A few days ago, I chose to express my opinion in an Urdu column (that I write for another newspaper) about the people who are mortally afraid of the fact that the nexus of Israel, India and America are out to take our nuclear bomb from us. I chose to call those people the architects of the Ideology of Pakistan (Nazriya-e-Pakistan). This is because this term was unheard of during the Pakistan Movement and none of its leading lights ever employed it. This terminology originated during the reign of Yahya Khan where it was taken up by General Sher Ali to suit the dictatorial aspirations of undemocratic forces. The respected Hameed Nizami was one of the associates of the Quaid-e-Azam and his thoughts on each important development in the Pakistan Movement have been documented. None of his editorials uptil 1947 contains the words Ideology of Pakistan. How is it possible that he, as a close associate of the Quaid, could have been unaware of it if it had been widely employed? This is why I call those people who talk of it as the inventors of the Ideology of Pakistan. They are the ones who use its creed to amass profits and property.
As many as seven columns have been written in reply to my column. They were nothing but a name-calling exercise. I did not make any ad hominem arguments. I just articulated myself on a few matters from a national perspective. None of these points were taken up and responded to. I present a translation of an excerpt from that column for the benefit of my English readership.
One of the fabricators of the Ideology of Pakistan bewailed that The Mephistophelean alliance of America, India and Israel is out to take over our nuclear arms. Its not out of place to ask them why they are so fearful when perched atop an atomic bomb. If their cowardice cannot be allayed even by the possession of nuclear capabilities, then why was the bomb made in the first place? They could have lived on in a state of fear without it. Why waste public money on an exercise in futility? If we try to make sense of the laments of these inventors of the ideology, only one meaning can be inferred: that they want some well-wishing saviour to step up to the mantle and save their bomb.
Other countries in the world also possess the atomic bomb but unlike these people, they made them, stored them and then moved on with their lives. These countries are aware of why they made these arms and how they figure into their larger security paradigm. Almost all the countries realise that this capability is intended to act more as a deterrent against the offensive intentions of adversaries and nobody realistically wants to use it in war because others have it too. If somebody does fire one, then nobody will be safe and living in its aftermath will indeed be a fate worse than death. This is why none of the countries have ever used it or will use it after the US. Unless a nation is afflicted by collective insanity which we know cannot happen.
When the US used the nuclear bomb, there was no real need for it with regards to the war. Japan was already up for surrendering. But America used the bomb before the war ended in pursuit of its ambition of becoming a superpower. It milked this event for its superpower status for long after that and it has maintained that position at the top to date. But those times are now a thing of the past. No country is in a position to have its way in the international arena by relying on the nuclear bomb because there is no way that two sets of lunatics will get together to ensure mutual destruction.
But the case of Pakistan is curious as it has turned its bomb into a farce. One of our scientists is found to issue statements about the bomb, giving the impression that he is the one with his finger on that all-important button. He himself picks cities on his whims and keeps issuing edicts about their bombardment. He keeps making announcements about its power and use. No scientist in the world has behaved in such an unbecoming manner because they understand that their work lies in making this instrument of destruction, not using it.
You will never have come across a journalist, of all people, devising and announcing nuclear policies. Only in Pakistan we have such people who not only formulate policies but also announce their implementation. One such dignitary has specially requested that he be tied to a bomb and then dropped on Delhi. As far as being tied to the bomb is concerned, this is his own decision. Why he wants to be blown to smithereens by being tied to an atomic bomb is indeed a quandary only he himself understands, though this job can easily be done by a much smaller bomb. Furthermore, what is the fault of the innocent Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and Buddhists of Delhi who will suffer a nuclear attack to fulfill the self-inflicted punishment of one man? If that man truly thinks he deserves atonement, why doesnt he pick some other way? In my personal opinion, I do not think he has done anything to deserve such a punishment. Nor does he have a reservoir of destruction encased in his body. After all, what can a five-and-half foot mortal add to the destructive abilities of a nuclear bomb. It fares pretty well on its own. I dont know why some people make light of the God-given blessing called life and want to squander it?
In reality, such ideas are the product of fear itself. The purveyors of the Ideology of Pakistan have an irrational fear that the Hindu will eat them alive. On top of that, such people trace their lineage to Mohammad Bin Qasim and Muslim conquerors from Central Asia because those conquerors were quite unlike them; they were not cowards. They came from afar with a few troops and then conquered. They were never afraid that the Hindu majority would eat them up. They ruled for centuries and when they were rulers no more, they still co-existed with the Hindu community.
Pakistan was made according to a democratic rule by comprising Muslim majority areas. It wasnt fear of the Hindu but the acquisition of the democratic right of the Muslim majority areas. A greater number of Muslims dwell in India than in Pakistan. They still live there and the Hindu hasnt gobbled them up. As far as their economic backwardness is concerned, that is endemic to Indian society. The Dalits and other lower caste Hindus also have to suffer economic backwardness and other deprivations. In some cases, lower caste Hindus have to suffer travesties that Muslims cannot even imagine. This is an aberration in their social system which all underprivileged people are denouncing and are up in arms against; both in the electoral battlefield to the actual battlefields in jungles. These Indian Muslims have no atom bomb, yet they are not mortally afraid of the Hindu but are fighting against injustice alongside communities like the Naxalites. Muslims in occupied Kashmir are not afraid of the army stationed there in hundreds of thousands. Then why are these Mujahideen-e-Islam quaking with fear while comfortably seated on atom bombs in the security of their own homes. Why are they so afraid that the atom bomb will be snatched away from them? These people should hold on to their horses. They have neither made the bomb nor is anybody going to take it away from them. Because wherever Pakistans nuclear arms are kept, their protection is the duty of the Pakistani public, not of the inventors of the Ideology of Pakistan. And it must be said that it is not us protecting the atom bomb, its the other way round. Ever since it was added to our arsenal, no enemy has been able to contemplate nefarious designs. Kargil was a big gaffe on our part. Despite this huge folly, the enemy could not consider full-blown war. Some non-state actors tried to incite India through the Mumbai bombings but the fallout was not a war.
There are people in every country who revel in making empty threats. But its not easy to start a war, especially against a nuclear-capable country. The Pakistani public and the nuclear bomb are fully capable of guarding each other. The engineers of the Pakistan Ideology should not taint our bombs with the colour of their cowardice. These arms are the ornament of a proud and determined nation. It is best that the Ideologues dont rust them.
The writer is one of Pakistans most widely read columnists.
