FOCUS
WHITHER PAKISTAN!
There is this madman of Pakistani rhetorics called Hafiz Syed, who had said that he ‘will not rest until India is merged with Pakistan’. That was some years ago. Being a bit loony he may still be thinking on those lines. After all insanity is indefensible.
Not that Pakistan was ever a state that gave confidence, even to itself, that it would emerge as a model Islamic Republic, let alone be a secular democratic republic. But the events of past two years have sent unmistakable signals of its infirmity and continued deterioration-socially, politically and economically.
Harold Gould, a visiting scholar at the centre for South Asian Studies of University of Virginia has already concluded “Pakistan is disintegrating”. Writing on “End of U.S. Afghan Policy?”, some time in Jan. 2011, he states rather dramatically, “In the face of a Pakistani collapse, as it sinks steadily into the pit of political oblivion, Pakistan will inevitably drag U.S. Afghan policy down the drain”. According to him, failure of Pakistan has been mainly because of the systematic rejection by the Pakistani Polity, Jinnah’s vision of consensual, multicultural and politically accommodative model, which is prevalent in whole of South Asia. He thinks, the political contrast between India and Pakistan makes this clear.
He writes “over the years Pakistani public allowed itself to be hijacked by Islamic fundamentalism as a buffer to ‘Hindu India’ phobia”. According to him ‘Islamic fanaticism, conjoined with military authoritarianism has ripped Pakistan to shreds and will provoke its eventual political disintegration!
He sounds rather apocalyptic, when he says that “India, U.S. and its allies, must step aside , to let the holocaust happen, and deploy their military and diplomatic resources to contain, ameliorate and mediate the imminent persuasive violence that will ensue and must run its course.” It is a nightmarish spectacle.
If that happens, that will be the end of Pakistan, the so-called the ‘land of the pure’, as a nation.
And what will happen to those characters like Hafiz Syed and his ilk in Pakistan and those in India who did not lose an opportunity to either unfurl Pakistani flag or insulted Indian flag or celebrated Pakistani cricket victory or India’s loss.
Whether we like it or not, there is a section, may be miniscule, who have only hurt the interest and psyche of majority of Indian Muslims, who are happy being Indians Muslims, who are happy being Indians and go by Indian ethos of pluralistic co-existence.
Herald Gould is an American, writing from his perspective. How Pakistanis themselves look at the problems facing their nation state?
Farooq Sulehria, the editor of the Viewpoint, a Pakistani periodical writes, after talking to Pervez Hoodbhoy, a Professor of Physics at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad, “As Pakistani society teeters from one socio-political crisis to another, with the influence of the religious right and extremism growing by the day, Prof. paints a grim picture of the future of the country. The government has caved into the extremists, the media refuses to take on the fundamentalists, the army is silent and the extremists are becoming all powerful. Only a miracle can save the country.” Thus it looks fairly clear that even Pakistani thinkers and writers too have similar perspective.
Pervez Hoodbhoy, the Professor, is one of the bolder breed of liberal thinkers, who has the gumption to take on the extremists in Pakistan. Appearing in the T.V., post Salman Taseer assassination, he even called Mullahs as the self appointed ‘thekaydars’ (contractors) of Islam. But then people like him are a dwindling breed in Pakistan.
In the growing cacophony of radicals and clerics, usurping the reins of power by radicals is the reality of emerging Pakistan. The very fact that the security guard, Malik Mumtaz Qadri, who pumped 22 bullets into the man he was deputed to protect, has become a hero to a large section of Pakistanis, including young college students, is a development of far reaching dimension. The Civil Society is slowly but surely losing out to extremists in Pakistan. And in India, we have intellectual dreamers like Mani Shankar Iyer who still believes that “uninterrupted and uninterruptible dialogue” is the only way forward. While it is true that dialogue has its own positive aspects, the question is ‘with whom the dialogue has to go on’? The government has capitulated. Prime Minister Gilani had announced that he will not touch ‘Blasphemy Laws’. He has reportedly stated “I cannot think of amendment in the blasphemy law” while inaugurating two university campuses outside Islamabad.
Even fugitive former President of Pakistan Parvez Musharaf has reportedly told his Muslim audience in London that “Muslims are very emotional about the blasphemy statute, the controversial law must stay”. So it is clear that religious fanatics are dictating terms without parliamentary sanctions.
Prof Hoodbhoy says “It is indeed complete abdication by the government. When bearded ones brought out 50000 charged people onto the streets of Karachi, a terrified government instantly sought negotiation with them. The government’s pants are soaking wet. Interestingly and significantly Army high command made no public statement on the assassination, although it is vocal on all else” Prof averred.
Even Pakistani electronic media was mute witness to the murder of Governor Salman Taseer, which was apparent from the unwillingness of its anchors to condemn the assassination, Prof Hoodbhoy feels.
While he also thinks that U.S. occupation of Afghanistan has contributed to the rise of extremism in some way, that was not the only cause, and therefore U.S withdrawal from Afghanistan will not make much of a difference to the rot Pakistan is already in.
To the question “what do you think is the way to stem the rising tide of religious extremism in Pakistan?” Prof Hoodbhoy frankly admits that “there is no way. Our goose is cooked, sometime there is no way to extinguish a forest fire until it burns itself out. Ultimately there will be nothing left to burn. Our million Mullahs in Million mosques, want a full cultural revolution: beards, burqas, five daily prayers, no music, no art, no entertainment and no contact with modernity except for getting its weapons. So when it becomes Mullah raj, they will start blowing up shrines and mosques of opposite sects, ending up with clerics killing clerics”.
So Mr. Mani Shankar Iyer, with whom do you want to have a dialogue with?
Yes “Pakistan has acquired fire power greater than UK” according to U.K. intelligence, but IMF says “economy is very weak”. How it is going to survive only on handouts, if economy is very weak? Report coming from Karachi informs that Pakistani government has approached criminal and notorious Dawood Ibrahim, an Indian, a fugitive from Indian laws hiding in Karachi, but sitting on a huge illicit financial empire, to fund Pakistani Railways. According to reports, sometime in January, Pak politicians with the active participation of ISI, to help Pak Railways overcome a very serious financial difficulty, had approached the fugitive Ibrahim. Reportedly a Pak Railway cheque for Rs: 700 million had bounced and the other government department, the Pakistan State Oil, reduced the oil supply to the moneyless railways, which resulted in many rail services being cancelled. One main reason why this fugitive Ibrahim has been approached to fund railways was because, most of the goods being transported by railways belonged to the many commercial companies of this Ibrahim. There is a Red Corner Alert for this Dawood Ibrahim, who is operating underground from Pakistan. But officially Pakistan has consistently denied his presence in the country. Would Mr Iyer give a guarantee that this country would survive?
If socio-political instability is a serious issue, coupled with financial instability, the law and order situation is rather very precarious. In fact this one particular aspect is the barometer of stability of a country. Even here the situation within Pakistan is near horrendous.
Following are the headlines in the media during the last 25 days that can speak for itself:
- “2 Christian women beaten black and blue –over charges of blasphemy” – 16/1/11
- “18 killed in Pakistan minibus bomb attack – 18/1/11
- “Pakistan, more violent than Afghanistan – Over 10000 killed in 2010” – 21/1/11
- “15 killed in suicide blast targeting Shiites in Pak” – 26/1/11
- “Deputy Governor killed in Kandahar” – 30/1/11
- “11 killed in deadly Peshawar Blast” – 3/2/11
- “22000 people flee Pak Tribal region – 5/2/11
- “Deadliest attack on Military installation in Pakistan leaves 30 soldiers dead – 11/2/11
- “Taliban attack on bank leaves 38 killed in Jalalabad – 20/2/11
Human life is clearly cheap in Pakistan. Death and destruction always lurk just around the corner. The recent killing of Governor of Punjab, a liberal convent educated Muslim, Salman Taseer, for daring to take on the votaries of blasphemy laws of Pakistan, by his own government appointed security guard, in broad day light, is a reflection of the chaos Pakistan is passing through. The portrayal of the killer as hero by the hardliners, across the Pakistani national spectrum is the ultimate nail on the coffin on the death of Pakistani civil society. What a way a country can sink into oblivion!
INDIA -Need for Alternative at National Level
This is an urgent issue to be addressed by all those who pride themselves as Indians.
Under the circumstances barring Nitish Kumar, nobody is a clear front runner for national leadership. While it may be worth an attempt to expand the JD(U) under the leadership of Nitish Kumar and hope for the best, concerned Indians must think of some other serious options.
There has to be another genre of political thinkers and activists who would want to put National interest above everything else.
In India there is a class of people, both among middle class and lower middle class, who are more inspired by the general good than their own interest and that of their families. They are either already sufficiently better off or their demands are not many and are easily met. They are the ones who would want to work for the country with minimum or no expectation.
This call need to be nationally highlighted and the strategy adopted by Obama’s election may be worth looking at to learn what we can do under Indian conditions. We have a huge computer educated people, both young and not so young. Like Mahatma said, if your intentions are good, you get people popping out of pavements to reach out. Surely it will happen, if inspiring souls of Indian society take lead to give a lead.
There is this madman of Pakistani rhetorics called Hafiz Syed, who had said that he ‘will not rest until India is merged with Pakistan’. That was some years ago. Being a bit loony he may still be thinking on those lines. After all insanity is indefensible.
Not that Pakistan was ever a state that gave confidence, even to itself, that it would emerge as a model Islamic Republic, let alone be a secular democratic republic. But the events of past two years have sent unmistakable signals of its infirmity and continued deterioration-socially, politically and economically.
Harold Gould, a visiting scholar at the centre for South Asian Studies of University of Virginia has already concluded “Pakistan is disintegrating”. Writing on “End of U.S. Afghan Policy?”, some time in Jan. 2011, he states rather dramatically, “In the face of a Pakistani collapse, as it sinks steadily into the pit of political oblivion, Pakistan will inevitably drag U.S. Afghan policy down the drain”. According to him, failure of Pakistan has been mainly because of the systematic rejection by the Pakistani Polity, Jinnah’s vision of consensual, multicultural and politically accommodative model, which is prevalent in whole of South Asia. He thinks, the political contrast between India and Pakistan makes this clear.
He writes “over the years Pakistani public allowed itself to be hijacked by Islamic fundamentalism as a buffer to ‘Hindu India’ phobia”. According to him ‘Islamic fanaticism, conjoined with military authoritarianism has ripped Pakistan to shreds and will provoke its eventual political disintegration!
He sounds rather apocalyptic, when he says that “India, U.S. and its allies, must step aside , to let the holocaust happen, and deploy their military and diplomatic resources to contain, ameliorate and mediate the imminent persuasive violence that will ensue and must run its course.” It is a nightmarish spectacle.
If that happens, that will be the end of Pakistan, the so-called the ‘land of the pure’, as a nation.
And what will happen to those characters like Hafiz Syed and his ilk in Pakistan and those in India who did not lose an opportunity to either unfurl Pakistani flag or insulted Indian flag or celebrated Pakistani cricket victory or India’s loss.
Whether we like it or not, there is a section, may be miniscule, who have only hurt the interest and psyche of majority of Indian Muslims, who are happy being Indians Muslims, who are happy being Indians and go by Indian ethos of pluralistic co-existence.
Herald Gould is an American, writing from his perspective. How Pakistanis themselves look at the problems facing their nation state?
Farooq Sulehria, the editor of the Viewpoint, a Pakistani periodical writes, after talking to Pervez Hoodbhoy, a Professor of Physics at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad, “As Pakistani society teeters from one socio-political crisis to another, with the influence of the religious right and extremism growing by the day, Prof. paints a grim picture of the future of the country. The government has caved into the extremists, the media refuses to take on the fundamentalists, the army is silent and the extremists are becoming all powerful. Only a miracle can save the country.” Thus it looks fairly clear that even Pakistani thinkers and writers too have similar perspective.
Pervez Hoodbhoy, the Professor, is one of the bolder breed of liberal thinkers, who has the gumption to take on the extremists in Pakistan. Appearing in the T.V., post Salman Taseer assassination, he even called Mullahs as the self appointed ‘thekaydars’ (contractors) of Islam. But then people like him are a dwindling breed in Pakistan.
In the growing cacophony of radicals and clerics, usurping the reins of power by radicals is the reality of emerging Pakistan. The very fact that the security guard, Malik Mumtaz Qadri, who pumped 22 bullets into the man he was deputed to protect, has become a hero to a large section of Pakistanis, including young college students, is a development of far reaching dimension. The Civil Society is slowly but surely losing out to extremists in Pakistan. And in India, we have intellectual dreamers like Mani Shankar Iyer who still believes that “uninterrupted and uninterruptible dialogue” is the only way forward. While it is true that dialogue has its own positive aspects, the question is ‘with whom the dialogue has to go on’? The government has capitulated. Prime Minister Gilani had announced that he will not touch ‘Blasphemy Laws’. He has reportedly stated “I cannot think of amendment in the blasphemy law” while inaugurating two university campuses outside Islamabad.
Even fugitive former President of Pakistan Parvez Musharaf has reportedly told his Muslim audience in London that “Muslims are very emotional about the blasphemy statute, the controversial law must stay”. So it is clear that religious fanatics are dictating terms without parliamentary sanctions.
Prof Hoodbhoy says “It is indeed complete abdication by the government. When bearded ones brought out 50000 charged people onto the streets of Karachi, a terrified government instantly sought negotiation with them. The government’s pants are soaking wet. Interestingly and significantly Army high command made no public statement on the assassination, although it is vocal on all else” Prof averred.
Even Pakistani electronic media was mute witness to the murder of Governor Salman Taseer, which was apparent from the unwillingness of its anchors to condemn the assassination, Prof Hoodbhoy feels.
While he also thinks that U.S. occupation of Afghanistan has contributed to the rise of extremism in some way, that was not the only cause, and therefore U.S withdrawal from Afghanistan will not make much of a difference to the rot Pakistan is already in.
To the question “what do you think is the way to stem the rising tide of religious extremism in Pakistan?” Prof Hoodbhoy frankly admits that “there is no way. Our goose is cooked, sometime there is no way to extinguish a forest fire until it burns itself out. Ultimately there will be nothing left to burn. Our million Mullahs in Million mosques, want a full cultural revolution: beards, burqas, five daily prayers, no music, no art, no entertainment and no contact with modernity except for getting its weapons. So when it becomes Mullah raj, they will start blowing up shrines and mosques of opposite sects, ending up with clerics killing clerics”.
So Mr. Mani Shankar Iyer, with whom do you want to have a dialogue with?
Yes “Pakistan has acquired fire power greater than UK” according to U.K. intelligence, but IMF says “economy is very weak”. How it is going to survive only on handouts, if economy is very weak? Report coming from Karachi informs that Pakistani government has approached criminal and notorious Dawood Ibrahim, an Indian, a fugitive from Indian laws hiding in Karachi, but sitting on a huge illicit financial empire, to fund Pakistani Railways. According to reports, sometime in January, Pak politicians with the active participation of ISI, to help Pak Railways overcome a very serious financial difficulty, had approached the fugitive Ibrahim. Reportedly a Pak Railway cheque for Rs: 700 million had bounced and the other government department, the Pakistan State Oil, reduced the oil supply to the moneyless railways, which resulted in many rail services being cancelled. One main reason why this fugitive Ibrahim has been approached to fund railways was because, most of the goods being transported by railways belonged to the many commercial companies of this Ibrahim. There is a Red Corner Alert for this Dawood Ibrahim, who is operating underground from Pakistan. But officially Pakistan has consistently denied his presence in the country. Would Mr Iyer give a guarantee that this country would survive?
If socio-political instability is a serious issue, coupled with financial instability, the law and order situation is rather very precarious. In fact this one particular aspect is the barometer of stability of a country. Even here the situation within Pakistan is near horrendous.
Following are the headlines in the media during the last 25 days that can speak for itself:
- “2 Christian women beaten black and blue –over charges of blasphemy” – 16/1/11
- “18 killed in Pakistan minibus bomb attack – 18/1/11
- “Pakistan, more violent than Afghanistan – Over 10000 killed in 2010” – 21/1/11
- “15 killed in suicide blast targeting Shiites in Pak” – 26/1/11
- “Deputy Governor killed in Kandahar” – 30/1/11
- “11 killed in deadly Peshawar Blast” – 3/2/11
- “22000 people flee Pak Tribal region – 5/2/11
- “Deadliest attack on Military installation in Pakistan leaves 30 soldiers dead – 11/2/11
- “Taliban attack on bank leaves 38 killed in Jalalabad – 20/2/11
Human life is clearly cheap in Pakistan. Death and destruction always lurk just around the corner. The recent killing of Governor of Punjab, a liberal convent educated Muslim, Salman Taseer, for daring to take on the votaries of blasphemy laws of Pakistan, by his own government appointed security guard, in broad day light, is a reflection of the chaos Pakistan is passing through. The portrayal of the killer as hero by the hardliners, across the Pakistani national spectrum is the ultimate nail on the coffin on the death of Pakistani civil society. What a way a country can sink into oblivion!
INDIA -Need for Alternative at National Level
This is an urgent issue to be addressed by all those who pride themselves as Indians.
The continuous spate of corruption scandals of horrendous proportion coming into the public domain, with reluctance to expose black money in tax havens, shall make UPA government very difficult to comeback to power in the ensuing election due in 2014. In which case what is the alternative, BJP or the Third Front of opportunistic alliances of Deve Gowda and company! While BJP may not be as corrupt as UPA outfits, it has its own share of tainted persons, coupled with its agenda of Temple at Ayodhya and other partisan objectives cannot be the ideal choice. Third Front has all desperadoes. It includes likes of Gowda & Company and Mulaym Singh who are as tainted as anybody else in the socio-political scene. Communists may be less corrupt but managing national affairs, may not be their cup of tea. In fact the ‘historic blunder’ of not-going in for PM’s position by Jyothi Basu, was a God’s blessing in disguise. There are two big lady players in Mayawathi and Jaya Lalitha, with their own stories of sleaze, they too do not inspire confidence.
That leaves JD(U)’s Nitish Kumar as a ‘Beacon of Hope’. But it is little too early to count him as national alternative. Yes there is Narendra Modi too, who is known to be a ‘No-Nonsense development man’, but he has his own share of controversies.Under the circumstances barring Nitish Kumar, nobody is a clear front runner for national leadership. While it may be worth an attempt to expand the JD(U) under the leadership of Nitish Kumar and hope for the best, concerned Indians must think of some other serious options.
There has to be another genre of political thinkers and activists who would want to put National interest above everything else.
In India there is a class of people, both among middle class and lower middle class, who are more inspired by the general good than their own interest and that of their families. They are either already sufficiently better off or their demands are not many and are easily met. They are the ones who would want to work for the country with minimum or no expectation.
Like J.P started in the mid-seventies, the Sampoorna Kranti, another such movement may be needed. J.P. movement has left only two persons of prominence. Of course both are different in their approach to public life. One is Nitish Kumar and the other is Subramaniam Swamy. Can both come to-gether to work for a Common Goal? One is a real worker, and the other is a crusader.
Yes, coming to the new movement. This is a call for all those educated well off Indians who would like to do something for the country that gave them so much and in appreciation of their role they are doing so much in return to the society at large. There are likes of Azim Premzis, Narayan Murthys, Nandan Nilekanies, people behind Loksattas and Janagrahas and many others. They are role models in personal achievements and national commitments. They all can get under an umbrella and rope in souls like APJ Abdul Kalams, who thought the ‘Nation is greater than an individual’.
Should such a group come into existence, even to have a brain storming session, insha allah – God willing - it will send unmistakable signal to all those Indians, educated elites and others to rise to the occasion. If the seventies fantasy of Irving Wallace, ‘The Man’, where he merely visualised an accidental happening of a ‘Black’ being the President of United States of America, into an incredibly fantastic election of a coloured man with a funny name as the occupant of whites only territory of WHITE HOUSE, then a change in the national psyche to propel committed selfless political group may not be a far fetched vision at all.This call need to be nationally highlighted and the strategy adopted by Obama’s election may be worth looking at to learn what we can do under Indian conditions. We have a huge computer educated people, both young and not so young. Like Mahatma said, if your intentions are good, you get people popping out of pavements to reach out. Surely it will happen, if inspiring souls of Indian society take lead to give a lead.
Comments