Pakistan - A Failed State

I recently came across an ebook: 'Pakistan - A Failed State' by Mr. Siv Sastry which is available on http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/.

The book is really well written, and covers all aspects of Pakistan in detail. The topic is specially relevent in the current crisis. The Mumbai tragedy has exposed Pakistan more than ever. I would like to give a recap of my understandings from the book and some of my own views on Pakistan.

The Creation:
The creation of Pakistan can be summed up in one sentence: In first half of the freedom struggle, people of the Indian sub-continent awakened to overthrow the rule of the foreigners, and in the second half the muslims awakened to overthrow the rule of foreigners and hindus. From the beginning Pakistan was based on "hate". This hate was much greater than the pain and suffering of partition. People who migrated to Pakistan, muhajirs, went out of hate of India more than out of the love for Islam. After all being in Indian did not prohibit them from loving islam, but being in Pakistan allowed them to manifest their hate for India while loving islam.

Before the British arrived, India was rued by the Mughals and after they return, Indian should be handed over back to the Muslims. This is an old ideology in the minds of the muslim elite of India who consider themselves as the successors of the Mughals. Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed repeated the same philosophy on the Al Ja-Zeera TV in 2007. Their ultimate aim is to rule entire India and see India down on its knees to the muslim rule. It is my belief that anything based on hate is doomed to fail sooner or later, and Pakistan only makes my belief stronger.

The Indian-Connection:

Pakistan was not only to be Islamic but also non-Indian. Being non-Indian was an eligibility criterion to be called a Pakistani. If they still retained the Indian culture, they would not be any different from India muslims. Islam has developed in many regions of the world while absorbing the local culture. Pakistan tried to and is still trying to erase the centuries of culture that it's people share with India. Various Islam laws, shariah, education through madrases and anti-Indian propaganda have been used. After all their efforts, India and Pakistan still speak Hindi, use the same currency name - Rupee, listen to the same music, enjoy the same movies, play the same sports and share similar problems of poverty, environment, education etc. Even after 50 years of partition and Islamic rule trying to separate from India, all that really divides us is the imaginary line we have drawn on ground. Pakistan has definitely failed to erase its India connection and in an attempt to erase it has overlooked its Central Asian-Connection. It could have improved its relations with Afghanistan and Iran introducing Arab, Persian, Turk in its education system. This would establish their cultural connection with the real Islam homelands, but Pakistani politicians were too busy playing their role in the Indian Sub-continent, hating India.

India on the other hand never denied its cultural connection with Islam. We still hoist our national flag on the Red Fort, once the Mughal capital. We enjoy the Sufi music and Qauvalis. The contribution of Mughals to Indian classical music (vocal and instruments), art, architecture and literature is tremendous! The beauty of India is it's all absorbing society.

Pakistan: A nation for the purest of muslims

Pakistan literally means the land for the pure. Two conditions had to be satisfied in Pakistan: 1. A Pakistani should be a pure muslim following all that the religion demands, 2. A Pakistani should try to get as non-Indian as he can.

Jinnah wanted a Pakistan for the muslims but in his address to Pakistan in 1947, he talked about a secular Pakistan. He said: "If we want to make this great State of Pakistan happy and prosperous we should wholly and solely concentrate on the well-being of the people, and especially of the masses and the poor... you are free- you are free to go to your temples mosques or any other place of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion, caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the state... in due course of time Hindus will cease to be Hindus and Muslims will cease to Muslims- not in a religious sense for that is the personal faith of an individual- but in a political sense as citizens of one state". If Pakistan was formed as a muslim country, this sttement shook the very foundations of it. Obviously the citizens did not share the vision, and still cling to islam.

The problem with Islam is that it does not talk about any political system. It is a religion and has some rules and laws for society but nothing for 'how to rule the society'. The way Mughal dynasties functioned was that the Sultan was in total control of the empire with his control of the army and the mullahs gave religious guidance for laws and rules but the Sultan always had the final word. In Pakistan, it was expected that if everyone is a true follower of Islam all other problems would take care of themselves. But, obviously this did not happen. With time Pakistan became an example of the Mughal structure, failing democracy. Islam was after all not a solution to all their problems. But, every time they failed, they returned to islam believing that the short coming was in their faith in Islam and not in Islam itself. They tried to become more and more religious to achieve their goals. The army became rich and powerful while common man was left to only carry the burden of islam. More madrases were opened, islamic laws were imposed, education system was modified which later only fueled militancy; militancy that was beyond the control of the democratic government.

Pakistan has failed because of India

Pakistan was to be the land for the purest, the land for the best of Muslims. Propaganda had engraved in the minds of average Pakistanis that one Pakistani soldier was enough for three Indian soldiers. Entire Pakistan was proud of this!
After losing three battles with India however this belief was shattered. For each of their problems Pakistan blamed two things: 1. their shoft conings in following islam, 2. India. By capturing Kashmir, India wanted to build dams on the rivers like Sindhu and Jhelum. This would destroy Pakistan and hence it was the duty of every Pakistani to capture Kashmir. It was publicised by the Pakistan Army that Indian agents are trying to destabilize Pakistan from within. India is attempting to exploit the ethnic and religious differences in Pakistan to start separatist movements. Indian is increasing its defence expenses and creating better missiles and nuclear weapons forcing Pakistan into a war. All this propaganda along with the inherent hate for India and the Mughal ideology fueled terrorism and militant activities. The Army and the core religious education centers provided an favourable atmosphere. All the resources, all the energy, all thinking was channelized towards destroying India. Other problems were too small to address.

India on the other hand kept becoming stronger in all fields; It was a stronger democracy, stronger economy, stronger military and a stronger society. Pakistan has failed as a state, and Pakistan has failed because of India, because of its hate for India!

अखंड भारत revisited

After reflecting on the previous article and the अखंड भारत concept, I had to revisit the idea and make changes to it. First of all, I realized how difficult and impracticle the solution was. Secondly it is impossible to undo what has happened to the map of South Asia, the only thing that can erase the lines is a war and that is definitely something that we want to avoid through this proposed integartion. Each of the countries concerned has their own problems to tackle. As it is, it's a huge task to manage themselves and working for eachother is probably the last item in the list.

However I couldn't stop thinking about a solution to uniting the peoples of South Asia... and SAARC seemed to be the right starting point. With 1/10 th of the world population united towards constructive goals, in one of the most resource rich regions in the world, economic, social and cultural developments will know no bounds! I searched through media and the SAARC website to find that although the Association is alive the activities and meetings look like they are just satisfying formality. If we expect the organization to do something, we need to give it some authority. Responsibility without authority is meaningless. SAARC should have a political and miltary influence in the region. India should probably contribute more towards such military alliances than sending troops in United Nations Security Force. Uncontrolled terrorism accross borders can be tackled with greater ease through the SAARC Security Force! Trade and economic rules and regulations should go through the organization to give it political powers. The nations will then have obligations towards SAARC objectives.

Just one note, I couldn't help but notice how US and Europen countries immediately requested "Observer" status in the organization; Iran, China, Korea followed. I am sure the EU wouldn't have tolerated any such "Observers" in their affairs.