Pak Tea House » Activism » Saving a drowning country needs an ideological shift
Saving a drowning country needs an ideological shift
Nasima Zehra Awan’s passionate post for the Pak Tea House
“You are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques……..Religion is not the business of the State”. Thus spoke Jinnah, whilst addressing the Constituent Assembly on August 11, 1947.
Sixty three years later, this is what our honorable Chief Justice has to say: “Parliament with Unlimited Powers can secularize state” (Source: DAWN,Monday August 16, 2010)
Won’t that be a good thing, judge saheb!
At a time when our country is intellectually and morally bankrupt because of its moorings as a national security state built on the toxic teachings of Maududi, isn’t secularism the way to get out of this mess. Instead of spending tens of billions to support a failed national security state, “a fortress of Islam” if you will, wouldn’t Pakistan have been better off with sustained representative governments that could have gone past the Kalabagh dam issue and built provincial consensus for half a dozen other dams that could have greatly reduced
the current catastrophe.
Unfortunately for Pakistan, this Judiciary, like most of its predecessors follows the ethos of the bureaucracy-security establishment, not the parliament or gasp, the principles of law and constitutionalism. That would entail that
they ditch the prevailing sentiment, nay, control of Jamaat Islami at all the Bar Councils and actually allow the elected representatives of the people to draft and discuss legislation that would make Pakistan a functional state in the 21st century, not an faux Ommayad Caliphate of the 8th century!
The Judges and their media supporters and urban elite cheerleaders are obsessed with going after the elected leaders of one party and folk singers; the two actually have the same political powers in Pakistan today. The dare not go
after Jihadi sectarian leaders who have rendered Pakistan into a wasteland. The damages incurred by these Jihadis; thousands of Pakistanis killed including the targeting of professionals belonging to minority sects and religions, the tens of billions of destroyed property and lost investment is incalculable. These are the fruits that the State of Pakistan, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan has reaped by constructing itself in the vision of Maududi and Qutb.
However, in the chauvinist and elitest debates about corruption, there is NO mention of the billions that are taken at every budget without audit, the tens of billions taken from foreign powers who are subsequently vilified by the same and the trillions that are made by using the country as a corporate and real estate business entity. After all, how will this debate start while we continuously see ourselves not as a modern, democratic and secular state but as the
realization of the Islamist neurosis of failed ideologues who see a warped view of religion and not shared human values, as the basis for a functional society.In a theocratic construct, such debates are virtually impossible as they go against the core those who have alloted themselves the task of protecting an ideological state. Such a state cannot accept the views of secular nationalists
who vote for the ANP, PPP and BNP. The dominant narrative of the State that has been constructed since Partition, and which has clearly served us so well since then, cannot be challenged unless Pakistan moves towards full secularism.
Today, the world is sick of our militant adventurism to the extant that it has affected their donations towards our flood relief efforts. They are wary that their donations will end up with Islamist militias who do not have the interests of humanity at heart and who continue to kill soldiers whose countries constitute the chief donors to Pakistan. The only way to salvage Pakistan is to ditch our legacy as a security state and invest all our resources into literally saving the country from drowning. A crucial step towards that is an empowered parliament whose progressive legislation is not continuously being derailed by a compromised and politicized judiciary that sees itself as the reincarnation of the Qazis of Banu Abbas, Banu Ommaya and Emperor Aurangzeb.
Like it or not, Hon. Chief Justice, we need to become a secular state and if parliament has taken the first tentative steps towards that direction in the 18th Amendment, good sense needs to prevail. A drowning Pakistan can no longer afford the mirage of “strategic depths” in Afghanistan and Kashmir. What it really needs is clean water and food for the 20 million who have been rendered homeless and for non-controversial dams in the future.
Filed under: Activism · Tags: floods, Islamism, jihd, Maududi, Maulana Maududi, nation state, National, Pakistan, policy, Qutub, secular, security, strategic
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PMA,
Thanks for your reply.
I take it that “outstanding disputes” is an euphemism for Kashmir, and if that is so, what if India decides that if resolving outstanding disputes mean giving up Kashmir, it will rather not resolve this dispute, then what?
Is what you advocate for Pakistan really the only way to proceed?
Bolivia celebrates a “Dia del Mar” ever since it lost access to the sea in the war with Chile in 1884(1884 not 1984). Armenia still has issues with Turkey due to the 1915 massacre. Deep scars & wounds to the lot of them. How many Armenians and Bolivians open donation boxes in their shops for irregular warfare?
I think the crux of the issue is, where do you strike a balance between a strong security state and a welfare state. Its a debate the Pakistanis have to engage. As an Indian, I am only interested in its ramifications on my country, and hence the questions.
Android Guy (August 23, 2010 at 8:25 pm):
I trust the officials on both sides are capable of setting the agenda for the talks. To answer your what if question: The alternative is ‘status quo’. And we know how ugly that could get.
About your second point: “where do you strike a balance between a strong security state and a welfare state”.
Actually that is the question I had initially put forward to my fellow Pakistanis many many posts ago on this board. The debate was intended among Pakistanis. But then as usual a whole bunch of Indians got into it for no reason and the subject got derailed like you can see.
Incidentally no Pakistanis, other than venting against everything under the sun, has come forward with a serious answer. As you have pointed out, the question remains.
ashu (August 23, 2010 at 7:46 pm):
Actually Gorki’s voice is voice of simplicity; voice of simple emotions. The gentleman thinks that ‘love’ will take care of all the complex and serious issues facing our two nations. This kind of talk is OK for the internet popularity. But the real life is much harder and cruel. I want no repeat of 1947.
Dear PMA Sahib:
I am sorry if you feel that I offended you by my post. I have always tried to convey me admiration of you as a person even as I have expressed my reservation for your views. I only started communicating with the educated Pakistanis after 26/11.
Judging from your earlier comments if appears that a portion of Pakistani intelligentsia still lives in a smug cocoon and feel it is business as usual but unlike them we Indians were seared by this one event in a way that the US was by 9/11 or by Pearl Harbor before. If you find my posts simplistic or irrelevant because of my poor writing style, it is no big deal but if your countrymen fail to understand the message behind them then we have a major calamity on our hands because for the Indian side, it is an existential crisis; how do you live with a paranoid and a bitter neighbor who would not leave you well alone?
That was one question that I asked of you when you couched it in a language of doctrine and defense strategies. I am not a military man and may be lack the training needed to understand you but I find it beyond comprehension how a constant needling of a larger nuclear armed neighbor can lead to ‘security’.
Whether the Jihadists are funded by the ordinary man on the street or not, the fact remains that an influential core of Pakistani military and hawkish civilian leadership has been very supportive of that.
Your words sounded at the best stating that the onus for all that is on India; well let me try to state my stand on this it clearly and briefly below.
I believe it is the stand of a majority of not only the Indians but also of the civilized world and a large number of people in Pakistan:
1. The onus for stopping that entire jihadism is squarely on those who have supported it in the past and even now find it hard to condemn them as murderers.
2. That breeding such activity in Pakistan can precipitate a nuclear war in our region at the worst but even at its best will destroy civil society in Pakistan.
You may feel am too emotional.
On the contrary I feel those supporting India Pakistan rivalry are on one big emotional trip; the quality of life in Pakistan will not change one bit even if India ceased to exist tomorrow but you are entitled to your views as I am to my optimism; only time will tell.
I agree that I don’t know you personally, only through the net; I still respect your learning and believe you are a decent person at heart.
One last thing; Gorki is indeed my name and everyone who knows me personally or professionally in our small corner of California knows me by that.
Regards.
NSA,
Interesting, that bit about Bolivia. There have been nations with a scar on their consciousness but not many have turned out as toxic as in South Asia.
PMA, thanks for your replies. I thought AZW and many others had answered the questions you had put forward.
Gorki (August 24, 2010 at 12:43 am):
Sir, first of all it is nice to know that Gorki is your real name. From here on I will address you as Dr. Gorki Sahab! I kinda thought that it might be your real name as many Punjabi names end with ‘ki’. I will put behind whatever personal comments each one of us have made in the past and start with a clean slate. I also think that you are a very decent man. Actually most Indians I have met in life are very decent mild mannered people.
About India-Pakistan relations. I don’t know which directions they will go. Our past history is not very encouraging. Your side is scarred by the terrorist attacks. Our side is scarred by the ongoing Indian occupation of Kashmir and shameful midwifery of 1971. Both sides are armed to the gills and busy maneuvering outside their own borders. I think it will all depend how the two respective governments handle these crisis. I was encouraged by the last ministerial level meeting but it went no where. Let us hope for the better. With many regards. PMA.
@Lal,
“As much as we empathise with you,and want you to win your battles for the benefit of pakistan,south asia and indeed the whole world,I hope you will understand that a realistic position from our part will be to be ready to face any eventuality,that the ‘divergant narrative’ may never become the mainstream.”
Lal, this is not the time to accept the status quo as that can likely lead to a nuclear holocaust between the two countries and one of the most ancient civilizations being wiped out. Both of Pakistan’s main political parties as well as other parties like the ANP want peace with India. My one advice to all the Indians who have participated in this debate is to realize that peace between India and Pakistan will cost the establishment tens of billions of dollars. It will benefit the region to the tune of peace and millions of lives saved and trillions of dollars of wealth earned between the two.
Please, for heavan’s sake, seperate the garrison establishment from Pakistan from the nation as represented by the government. They are 2 very divergent entities, where the former is holding the latter hostage. This debate should never be about scoring point but understanding the complexities involved and using that understanding towards working for a durable peace.
Already, as evidenced by the British Prime Minister’s remarks, this is happening on the international stage where the Government of Pakistan is being viewed as being on a different page than the security establishment which is still holding on to its Taliban assets. For the future of our region, it is important that India and the rest of the world continue to make that distinction even when the elected representatives, be they the PPP or PML N, are coerced into making jingoistic statements. Most Pakistanis are sick and tired of this perpetual standoff and are already coming to the realization that the real enemy resides within. The Indians who have participated on this forum, if they are doing so in good faith, should heed this.
NZA (August 24, 2010 at 12:30 pm):
Ms. Nasima Zehra Awan: I admire your clear thinking and analysis. You have very neatly divided Pakistan’s internal dynamics in to two camps. The good guys with white hats and the bad guys with black hats. “The garrison establishment – the real enemy” and……”The nation of Pakistan represented by the government”. “Two very divergent entities” and the two shall never meet. The good guys who “want peace with India” and the bad guys……well they are bad guys. Lets just leave it at that.
@PMA, black hats go so well with black coats and even better with black robes.
@PMA
“shameful midwifery of 1971.”
all some of us have been trying to say is that we should concentrate on trying to prevent any such rape in the future before we worry about any interfering midwives.
“very neatly divided Pakistan’s internal dynamics in to two camps”
the military is not only part of the country, it is part of the state of pakistan too. one’s failures reflect on the other. but, as a first step, we must decide what is the lesser evil: politicians breaking the law without being caught doing it or convicted through due process, or generals proudly ripping the law into shreds, in broad daylight, and never having to worry about ever facing a court of law? politicians who run to the generals to come and save them from themselves, or the generals who are more than happy to oblige? a military who happily oversteps the institutional boundaries set by the constitution (explicitly or otherwise),
or pols who are only concerned with having a place for their snouts at the trough than trying to upset the apple-cart?
there are no good guys and bad guys, in principle, i agree. but military dictatorship has been a big part of our history, and its causes and ongoing effects must form a proportionately central part of any objective analysis of our problems. these ‘effects’ are part of the analysis of not only our ability to have an objective debate about security vs welfare state but also the likelihood of our being able to implement what we decide as a result of such a debate.
bciv (August 24, 2010 at 6:20 pm):
My definition of ‘Pakistan Establishment’ is slightly different than that of Ms. Nasima Zehra Awan. I have watched the ‘Establishment’ from inside and from the outside and have not been able to distinguish one arm from the other. Generals, Politicians, Feudals, Judges, Bureaucrats, Industrialists…..they all collectively constitute what we have called ‘The Establishment’. They are all related to each other in their private family lives. They all look after each others interests. They all have raped the country (to borrow your phrase) collectively.
That is what happens outside of a western liberal democratic secular discourse. Outside of that it is all self interest, or God or the Army, or the Fascists, even the Maoists in some countries.
have not been able to distinguish one arm from the other. Generals, Politicians, Feudals, Judges, Bureaucrats, Industrialists
you obviously have been looking at the wrong kind of ‘arms’.
this is an oversimplification. there are too many exceptions for them to be able to prove anything.
gen. fazle haq was martial law administrator, governor, chief minister and drugs lord, all in one person. bhutto was made the (all too willing) gen sec of the muslim league by the same institution who hanged him as chairman ppp. even nawaz sharif has had a stay at attock fort, while generals yahya and mush never had to face any courts. it is no cartel of equals. some are clearly more equal than others.
@Hayyer
a rather insignificant example: even gen niazi went and joined the Jamiat Ulema e Islam (D) after returning home! not that he should have anything to fear about.
only democracy can start to have some minimal sharing of power, even if only once every five years in the beginning. but any real progress (evolution) in this regard can only take place once democracy rises above religion and ideology(ies) and other such bogeys and gimmicks. otherwise, people will continue to be fooled and fool themselves.