Is it the state that should be all too powerful or the people that reside within its territorial boundaries?
What can the people do when the government that the people chose and which runs the affairs of the state becomes indifferent to the enormity of the problems faced by them?
Should they wait for the time when matters go out of hand to an extent that they welcome the intervention of international community to clean up the mess created by incompetent elite (called rulers) and provide them with justice that they deserve? The threat to Pakistan today is not only external and in military language alone but much broader in its scope that threatens the very lives of its people many of whom die every day because the state refuses to act or intervene.
Is it the fault of the people or the state that the various ethnic groups that constitute this nation feel more deprived than integrated in the federation of Pakistan?
Would we have any separatist movements going on and challenging the existence of the state if we had not slept over the great injustice committed by the colonial masters while shaping our history? We are not even honest to admit that over the years if we had given priority to the security of the people instead of state security we may not have lost half of our country.
LT COL (Retd) MUHAMMAD ALI EHSAN
Islamabad
