Daily Times

For almost a decade, Pakistan is in all sorts of trouble. In a single decade, it has witnessed strong military rule, a powerful anti-military rule movement by civil-society, assassination of one of its most popular political leaders, regime-change and coming up of a democratically elected government, and the high rise of Islamic fundamentalist groups. All these juxtaposed developments in a single decade are an unexpected experience for any country.
Culling all these ongoing developments in Pakistan, two edited books were published at the end of 2011. Maleeha Lodhi, a career Pakistani diplomat who has successfully led Pakistan in various diplomatic missions, edited one. Due to her profession, she has seen Pakistan from inside and has been part of various policy-making processes, especially on foreign policy issues. Stephen P Cohen, academic guru of many South Asian experts and scholars, edited the other one. His academic credentials cannot be questioned and his in-depth research on South Asia is respected and accepted by all.
The title of the books tells a lot about the ideas contained in them. The Title of Maleeha Lodhi’s book is Pakistan: Beyond the Crisis State while Stephen Cohen’s book’s title is The Future of Pakistan. For Lodhi and others, Pakistan is not what it is being propagandised by outside forces, especially by foreign media. It has its unique features and is going to have a great future, while for Cohen and his list of contributors, Pakistan is passing through a difficult phase; in case it does not mend its ways of functioning then it has a grim future. Though both have different conclusions, nonetheless, they are like Siamese twins and one cannot be completed without the other. Broadly, both books focus upon issues of nationalism, Islamic radicalism, failed institutions and role of external powers.
Historically, migrants (popularly called mohajirs in Pakistan) who raised the demand of Pakistan in the early 20th century were the ones who imagined Pakistan as a nation. The areas that constitute present day Pakistan became active with the demand for a new nation state only during the wee hours of the British rule. The Baloch and Pathans of NWFP (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) were not very enthusiastic about the formation of Pakistan. After the formation of Pakistan, primordial identities dominated over national identity and first mohajirs and then Punjabis started dictating their terms over the newly formed state, while others had abysmal representation. Even today, Pakistan is fractured among various ethnic communities, sects and regions. Violence in the name of primordial identities is increasing. External forces have played a crucial role in Pakistan. Since its birth in 1947 due to the partition of India, it has never had a decade or more of a good relationship with India. Resultantly, Pakistan allied with the US and other forces to deter India. Though at that point of time, given India’s strong conventional power, it was a natural thing to do, but later on, Pakistan became a ‘pawn’ in the hands of the US. It has witnessed decades of military rule and even during civilian regimes, the Pakistan army remains powerful by creating a fear psychosis in the minds of the people. The percentage of the GDP Pakistan spends on its army sector is much more than most countries of its size, with low economic growth. Mushrooming of Islamic fundamentalist forces is due to encouragement provided to them by General Zia to fight the US war against the Soviets. Afterwards, the unemployed mujahids became pawns in the hands of the Pakistani agencies, which used them to fight a proxy war against India. Some of them turned more radical and started targeting even the US and Pakistani army. Nevertheless, Pakistani society has not accepted these forces, which can be evidenced by looking at the percentage of votes they get in elections. In 2002, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, an alliance of eight groups, secured 11 percent of the votes, which is the highest percentage of votes ever secured by religious groups. However, that election was a state-managed one under General Musharraf’s military regime, which wanted to get them elected to enhance its power.
Hence, Pakistan today needs to find its roots and Pakistanis have to give up their primordial identities in favour of creation of a national identity. This is only possible when the dominant province and community, Punjab sheds its arrogant attitude and lets others become a part of the project of nation building in Pakistan. In addition, Pakistan has to take steps to improve its relationship with the rest of the world and especially with India. Recent developments like President Asif Ali Zardari’s visit to India and General Ashfaq Kayani’s statement on the need for Confidence Building Measures are welcome steps. However, it must also be cautious because whenever the two countries have moved toward establishing a good relationship, peace destroyers to derail the process carried out some untoward incidents. The onus also lies on India to reciprocate Pakistan’s gestures. Finally, the terrorist groups have to be chained and there must be a political and military will to fight against them. Until these groups remain active, it is very difficult for Pakistan to come out of its ills.
The contributors in both edited books have stated all this in detail. Both books are a must-read to understand Pakistan. They are thesis and antithesis to each other.

The writer is a PhD student at the South Asian Studies School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, India. He can be reached at amitranjan.jnu@gmail.com