Pak Tea House » Economy » ECONOMICS AND SECULARISM

ECONOMICS AND SECULARISM

August 13th, 2012 | 66 Comments

By Ayusyha Khanna:

I recently read an article in a Pakistani newspaper (The Express Tribune) that Moody had downgraded the Pakistani economy from B3 to Caa1 and that this came as a surprise to most analysts considering that the economy was doing marginally better than some time back. They did not downgrade the economy then, so why are they then doing it now? That seemed to be the question that was puzzling most economists and analysts of Pakistan.

Several readers had suggested reasons for why the economy was downgraded. Most spoke about the War on Terror that has severely compromised the stability of the Pakistani society, which it undoubtedly has. Others spoke of an investment sentiment that was lacking and another spoke of the ills of democracy and prescribed a return to dictatorships and so on.

Yet I think that as far as a diagnosis of the issue and as far as Pakistan is concerned, it would do well to go to the crux of the situation. The most basic requirement for any economy is that it needs a certain atmosphere that can nurture it. That atmosphere is peace. Peace is the most basic necessity for any economy and no economy in the annals of world history has done well when peace is compromised. Peace is the primary issue and all others are subject to its presence. So when I read the article I really did get the feeling that most readers were missing a point.

Peace of course is of two generic kinds. Peace that is internal and peace with different countries. Internal peace would mean a civil society wherein different religious, ethnic and linguistic groups are at peace with each other by and large. This is the first prerequisite for a healthy economy. The problem however is that in Pakistan’s case, the civil society has always been troubled. The period in which the Pakistani economy performed well was in the 60’s. This period is termed as the golden period for Pakistan’s economy. In the 50’s the economy was sluggish and after that stellar performance in the 60’s, the economy started slowing down the 70’s and 80’s and by the 90’s the economy was in a mess.

So the only time that the economy did well was under secular Ayub Khan who did not tolerate victimization of minorities. Sandhurst educated Ayub even attempted to remove the ‘Islamic’ from the Islamic republic of Pakistan but despite being a dictator he was unable to implement this for a long period of time. This period of internal peace in Pakistan coupled with intelligent industrialization decisions on the part of Ayub Khan were important reasons for the growth rate of the economy. During the 1965 war between India and Pakistan, the growth slowed, but picked up quickly again after that. The loss of East Pakistan was a severe blow to the economy as that was where all the jute which grown which was a major export product. From then on, the economy kept sliding to a point where in the 90’s, things were quite close to a crisis.

In the backdrop of all this, the theory that I have been very interested in exploring is the link between a good economy and secularism and the correlation therein. These two do not seem to be directly linked at first glance. However a closer look will reveal that they have more to do with each other than previously thought. In my opinion, the government of a country cannot align itself with a certain religious philosophy and yet see a stable and dynamic civil society. Any government that does so spawns an inherently flawed structure. The reason is that in a country where the government has aligned itself with a certain religious ideology, the people who subscribe with the government ideology will automatically be favoured above the rest. They will then be the primary citizens of the country. Consequently, any people who do not subscribe to the government ideology will be secondary citizens who are in tune with the state. Now when such a paradigm exists, the legislature is going to favour the primary citizens in policy making and discriminate against the secondary citizens. This further starts a process of discrimination between the state and the primary citizens on the one hand and the secondary citizens on the other. In Pakistan’s case, the primary citizens, thanks to the efforts of Abu Ala Maudoodi and his ilk, are Sunni Muslims. Everyone else constitutes the part of secondary citizens.

In the immediate aftermath of 1947, the secondary citizens were Sikhs and Hindus. What happens in this process is that when a group is discriminated against to such an extent that they are either exterminated or converted, the divisive attitude among the proletariat and the government does not get satiated just because the targeted groups did not exist anymore. It simply looks for another group to discriminate against. This is the inherent flaw of a government that is based on a certain religious ideology. The process of creating a more homogeneous society does not end and this spirals into a vicious cycle of violence since the divisive attitude that the religious alignment of the government creates, looks for a new group to target once the originally targeted groups are exterminated. This is why the next group to be targeted was the Ahmedias. Now Sufis are being targeted along with Shias. This discriminatory attitude seeks to create an increasingly homogeneous society from an existing heterogeneous one. This is why religious alignment of a government is inherently flawed. Secularism on the other hand believes in inclusiveness. So on the one hand is an ideology that is inherently divisive and on the other hand there is secularism which is based on inclusiveness. with the former ideology, differences will continue to be created either linguistic, ethnic or religious to discriminate againstbecause the state is aligned in one direction whereas in the latter, the state is not aligned in any direction which leads This is why I feel that any government that is religiously aligned cannot see lasting peace among it’s civil society.

Now we come back to the economy. As has been made clear earlier, a healthy economy needs a healthy environment of peace. But a country where the government is aligned to a particular religious ideology and yet is diverse ( as Pakistan certainly is) cannot have a peaceful society for the reasons explained. Thus the first anodyne for a healthy growing Pakistani economy is secularism on the part of the government and a reflection of that in every sphere including the judiciary and the legislature. All the countries in the world that are doing well or have done well in the past from an economic perspective are countries that do not have a religious philosophy that the government aligns itself with. All the countries that are big economies today are secular. China, the fastest rising economy in the world is secular and so is India which is the second fastest growing economy (recent sluggishness in both notwithstanding). Turkey, a secular country has some of the best prospects that any country has as far as her economy is concerned and Turkey is famous for its secularism. This is true of all the Muslims countries in the world because not only does secularism usher the primary requirement which is peace, but it also provides a climate for holistic education which is another prerequisite in these times for the amelioration of an economy. Secondary measures like improving production to reduce the fiscal deficit, curbing inflation, cutting interest rates, managing the trade deficit, reducing debt, improving infrastructureetc. can come only once the right environment is created.

So if there is then a correlation with the performance of an economy and secularism, then talking about other secondary issues that affect the Pakistani economy will not avail it. This should be incentive enough. The incentives for secularism are many and i am doing my small but in raising a voice for it in Pakistan. If Pakistan truly wants to realize its potential as far as economic performance is concerned, then it seems that the first thing that it must do is to adopt secularism to create an atmosphere of peace which can then further nurture the aspirations of 180million people. Secularism is the right way forward for peace and education. but somehow if the economy is linked to it, then people seem to sit up and pay attention. And for Pakistan now, it is time to do just that.

Written by gstechlive

Filed under: Economy · Tags: government, Pakistan, peace, religious

66 Responses to "ECONOMICS AND SECULARISM"

Mythbuster says:

August 15, 2012 at 8:00 am

”Blasphemy law should remain……”
.
Didn’t I warn you subjects like secularism are out of your league
tajender says:

August 15, 2012 at 8:22 am

Didn’t I warn you subjects like secularism are out of your league

in indian and hindu concept,it is another fraud.
kaalchakra says:

August 15, 2012 at 9:53 am

MB

That sort of argument is frequently advanced, not that I would make it.
vinayak purohit says:

August 15, 2012 at 12:21 pm

PRESENT SITUATION OF MUSLIMS IN GUJRAT INDIA,

Despite the continued ghettoisation of Muslims in a polarised Gujarat, the Muslim community in the state has through sheer hard work shown some advances in education and wealth generation. The denial of justice to the victims of the 2002 Gujarat pogroms, despite strenuous efforts by civil society activists and interventions by the higher judiciary, remains a major issue for the community.
J S Bandukwala (drbandukwala@yahoo.co.in) had taught physics at MS University, Baroda.
The Gujarat Muslim population is around 5.5 million, constituting about 10% of the state’s population. The figures are lower than that of states like Assam (31%), West Bengal and Kerala (25%), Uttar Pradesh (18.5%) and Bihar (17%). Yet the spread of jamaats is most unusual. This is one state where Shia communities, though small in number, have played a vital part in the country. Ithna Ishri Shias are mostly concentrated around Bhavnagar. Though small in number, it was from this community that someone as tall a leader as Mohammad Ali Jinnah emerged. The numbers of the Aga Khan Khojas are equally small, but Azim Premji, the richest Indian Muslim belongs to this community. Similarly, the Dawoodi Bohras number around 0.5 million in Gujarat, but they are highly educated and belong to the upper middle and rich classes. Among the Sunnis, the Memons were the wealthy elite in Saurashtra a hundred years ago. One of them – Dada Abdullah – sponsored the South Africa trip of a young lawyer, who later came to be known as the Mahatma. Similarly another Memon, Abdul Habib Marfani, who had business connections in Rangoon, financed the Indian National Army of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, who later, out of gratitude, termed him “Sevak-e-Hind”.
But following Partition these rich and highly educated Muslims migrated from Gujarat, mostly to Pakistan or to western countries. Those who remained were poor and mostly illiterate. The leadership of these communities passed easily into the hands of the ulema, which only compounded the problems of the community. To add to their plight, being a border state, so close to Karachi in Pakistan, a reverse migration also occurred, sharply increasing the communal consciousness of all people in Gujarat. Other than those close to Gandhi and his politics, the political leadership within the state was not sympathetic to Gujarati Muslims. The conditions were ripe for the growth of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in the state. It cleverly used this communal polarisation to unite a large section of the Hindus against Muslims. Oddly, when the country was celebrating Gandhi’s birth centenary, and Badshah Khan (Khan Abdul Ghafoor Khan) was in Gujarat, there were communal riots in the state. Muslims paid a heavy price, as the police, the media, intellectuals and top businessmen collaborated with the government in the whitewashing of or giving a spin on the rapes, killings and destruction in Muslim localities.
This process of polarisation and communalisation continued over the next 33 years, with brief interludes of peace and stability. Gujarat became a fortress of the saffron forces. No wonder top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) including Atal Behari Vajpayee and L K Advani preferred to contest parliamentary elections from Gujarat, as the urban seats were very safe for them. Even the Gandhian movement, with a few honourable exceptions, began to tilt towards the RSS.
The year 2002 was a structural break for the Muslims in the state. We, the orphans of Partition, suffered severe brutalities during the pogroms in that year. The brutality on our women, particularly the use of trishuls on their private parts, for rapes and killings will forever remain embedded in our consciousness. Note that these trishuls were blessed by the sants of the Swaminarayan sect in public, before distribution to activists and goons belonging to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal.
It was easy for everyone to see that the BJP government under the leadership of Chief Minister Narendra Modi and the RSS were complicit in the pogroms. The VHP president Ashok Singhal praised the killings as “the will of lord Ram”. The Gujarat VHP president, K K Shastri remorselessly admitted, “our boys did it”. The irony was that this person also occupied the post of president of the Gujarat Sahitya Parishad, the highest literary body in the state, a post once presided over by none other than Mahatma Gandhi. This just shows how far Gujarat has fallen as a state. No wonder there is no remorse, no sorrow for the inhuman behaviour that the state experienced during the 2002 pogroms. Rather, every effort has been directed to cover up these gory incidents and prevent justice from being done in Gujarat.
Focus for Muslims
For Gujarat Muslims, the past decade has been difficult, yet extremely fruitful. The Muslim focus has been essentially on four targets: justice for the victims of the 2002 pogroms, quality education for all Muslims, the growth of business and industry to generate wealth, and a constructive political intervention to ensure that Muslims are part of society in Gujarat.
The first purpose has been substantially achieved. For the first time so many non-Muslims have been sentenced to life imprisonment for the killings in 2002. Note that this has not happened in India earlier. Most of the guilty are landed Patels, who have an inexplicable hatred for Muslims. Hopefully these judgments will temper their hatred towards Muslims. The Muslims of Gujarat are deeply grateful to social activists like Teesta Setalvad, who have done yeoman service in trying to secure justice for our community. More important is the role of the Supreme Court, without whose keen concerns, justice would have been impossible in the state, as Chief Minister Narendra Modi was very successful in blunting the power of the lower judiciary and even the high court.
I mention here the manner in which the Nanavati Commission was totally compromised. This retired Supreme Court justice was asked to investigate the riots. Simultaneously, his two sons were appointed as special government prosecutors. This raises the question as to whether Nanavati has done everything possible to protect Modi.
The chances are his final report will never see the light of day, and the commission will last as long as Nanavati lives, and then just fold up. Incidentally the other worthy judge Akshay Mehta won his position by granting bail to the notorious Babu Bajrangi, so that he did not have to spend a single day in jail. This butcher of Naroda Patiya allegedly slashed the pregnant Kausar Banu to death. He was said to then have used a sword to kill and lift the unborn child, proclaiming that he felt like Maharana Pratap. It is to the shame of Narendra Modi and Akshay Mehta that they are viewed as godfathers of Bajrangi.
Progress in the second issue of improvement in the quality of education is remarkable. Until 2002, secular education, particularly for girls, was a low priority for Muslims. Darul Ulooms, the equivalent of a university, were everywhere. South Gujarat had 23 Darul Ulooms, as against just three colleges (that too teaching arts and commerce). Following the incidents of 2002, the community mindset changed totally. Muslims realised that they can never cope with the rise of Hindutva, except with the highest level of education for their children. This decade saw a sharp rise of Muslim schools from 250 to about 700. Zidni Ilma Charitable Trust, a Vadodara-based-body focused on quality education, is currently sponsoring 60 medical and 150 degree engineering students from poor and lower middle class families. These are students who in the pre-2002 period would have never gone to a professional college, due to high costs and also the views of the community. A greater satisfaction is the large increase in girls with excellent academic performance. The community is poised to have a good future. But it pains that the level of education among boys has not risen to the same extent. One needs to question as to why is that the case.
The community has focused on wealth generation. The bias against Muslims is so deep that it is difficult for them to get a government job in Gujarat. At a recent selection of about 980 mamlatdars and equivalent posts, only 24 Muslims were selected. Fortunately, this has led Muslims to seek self-employment. The pressure of competition has forced them to be the best in their fields. No wonder the best car or refrigerator mechanics, electricians or plumbers, fabrication or sofa cover specialists are Muslims. Even in high-skill jobs, Muslims are making a mark. Few know that a defence specialist in radioactive components is a Gujarati Muslim. Nationalised banks have started to open up branches in Muslim areas. Yet the bias persists. While Muslim contribution to bank deposits is about 12% of the total (higher than their proportion in the population), loan disbursals to them are only to the tune of 2.6% of the overall loans. There are no top Gujarati Muslim-led corporates or big companies. Those who have succeeded in industry like Azim Premji or Habil Khorakiwala of Wockhardt have migrated to other states.
But none can deny the wealth being generated within the community. This is reflected in larger and posher housing societies that were unknown just 10 years ago. Well-structured mosques have also been constructed by the community in many places.
Ghettoisation
The flip side is the ghettoisation that plagues all Muslim localities in Gujarat. The fear of riots as well as the refusal of non-Muslims to sell real estate to Muslims, has forced the latter into limited areas in every city. There is a sharp rise in population, but with no place for expansion of living spaces. To make matters ugly, the Modi government has deliberately divided Muslim areas into different municipal constituencies, so that a city like Vadodara does not have the possibility of a corporator being elected from the Muslim community. This has resulted in the absence of a voice in the civic bodies that can articulate necessities in the supply of water, road maintenance, garbage removal or street lighting in Muslim-dominated areas. It is sad that once we drive from a Hindu area to a Muslim area, suddenly even the air appears to stink, the roads are bad, and lighting is poor. Water supply per capita has gone down sharply in these areas. No wonder all Muslim areas are ghettos. Yet I am confident that with the increasing wealth distribution, Muslims will convert these ghettos into liveable places.
Finally we cannot ignore political factors. I have believed that Muslims should avoid contesting in elections, as communal polarisation makes it difficult for their respective parties or outfits to win. But Muslims must vote. They must join political parties and express their views as honestly and fearlessly as possible. At the same time let there be no illusions. The sight of mullahs offering their caps to Narendra Modi, or in one case even touching his feet, were plainly disgusting. I wish I could persuade the Bohra jamaat leaders to move away from such close identification with Modi. After all, the Bohra Syedna claims spiritual descent from Hazrat Ali and Hazrat Husain. Both gave their lives fighting the forces of evil. They never compromised with the truth.
krash says:

August 15, 2012 at 8:13 pm

Well, in that case, Dubai’s experience reinforces the original point. It is not secularism per se that leads to prosperity. It is economic freedom.
krash says:

August 15, 2012 at 8:18 pm

Also, Dubai may not be very secular on an absolute scale. But,my point is that given 2 societies of similar background, the one with more economic freedom will be relatively more secular.
tajender says:

August 15, 2012 at 8:20 pm

krash,secularism is jewish fraud.it has nothing to do with properity.state should run on reason ot on religion or secularism.u have read the secular fraud of india,where ghandhi was born.
Mythbuster says:

August 15, 2012 at 8:22 pm

Krash:
One has to be careful using the Gulf example to draw broad conclusions.
Before oil was struck the entire area was a back water. Dubai has diversified its economy more than others though it is unclear how much is a stand alone growth versus being able to leverage its postion in the oil rich regin and emirate.
Notice how inspite of multi pronged effort over decades and with tons of money thrown in, the entire region is unable to sustain itself without the expatriates….
tajender says:

August 15, 2012 at 8:47 pm

Notice how inspite of multi pronged effort over decades and with tons of money thrown in, the entire region is unable to sustain itself without the expatriates

days of expats are finishing.american and european nri have robbed india,while expats working in muslim countries helped india by remmitting 45billions per year.
ahem says:

August 15, 2012 at 9:22 pm

to tajender

Arabs did not generate any money or wealth. It was generated by the westerners who discovered petroleum and made it useful. Arabs are only generating genocide, mahem and fascism and exporting it. That is arab “genious”. Arabs got money through blackmail, not through honest intelligent work.
Mythbuster says:

August 15, 2012 at 10:38 pm

Krash:
“But, my point is that given 2 societies of similar background, the one with more economic freedom will be relatively more secular….”
.
Of course that is true, as the demise of command economies and the apparent success of capitalism showed in the 20th century.
Economic freedom is a must, no question but that is not enough. IMHO there are three components necessary for growth:
a) A level playing field
b) Political Stability
c) A rule of just and transparent law
Whenever those conditions were met, whether it was in Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Israel or Western Europe, there was economic progress (along with social and intellectual one).
A level playing field requires no one games the system either in the name of the government (which comes under what you called economic freedom), ideology ethnicity, religion or region.
Political stability seems obvious. Secular societies are more stable since it takes away this one factor for social turmoil and also provides for a level playing ground.
A rule of just and transparent law is obvious also for someone to plan and invest for the long term.
In addition to this a healthy middle class is important; it provides more stability; so is an educated society, one that comes from freedom from religious or other dogma. So secular societies does have an indirect advantage for certain not so obvious reasons.
In terms of Pakistan its stability is an important factor; it eludes it internally due to unequal society and externally due to its India obsession. It must be obvious to all except the blind that it can either have stability and hence growth or it can have its Kashmir obsession; not both.
Mythbuster says:

August 15, 2012 at 11:26 pm

Krash:
.
But,my point is that given 2 societies of similar background, the one with more economic freedom will be relatively more secular.
.
My earlier separate post was accidently posted along with above.
My reply to the above point is that it is hard to control all the variables thus hard to argue what is a similar background. If we are talking of geopolitical and cultural then UAE and the KSA are quiet similar. Though they are economically similar they have different degrees of progress on the secular scale. A converse example is that of Singapore, though economically in the same league as both it is completely secular.
Because of these limited examples I am having a hard time seeing a correlation that you suggest…
Fingolfin says:

August 16, 2012 at 7:44 am

Kaalchakra

really?! do you really think that peace and secularism do not go together? or that secularism does not imply peace? well i really do not know how to respond to that.
i think that you and i believe in different interpretations of secularism. if an ideology is inclusive, it’s presence does mean peace. does not really require a genius to connect the dots.
you say that you do not think that secularism by itself is responsible, rather you think that the important factors that help an economy go along with secularism. well that is just not true. in as much as secularism is a state of the mind like everything else, it’s manifestations on every level help create a constantly ameliorating society. what are the aspects of the economy that you are talking about that “go along” with secularism? education? openness to ideas from any source? willingness to involve ‘anyone’ regardless of an individuals faith so as to be able to employ the best and brightest no matter what their inclinations might be? are these aspects that just happen to go along with secularism by chance or are they a direct manifestation and result of it? is secularism not all of these things and not detached from them as if it were some sort of ethereal other worldly idea?
like i said in my earlier post, there are many reasons for an economy to do well. but lack of secularism is enough to scuttle it.
on the other hand, like Drona mentioned earlier, the issue of Pakistan will not come by just naming the country a “secular republic”. the naming has to be the climax of a process which starts with every individuals perception towards inclusiveness and people need to lend their voice for it.
Fingolfin says:

August 16, 2012 at 7:54 am

MB
that is exactly what i was suggesting. the England Spain example was very pertinent.
when you said that there are many reason for an economy to do well but intolerance will alone be enough to wreck it, then that is exactly what i am saying and so is this article.
on the other hand, i am not sure that demanding secularism for the sake of a prosperous economy is so much of a good thing. it is a charlatans secularism with selfish interest, but the link is undeniable and in fact obvious.
so for example if all of Pakistan suddenly see’s this and says that ‘lets be secular so that we can have a great economy’ will not work. if Pakistan says ‘lets be secular because secularism is the best ideology’ and then a good economy follows, is the order if things.
Mohan says:

August 16, 2012 at 12:13 pm

The most common features of Sharia the common man knows are – I am not an expert on this, please correct me if I am wrong – Alcohal not
allowed, pork not allowed, places of worship of non muslims not allowed and punishments like beheading, stone to death, cutting of hands and lashing.
Alcohal and pork are officially available. Places of worship like
Hindu temples, Churches and Gurdawars are there in Dubai, however
openly propogating of religion is not allowed. Never heard of anyone
getting punished as mentioned above. Since about ten years
expatriats have been allowed to own a property in Dubai, and there is also complete economic freedom.
Rex Minor says:

August 20, 2012 at 10:44 pm

Why make so much fuss about Moody, which sometimes acts in accordance to its moods. Moody makes money from the investors. The European Govts want to have a Moody equvalent institution but have not yet realised it. Here is my tip for the sound investor who does not want to take a high risk.
Pakistan is a great risk as long as its leader fortunes in switzerland remain undisclosed. USA is a much bigger risk for inflation and could eat away any returns in no time as long as the treasury keeps printing unearned bank notes. major investors in USA economy such as the Chinese and the Saudis are expecting to stay stranded one day with the dollars which are unlikely to be used as toilet rolls.

Invest in Euro and preferably in germany, where people are born with golden hands and super innovative brains which is going to dominate the 2st century. Cinese to become the manufacturing chief and India perhaps in services, though its uncontrolled population growth could become a problem.

Rex Minor

PS political stability and all other factors have a very small impact since most investors take a short term view.