Afraid of pluralism

Even on our 65th Independence Day, our rulers had nothing of worth to show for themselves anad include anything on the roll of honour. The even more unfortunate thing was that they had no resolve, no long term plan, no dream nor a hope of a dream that they could present to the nation for it to look forward to the future. I have seen the hopes and dreams of my leadership grow dimmer with each passing Independence Day. The kind of verve and optimism that existed in 1948 wasn’t there on 1958. That which was there on 1958 had waned by 1968. Thereafter, as the decades piled on, our hopes grew fainter under their weight. Today, after 64 years, what are we being told? That loadshedding will be eliminated; that parliamentary committee will be formed to look into Karachi’s unrest etc etc.

On the eve of Independence Day, the supremo of the second largest party in the country, Mian Nawaz Sharif, gave a speech which led his traditional supporters to turn on him. He must have been taken aback at what ‘mistake’ he had made to warrant such a reaction. He just translated the words of the Almighty in practical terms. As per our belief, the Creator of the Universe is the Lord of all the worlds and the worlds include Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and followers of all religions. And He will be the Lord of even those who are discovered in new worlds with their varied beliefs and creeds. Hindus may believe in a pantheon of Gods but that is their belief. We believe in One God and, as per our belief, He is the Lord of all the peoples and all the worlds. The politicking and peddling of Islam, God and Nazariya-e-Pakistan is done by a certain group of people. Nawaz Sharif has nothing to fear from them.

I was amazed at the COAS General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani’s statement that Pakistan’s creation was based on the Nazariya-e-Paksitan. Maybe he doesn’t know that this ‘ideology’ is a product of a small newspaper business and street vendors who do their politics on the basis of Islam. Because our country was not made on the basis of this nazariya, but it did broken up due to this ideology. The armed forces of Pakistan were fooled by these merchants of this ideology into trying to use it as a crutch for their dictatorship.

To go through with the deal, even a governmental institution was created for ‘national security’ and ‘unity’. A group of politicians was also assembled and this nazariya was entered into the electoral battlefield as a slogan. But despite the overwhelming backing of the armed forces and the support of state resources and machinery, this nazariya was rejected by a vast majority of the country. East Pakistanis were run over by tanks in attempts to get them to agree to this ideology. But the East Pakistanis had got their independence under the Quaid and they wouldn’t settle for anything less than the Pakistan they had campaigned and fought for under the Quaid. That’s why when they were forced to pledge allegiance to this ideology, they raised the banner of rebellion and the armed forces that claimed to be a protector of this ideology had to lay down arms in front of its enemy.

Despite all this, the army’s leader has again termed the Nazariya-e-Pakistan as our country’s raison ’detre. Maybe he hasn’t had the chance to study and analyse the history of his own institution. Otherwise, he would’ve known that Nazariya-e-Pakistan is a tried, tested and failed ploy in the 1970 and its usage brought much ignominy on the army. There is no use making the same mistake twice.

By using this ideology, it was attempted to denude the nations that helped in the creation of Pakistan with their identity. It was a Platonic ideal to make these nations give up their cultures and generational traditions for an identity that was amorphous and not even fully formed. Pakistan was created on a democratic basis where Muslim majority areas could constitute a separate country. Where Muslims could use their majority to live freely from Hindu economic and political dominion and live as per their religion and creed.

But by creating this Muslim country, these people did not want to abandon their culture and identities. When East Pakistan was tried to be subdued under the Ideology of Pakistan, Bengali nationalist rose up in reaction and refused to acknowledge the supremacy that was being established on them with the aid of bullets, tanks and a vacuous ideology. Not only did we lose East Pakistan, we also had to lay down arms in front of the Indian army.

In West Pakistan, feudal Pakistanis and their aides in the army wanted to wipe out ethnic identities in the name of the One Unit scheme. But that effort was defeated by a long and laborious democratic struggle and Yahya Khan had to restore the provinces under overwhelming pressure from the people. After the secession of East Pakistan, these very provinces decided to join the federation of Pakistan under the 1973 Constitution. They entered with their historical names and distinct ethnic identities. Only the name ‘NWFP’ was a remnant of colonial times which has now recently been changed to reflect the ethnic identity of that province. As per the constitution, Pakistan is the name of a federation that comprises of the Pakhtun, the Baloch, the Sindhis and the Punjabis. No province chose to relinquish its identity for being a part of this federation, neither did they give up their historical identity.

Similarly, no nation gave up its culture when it entered the fold of Islam. Iranian Muslims are Iranians. The Turks may be Muslims but they are also Turks and have a proud history. Even the Arabs are not merely Muslims but have an Arab identity. Islam itself upheld that tribal and national identities should be acknowledged and respected. Nazariya-e-Pakistan was created to usurp these identities and curb the freedom that Islam gives to nations to freely associate with their identities.

Allama Iqbal and the Quaid gave the idea of the creation of a separate state in Muslim majority areas and Pakistan was created on this idea. By rejecting this inclusive idea, Pakistan’s feudal and military cohorts tried to replace it with the exclusionary Nazariya-e-Pakistan. It was rejected by a majority of the Pakistanis in 1971.

I have no idea what has compelled our COAS to opt for a tried, tired and tested ideology. Is the army planning to impose this ideology on Pakistan again? Have we come to a situation where the army is thinking of persuading the Punjabis, the Sindhis, the Baloch and the Pakhtun to give up their identities and their cultures? Do we live in a fool’s paradise so as to pursue the Platonic ideal of a nation with a common culture with no diversity? Is our nuclear bomb powerful enough to wipe off entire identities?

The writer is one of Pakistan’s most widely read columnists.