islamic
Republic has been historically home to Hindus (as many in Sindh), Christians
and other non-Muslims as well. He denied even the history of this very region
that constitutes Pakistan today for the vested interests of Muslim League at
that time. Hinduism and Buddhism has been historically the religion of majority
in today’s Pakistan. The clear evidence is the Harapa and Mohenjodaro in Sindh,
Gulkada in Swat Valley, Takht Bai in Mardan and even the Bhudhists, Sikhs and
Hindus who are citizens of Pakistan. They lived in this country even in FATA
(Orkazai and Khyber agencies) before Islam was introduced through Arab
invasions. His speeches later were mere an attempt of a dying leader to portray
himself universal which he was not by character and ideas.
Today in the same country Christians’
only job is that of a sweeper and a sanitary worker. Non-Muslims could not be
promoted beyond the rank of Colonel in armed forces. Muslims like Ahmadis and
Shias who are not followers of the official version of Islam are subject to
systemic discrimination and killing by the state, its radical institutions and allied
forces. Generations after Jinnah experienced and realized that there are far
more fundamental cultural differences among Punjabi, Baluchi, Pashtun, Hazara
and Saraiaki than the one Jinnah used to say about between Hindus and Muslims.
There could have been far better ways to build this diverse population as one
nation than on the basis of religion.
General Ayub Khan focused on the economic
progress and remained successful to great extent. However, he had extreme
cultural bias against the Urdu Speaking Pakistanis migrated from India to the
new country that they perceived as their homeland. Still many outside the
Karachi call them ‘outsiders’ and ‘mohajir’ and not the equal citizens. This
terminology has a historical significance and could not be denied if one is
determined to understand the root causes of the current situation of Pakistan. Karachi
fall prey to ethnic riots during his regime and since then the situation had
remained unchanged. The city historically used to be home of everyone and
famous for economic and business activities is now home of none. It is now more
famous for target killings, ethnic and sectarian violence.
General Zia Ul Haq was supportive
of a certain version of Islam and considered Shias, Ahmadis, non-Muslims and
progressive political forces as a formidable threat not only to the society but
also for his own regime and power. He was one of the worst leaders in the
history of Pakistan. During his regime the whole of Pakistani society, state
institutions and most importantly the armed forces were Islamized and
radicalized. He was succeeded by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto a charismatic intelligent
diplomat and statesman. However, being not an ethical leader he alienated
Bengalis on the basis of race. He being very liberal and progressive,
practically betrayed his values by succumbing to the pressure from religious
parties to declare Ahmadis as ‘non-Muslims’ and elevated Molvi Mufti Mehmood, JUI to suppress Pashtun Nationalism. In his regime, first military
operation was started against Baluchis who demanded justice and fair share in
their own resources. Many Pakistanis call him a great leader but somehow he was
not a man of character and principles. He was extremely selfish, not selfless. He
played a critical role in the massacre of Bengalis at the hands of Pakistan
Army at that time and spread of Islamic radicalization in the Pashtun population of Pakistan.
General (Retd) Pervez Musharraf initiated
a selective enlightenment process of the society. He helped people of Karachi,
especially the Urdu speaking to modernize and enlighten them but went against
the same in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Baluchistan and specifically FATA. When the US
and NATO forces were fighting Taliban and Al Qaeda inside Afghanistan, he was
busy in sowing the most fertile seeds of talibanization and religious extremist
movement on the other side of the Durand Line. These seeds that sprung in days
and weeks became powerful trees in months. He was excellent in rapid talibanization
of whole of FATA and cleverly used the political administration and local
seminaries established during General Zia’s regime in times of the USSR –
Afghan war. The Tehrik e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as perceived by the General as
mercenaries of Pakistan’s military during the ‘sowing process’ are fighting the
US led NATO, ISAF forces and Afghan National Army but at the same time also
attacking Pakistan’s own security forces in the same region, considered by them
as ‘infidels’ and ‘collaborators’ of external powers.
Most of these leaders were more
or less driven by their flawed values’ system and personal beliefs. This led
the country towards destruction and chaos under their leadership. They utilized
all the above discussed tangible and potential resources of the country for
their own vested interests and those of their followers. Education was used as
a tool of indoctrination by them to prepare Jihadi minds instead of a system to
build a nation and celebrating the cultural and religious diversity. Afghanistan and India being close in culture,
religion and history were promoted and portrayed as enemy states through
curriculum, media, popular culture, literature and most importantly by leaders.
This mindset is still prevalent both at the level of society and the state. On
contrary, China being a communist country is considered a friend of the Islamic
Republic of Pakistan. I fear if a person like Munawar Hassan became prime
minister, Pakistan would be at actual war with China and the hatred would be
more visible than the one we see against USA and India these days.
At present, we can clearly see
the same generation of leaders. Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan are positional
leaders. Their popular rhetoric is no more different from that of Taliban and
General Zia Ul Haq. Their sayings and promises contradict with their character,
behavior and lifestyle in the past. The minority religious and ethnic groups in
the country do not trust them as leaders. They lack a concrete set of values
like those demonstrated by Mahatma Gandhi, Ghaffar Khan Baba, G.M. Syed,
Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr. and even the great Sufi saints who are
part of the Pakistan’s rich culture and history.
Our coming generations has been
made to hate the people of our neighboring countries without any reason and
logic by such leaders. It’s Okay to remember our heroes in the history who
created Pakistan, but is it necessary to hate Hindus even now. It is just like
that today an American is told to hate Germans as many would have hated them in
the post-World War II America. This is simply unethical and irrational. The
today Germany is not the one under Nazis. Similarly India today is not the one
under British Empire and immediately after the partition of the Indian
sub-continent. The coming generations could not hate each other if they have no
experience of war and using violence against each other. This is probably one
reason why the military defense complexes of both countries don’t want peaceful
relations. This perpetuated antagonism throughout decades is what giving
legitimacy to armed forces of both the countries to have maximum share in
budget expenditure, use and occupation of land and natural resources and more
importantly supporting terrorism at home and exporting it to the rest of the
world.
Not a single leader except
Benazir Bhutto Shaheed and her husband Asif Ali Zardari tried to promote a
feeling of love, friendship and peaceful coexistence with India as well as
internally with dissident ethnic groups. For this good, she got assassinated in
a clear yet mysterious way. Only she was the leader in the history of this
nation who really owned her values, her love for the people of Pakistan despite
the class, gender, religion and ethnicity. This was the reason when she was
assassinated by reactionary forces, that day her friends, followers and
political opponents mourned together and lamented this great loss. Except her,
all who came before her labeled certain population groups, political rivals,
religious, ethnic and sexual minorities as threat to the country’s existence and
its flawed Islamic outlook.
Asif Ali Zardari became president
after her and is hated by many Pakistanis despite the fact that he is a selfless
leader. The energy crisis, inflation and negative role of media and some
powerful state institutions made him and his regime infamous among the people. It
was under President Zardari’s leadership that the historical 18th
Amendment Bill was passed from the Parliament. It is the only law of the country
that explicitly recognizes provincial rights, autonomy and devises directions
for how provinces could be in control and in charge of utilizing their own
resources and production. At present there is a lack of capacity in provincial
governments and institutions to enjoy the fruits of the devolution but in
future this is the only legislation that will make provinces not only develop
but also may save the country from more division and disintegration.
Actual need over the history was
for recognizing and accepting each ethnic and religious sub culture as equally
legitimate and deserving of participation and benefiting from the country’s
resources. On contrary what happened. Leaders and their followers from
different ethnic groups and the provinces who struggled to achieve equal rights
and share in the country’s resources, employment and services were bashed and
labeled as ‘traitors’. Democracy was always used and considered as a tool and
system by the majority to suppress the legitimate voice of minorities. Majority
always ruled and controlled the country’s resources which over the times led to
more resentment and mistrust among the provinces against the federal government
and particularly Punjab province, the largest in population. This is why
provinces now don’t trust the central government and the central ministries
including racial defense institutions (ministry) of the state.
Historically the major challenge remained
that of building a nation which is truly a ‘Pakistani’; A nation which is
equally Pashtun, Baluchi, Sindhi, Saraiki, Hazara, Potohari and that of Urdu
Speaking; A nation where one’s belief, ethnicity, race and gender is not a
hurdle in accessing the opportunities and services. A country, where
Christians, Hindus, Parsis, Ahmadis, Shias and the non-believers (atheists and
agnostics) feel secure and equal citizens of the state will be a true Pakistan.
Building such a Pakistan need leaders
who strongly realize that their characters and lives should be equally
reflective and representative of all the citizens’ voices, aspirations and
demands irrespective of their cast, gender, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic
status and even the physical fitness. They as leaders must possess and practice a
set of values that each citizen irrespective of the above mentioned identity
markers is able to align him/her values with that of the leader. This kind of
leadership is not easy to invest in and to promote. Its demands and price are
very high, especially at present. This will even demand major changes in the
Constitution of the country. But this is the only option left. This is the only
way out. Either we continue with cursing the leaders and ourselves or start to
have courage and faith in our abilities, potential and resources.
We need to start exploring and listening
to the leaders who are driven by character, selflessness, universal human
values, neutrality and their love for every Pakistani irrespective of class,
profession, gender, ethnicity, geography, religion and other such markers of
identity. We don’t need to import them from the rest of the world. They are
part of the country’s own history, traditions and rich culture. Some are dead,
some are living. It’s just the matter of trust, acceptance, listening and
exploration of those leadership voices and invest more in such leaders for the future of the present and coming generations of Pakistan.
