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The 65 years of paranoia: Is there anything to celebrate?
Raza Habib Raja
Some say that it was never the founder’s intention and consequently the entity when it materialized had no solid footings to begin. The political entity, which came into being on the fateful day of 1947 was born out of chaos, confusion and bloodshed. All of these constituted the birth environment of the country and resulted in a deep paranoia which has prevailed to this day. This environment was dominated by fear of a breakup and consequently the newly formed country lived its early years in constant insecurity. This insecurity was further enhanced due to lack of any powerful leadership and also due to virtual absence of institutional arrangements which are generally essential for keeping an ethnically diverse state cohesive.
Such institutional arrangements were not there for two reasons. First, Pakistan’s founding party Muslim League only became a mass party (that too is arguable whether it ever became one) at a very late stage and it did not have well entrenched roots in all the provinces of Pakistan. At least two provinces, namely NWFP (now Khyber Pukhtunkhawa ) and Baluchistan were less than eager to join the federation and in both Muslim League was relatively weak. The demand for Pakistan was not uniform and even Bengal and Sindh (the two provinces who had voted for it) had perhaps supported it as a means to greater provincial autonomy in the future. It is argued and with justification that one of the reasons as to why they voted for Pakistan was that they had assumed that they would be granted greater autonomy in Pakistan compared to India, as they shared at least the same religion with the other inhabitants.
Secondly and as mentioned earlier that Pakistan was not even what perhaps the founder himself had really wanted. A credible and a well-established narrative actually states that Pakistan had been thought of as a bargaining ploy to ensure a better representation for Muslims in a United India. However, the circumstances in the last days of British Raj did not shape up that way and the bargaining ploy instead materialized into a reality which perhaps no one was prepared for.
Pakistan thus came into being as a weak state characterized by constant fear of break up which due to its ethnical diversity was only going to worsen with time. In those early years, it was perhaps natural that country tried to over centralize and went for a very strong center with even stronger establishment institutions. But that was not all. In the absence of democratic traditions as well as mechanism (which Pakistan movement did not have), in order to resolve the issue of ethnical diversity in a rational way, the country also went for a host of supplementary measures to foster cohesion. Chief amongst those were stress on strengthening Islamic identity and whipping up fear of India.
Both these ideological tactics, political usage of Islam and fear/hatred of India, were used to “unite” a country that had come into this world virtually unprepared. These measures over the years were not gradually phased out but rather further enhanced.
Rather than try to build a nation through granting enough space to various ethnicities, we have just relied on centralization, political Islam and supplementing these two with fear and hatred of India. These tactics have not solved the issue of ethnic demands of greater autonomy but have created a bigoted schizophrenic mentality which hates minorities, fears diversity and looks for foreign conspiracies everywhere.
Centralization over the years has led to a state structure favoring Punjab and has deepened fissures in the polity. We are apparently united and in reality breaking apart. We created one unit to negate the population advantage of Bengalis, denied them their demand for greater autonomy and eventually conducted a bloody crackdown. We lost East Pakistan and instead of learning the lesson went back with a renewed vigor towards imposing more of “real” Islam.
Whipping up religion has made us bigoted and relegated us to nothing but a polity riddled with sectarian violence and mindless extremism. And yet we seek further solace in religion and get ourselves even more entangled. Today the world mistrusts us and the green passport has become a bane to its holders. Literally every major act of terrorism is traced back to Pakistan and yet we are unable to even recognize the linkage. Everything becomes either a grand conspiracy of our enemies or when the evidence is just too damning then a reaction to US atrocities.
The state cultivated fear of India though weakened in recent years (as the main enemy needed to “unite” Pakistan has been replaced by our friend of yesteryears, the United States) continues and we keep dreaming about Ghazwa Hind and feeding the big white elephant, the Pakistan army. As our neighbor zooms ahead in economic sphere, we lag behind still deeply engulfed in the paranoia that it wants to “conquer” Pakistan and undo partition. Frankly, now the fear is completely nonsensical and is actually an outcome of our misplaced image about ourselves. Who will like to takeover Pakistan with its so many social as well economic problems? Ironically today India’s interest is more likely to be a stable Pakistan not a weak Pakistan. And yet the threat is still needed to keep us together and to keep on feeding a large army.
Sixty five years have passed and today looking back, I ask frankly what is there to celebrate? In the failed state index of 2011 Pakistan ranked 12th.Only Afghanistan and Iraq rank higher among Asian countries. As a state we were placed in the category of “critical” and shared that category with completely war torn African and Asian countries. What we consider our achievements (such as nuclear arsenal), are actually the fears of the rest of the world. A recent Gallup survey revealed that nuclear arsenal is considered to be the most important achievement by most of the Pakistanis. Since insecurity has always been with us therefore even our perceived achievements are devices which can kill millions. The irony that actually it has not made us secure and we have ended up protecting the device, is totally lost on us. We have such misplaced priorities that sometimes I feel whether the entire nation has gone bonkers. We get agitated over drone attack which are supposed to kill the militants and yet silent when Hazara Shias are murdered by militants. As a nation, we do not have the basic morality to stand up for minorities. In fact we are not able to condemn monsters like Taliban even when they target the urban areas of Pakistan.
Our heroes are gutter minded scientists like Doctor Abdul Qadeer Khan who actually stole the technology from the other countries to build the bomb and subsequently sold the parts to rogue states of the world. And add to it his shameless bigoted views against minorities. And that person which ideally should have been hated even in “nationalist” and rightwing sense is a revered figure. And while we esteem a creep like him, the real hero, Pakistan’s only Nobel Laureate, Dr. Abdul Salam is virtually ignored just because of his Ahmedi faith.
Our Judiciary instead of delivering justice to ordinary man is more concerned about Katrina’s legs shown on the TV, once again showing the role of religion in almost every aspect of life. And yet despite so called anti vulgarity slogans, Pakistan continues to be the global leader in porn downloads!
We are not a nation but a joke and riddled with contradictions and will remain so unless we get rid of that paranoia which has existed from the inception of this country. We need to stop fearing diversity and plurality. The main source of all the problems is this fear that ethnic diversity if allowed to form political expression will break up Pakistan and to tackle this our establishment over the years has adopted measures.
Today on the eve of Pakistan’s 65th birthday, I do not want to say “Happy Birthday Pakistan” but rather advise “Think Pakistan”.
Filed under: Uncategorized · Tags: fear, India, Pakistan, Raza Habib Raja
135 Responses to "The 65 years of paranoia: Is there anything to celebrate?"
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- Ex-Paki
said Maggu,
Great definition of faith. - Ex-Paki said Aren’t we all human beings before anything e...
- Maggu
said NDELHI: REXIE is supporting himself by begging wel... - AbraHarami Snake Oil Baniye
said http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedd... - AbraHarami Snake Oil Baniye said Romans Maroed MohMad of Kriya Yogi Yeshu (Jesus) t...
- AbraHarami Snake Oil Baniye said “The Greek symbol of Healing is the same as...
- Ndelhi said Rex,
I know this happened in your family the momen...
- tajender
said to G. Ali………..
“Hindu” is a word that came into ex... - kaalchakra
said Rex
You are absolutely right. The key to turning a... - Rex Minor
said NDelhi,
Acquiring white skin has a simple recipe;...
Kaal
We can make one in USA.
Rhr
You need to give us some space to talk off topic.
Rhr
Many times off topic talks have given birth to the topics of PTH articles. Off-topic space is very important .
Unless peace and tranquility become products, modern societies will not buy them. Yoga is an example.
Vijay Goel,
let me be the makhi. One can always write nice words about any ideology, if one concentrates only on the positive. But negative aspects of an ideology may be more than the positives to offset the positives, and that ultimately decides if the ideology is desirable or not!
.
So I give you zero points due to your logical fallacy!
MTG,
‘ Unless peace and tranquility become products, modern societies will not buy them. Yoga is an example’
A great thought, I must say.
@ Raj Too
You are doing a Mamta in Pak tea house
here we go another Maoist
pssssssssssssssst. Me!!!
Rajtoo, Gr8, Love me or hate me but don’t ignore me !!
Muslims like to compare themselves with jews under nazism. That is their trick and many non-muslims get moved by it.
Jinnah gave us the compactest description of fascism “faith, unity, discipline” – especially when the faith is islam.
This fascism has been genociding non-muslims since 1400 years starting from Madinah, where the jews were exterminated.
And now the muslims want to fool us into thinking that they are today like the jews under nazis.
If they get away with this lie then the non-muslims will have to face more genocides.
Vijay Goel wrote:
I don’t need to go to extremes to notice you! Don’t worry!
.
BTW, if you hear of those amok shooters who go and spray bullets on innocents, they too believe in the same credo! They can’t stand being ignored!
kamath jee,yoga is a great hindu art of deceiving.though hindus are everready to be cheated and deceived.it is a waste of time and money.morning brisk walk is far better than this.it is king of all excersizes.
cheaters make money through this.ramdeo(worth 1100crores,may go to jail soon for robbing india by swallowing income tax,also called salwar wale baba)and sree sree(who runs his racket fro banglore)made fortune out of this.
one of my brhmn wife wasted her 2 years in spite of advise she was giving pain to her bones.
Muslims like to compare themselves with jews,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
ahem last beef party was very succesful,next one is fixed at shivajee park mumbai on 28th of this month u are coordially invited.
This fascism has been genociding non-muslims…..
where
Rajtoo,
I thought you went about proclaiming Indic this and Indic that. What is that Vijay Goel that is not what you were espousing all over the boards?
Tajinder,
Will your Ammi be there too?
janab Goel Ji
Please check with the Allah of Muhamad who address to the people on basis of their beliefs. When Allah of Muhamad Itself discriminate using Muhamad as a standard of social, spitual, cultural Judgement then why not expect mango Abdul to indulge in same lack of reasoning.
Indians lost 80-100 Millions necks at the alter of Islam. These necks were peacefully and equally removed from the old, women, children and young indians so Islamic peace can prevail. To get a real glimpse of islami’s effect, add the removal of intellect and humane behaviour from few hundred milions more. Proof of this is in current Musalmans behaviour in all over India . The desecration of national and civilizational symbols should open every indian’s eyes that tehse folks dont belong here to us in our country,land and soil. Pakistan is Isalm and Islam is Pakistan and all those who prefer Islam over India or share it equaly with Indian identity need to be sent to Pakistan who was made on Indian land for them.
Indians lost 80-100 Millions necks at the alter of Islam……………………………………………………………………….sachboul.
where, in rss shakhas.lie is their staple food.90% of invaders were resisted by then muslim rulers.zhoot kee bhi koi hoti hai hadd.u are infected to a disease called brhmnsm.
@ Tajender
Just two questions and answer honestly (if possible for you)
1. Have you read the article and essence it carries?
2. Were you hurt personally by a Bramhin, it seems sometimes that someone has kicked your butt badly.
pp81,
dont loose ur temper.i asked simple question.where 80-100 million people were killed by muslims in india..did hindu rulers not killed millions in battlefields.all ur three epics are nothing but war stories.all ur bhagwans came for ethenic cleansing.it is only hindu gods which are loaded with deadly weapons.
so why not forget past.jinke ghar sheeshe ke hote hai woh doosron par pathar nahin phekte.u stop sachboul and other idiots who are taking religous views of everything instead of scientific.
rss shakhas mein zhoot padhatein.ur film and national media also spread lies and hatred.
pp81 it wasnt a kick!!!
romain says:
August 19, 2012 at 4:07 am
pp81 it wasnt a kick!!!
why he is paining.
Mohan,
Thanks.
@ Romain
got the essence, no need to inquire. Taj actually knows a lot about India ( might have forgotten his exact sanctuary aka- Agra or Ranchi)
@ Tajender
Do you know what for Agra (other than heritage buildings) and Ranchi famous for? Ohh sorry you know so much about India.
RHR
well done again. you have highlighted so much that need to be looked into.
although i often find it queer that people should chose independence day to vent and say that ‘why are we celebrating?’
we MUST do that the rest of the year, we must protest, but the independence that our two countries celebrate is of huge significance in terms of marking the day when we started taking things into our own hands. however badly.
but then again, if we are doing it all the year round, i suppose independence day makes the criticism all the more poignant.
well done again and awaiting you next one.
regards
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N5AOW3rUB4
Raza,
Some time back I said the the battle you are fighting is a long and hard one. To which you replied – which battle?
Here is a sign for things to come – just imagine –
http://tribune.com.pk/story/424516/religious-text-removed-from-ahmadis-shop-home-in-sheikhupura/
A good comment from tribune –
From
Suleiman Al Binali
Aug 19, 2012 – 2:59AM
Reply
It is odd to have all the blame for what is ill with Pakistan on one person – Zia. Fact of the matter is most of us Pakistanis are religous bigots at some level, the reason why all these laws including blasphemy laws are popular. And, that is not surprising. The starting point of our belief is that God has been specially revealed to us and us only through a single person who lived 1300 years ago. Naturally, anyone who does not follow this pure revealed path must be infidel and inferior. That exlusive (opposite of inclusive) nature of our religion is the root of all bigotry, jihad, and crimes against humanity that have existed since bin Qasim. So, let us not blame Zia who only articulated what society was already inclined to do and has done for centuries.
This is the article where the comment is posted –
http://tribune.com.pk/story/423864/in-praise-of-zia/#comments
http://youtu.be/9KwDFdevnyE
RHR writes well and writes to invite all those who are anti Pakistan, anti Islam and anti anything, to open up and bring out their indepth venom. Well done, Tajnder as usual shows his indepth knowledge of India and its ancient philosophy of dominating the next one.
RHR, you are too much of a political pundit who ignores the positive but thrives on negatives.
Pakistan was created to divide India; the religion divide was the causual factor. If the people f India and their leaders had asked for further divide based on language or caste system divide, the Brits were prepared to do so. Divide, divide and keep on dividing until there is nothing left to divide. You are lucky not to be a kashmiri and lucky not to be from the schedule caste nor a black south african who is just tasting the blood of his own folks which is far sweeter than the blood of whites nor belong to the Taliban group who for centuries find the blood of foreigners tastier than those of natives. You are Mr nobody, a maverick, whose loyalty is to no one but to yourself. This is a virtue, but tell us who in your view is the victim and who is the perpetrator?
Rex Minor
rex after ramazan is like tajender after a pork-and-beer party in Hyderabad. They praise each other as the biggest scholars of islam and hindu religions as they existed 1200 years ago. Only islamic fascism has increased/worsened since 1200 years.
PS
Dr Khan is not from the gutter, he is one of the greatest scientist of our times. He has stlolen nothing from anyone but was the first who devoted his entire professional life in Pakistan by holding seminars in for nuclear scientists from the Islamic lands for education and research in nuclear technology to serve the future human generations.
The scientist for your info, are interested in science and not in politics or sale of technologies with politucal agendas.
Dr Qadeer was fully exploited by pakistan political and military leaders.
Just a reminder, it was the allied powers which stole, confiscated scientists as well as the research documents from Germany which enabled them to become the nuclear powers as well as advance in rocketry.
rex is saying that “A stole from B hence muslims too have the right to steal from anyone”. That is the message/permission from their “glorious one-and-only” allah.
@RHR
STOP BLAMING ALL THE TIME/ SC HAS TAKEN NOTICE OF MANY CASES OF PUBLIC INTEREST WHEN THE EXECUTIVE FAILED N WHICH IS STILL FAILING IN CONDUCTING ITS DUTY/
IT”S THE IMPOSED AFGHAN WAR THAT IS MAINLY RESPONSIBLE FR PRRSENT SITU IN PAK
HERE
n Rising U.S. Military Death Toll, Signs of Changing Afghan ConflictIn a grim milestone in the fighting in Afghanistan, the United States military has reached 2,000 dead in the nearly 11-year-old conflict, based on an analysis of Department of Defense records. While it took nearly nine years for American forces to reach their first 1,000 dead in the war, the second 1,000 came in just 27 months, according to the analysis, a testament to the intensity of fighting prompted by President Obama’s decision to send 33,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in 2010, a policy known as the surge.Three out of four were white, 9 out of 10 were enlisted service members, and one out of two died in either Kandahar Province or Helmand Province in Taliban-dominated southern Afghanistan, according to the analysis. The average age of those killed was 26, and the dead were disproportionately Marines. Included in the special report are a list of the names of the 2,000 killed.Read More:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/22/us/war-in-afghanistan-claims-2000th-american-life.html?emc=na
to Akb
It is the muslim deceit and self-deceit that muslims are always innocent that is worsening the situation in Af-Pak.
If muslims take to the path of honesty (which is made de facto impossible by islam) then islam will collapse and the situation in Af-Pak will slowly improve. (Slowly, because the islam-caused dishonesty and damage are so deep-rooted that it will take a long time to heal).