We are approaching Pakistan’s 64th Independence Day but we continue to debate the reasons for the partition of British India and the establishment of Pakistan. There are disagreements on the root causes of the current socio-economic problems and what should be done to address them. Is there anything to be improved in the society or are Pakistan’s problems caused by an international conspiracy hatched by the followers of other religions and civilisations.
An important section of public opinion seeks the explanation of Pakistan’s establishment and current problems in the developments of the pre-independence period. Instead of focusing on the strengths of the Muslim community that led them to ask for a separate state, they highlight more what they call the exploitation of the Muslims by the Hindus of British India. The emphasis is on distinctions between the Muslims and the Hindus which, in their view, are still relevant to addressing the current India-Pakistan relations.
The exploitation theme can be referred to as a factor in the history of Pakistan which has greater appeal for those who experienced the pre-independence society. However, this argument loses much of its appeal to the second and third post-independence generation that is experiencing exploitation by their countrymen, invariably the Muslims. Unless their problems and concerns are addressed, their attitude towards that state and society is going to be influenced more by their own experience rather than the historical narratives of exploitation.
Today’s Pakistan must appear relevant to the present and future of the generations that have been born and trained in Pakistan. They are looking for a better future for themselves and Pakistan’s institutions and processes must facilitate that.
The MQM represents another kind of dilemma. Its stalwarts live in the nostalgia of the pre-partition period and talk of their exploitation in Pakistan by other ethnic groups. Some of them think that they still have the option of returning to India.
There are those who track the current problems back to the establishment of Pakistan and the decisions made in the early years of independence. They argue that Pakistan was established without giving a serious thought to what was to be done subsequently. Many decisions were made on the spur of the moment rather than taking into account the long term implications. For example, some analysts track the rise of religious extremism in Pakistan to the passing of the Objectives Resolution (March 1949) that incorporated Islamic identity in the political and constitutional arrangements for the future. This is viewed by many as yielding to the pressure of Islamic clergy which the latter used subsequently to justify their demand for a purely religion-based political order.
The Objectives Resolution was not the beginning of emphasis on Islam but a natural corollary of the employment of Islamic identity, culture and history for political mobilisation and identity formation by the All India Muslim League in the pre-independence period. The framers of the Objectives Resolution were convinced that the modern notion of state and democracy can be combined with the teachings and principles of Islam that were viewed as the ethical foundation of the Pakistani society rather than a set of punitive and regulative injunctions.
If they rejected the puritanical and orthodox view of the Islamic state, they also avoided the other extreme of a secular system like that of Kamal Ataturk’s Turkey. They adopted a midway house approach of keeping an identifiable linkage with Islam but not assigning the responsibility of enforcement of Islam to the state. All Pakistani constitutions direct the state to “enable” the Muslims to lead their lives in accordance with the teachings and principles of Islam. Another constitutional stipulation emphasises that there will be no law contrary to the principles and teachings of Islam.
The basic change in the role of the state from an “Enabler” to “Enforcer” of Islam came during the military rule by General Zia-ul-Haq who began to enforce Islam through state orders and machinery for achieving his domestic and foreign policy agenda. Until 1977, there is only one instance of such enforcement; the state and society generally pursued a moderate disposition towards religion.
The current religious and cultural intolerance and militancy is the product of the policies adopted since 1977, especially from 1979 onwards when Zia-ul-Haq embarked on enforcement of Islam to the satisfaction of orthodox and conservative Muslim clergy. It is very difficult to draw the conclusion that if the founders of Pakistan had sought a new basis of identity for Pakistan after independence Pakistan would have been free of the on-going extremism and militancy.
Another explanation talks of external conspiracies against Pakistan for undermining the predominantly Muslim state and society. This discourse views all domestic and foreign policy developments as a function of religion. As per this view, the non-Muslim world is arrayed against Islam and there is a global conspiracy against Pakistan. This means that there is nothing wrong with Pakistan and Pakistanis. There is nothing to improve within the society but it has to be protected from the onslaught of the adversaries.
A variant of the conspiracy explanation is the well-known statement that Pakistan has all the needed natural, agricultural and human resources but the leadership is unable or unwilling to use them for the welfare of people or there is some international conspiracy for dissuading them from benefiting from these resources.
The theories on international or domestic conspiracies are popular with the societies in decay that refuse to admit that something has gone wrong with the society. They also do not develop the capacity to meet the challenges to the future of the society because they are convinced that all conspiracies are bound to fail.
In the present day world, no matter how a country has come into existence and no matter what mistakes its rulers have made in the past, it cannot overcome its problems without acquiring modern knowledge and technology. This needs to be coupled with unemotional reflection on the problems or failures.
Pakistan cannot overcome its present difficulties by externalising its problems, blaming the past rulers or living in the delusion of possessing unlimited resources. The nations that have achieved socio-economic development in the last 50 years have assigned the highest priority to acquiring knowledge and technology and sought solutions through dispassionate self-analysis and sustained efforts.
Pakistan’s future depends on how the current problems are addressed. This calls for building a knowledge-based society that assigns premium to professionalism and rationality.
The writer is an independent political and defence analyst.