Daily Times

Last week, I discussed in these pages, the inadequacy of the opportunities the current political apparatus offers the ordinary citizens of Pakistan. Little did I know that my humble thoughts would make their way to Mr. U S Roy in the neighboring country of India who would then be kind enough to take out the time to send me an elaborate email expressing his opinion on the subject. The thoughts shared by Mr. Roy were so intriguing that I decided to dedicate my article this week to respond, in an open letter, to the email sent by Mr. Roy, with a hope to encourage respectful exchange of meaningful thought.

In his email, Mr. Roy opined that most of the troubles Pakistan faces today stem from two major root causes. While he resonates with a majority of Pakistanis in identifying the patronage of theocracy as the second largest issue, he conflicts with as many of us when he says that it was Mr. Jinnah’s greed for power that birthed not only theocracy but almost every other problem that Pakistan has ever faced. He believes that the division of India into two, and later three countries was for nothing but to pave the way to the corridors of power for Mr. Jinnah who otherwise stood no chance in comparison to the towering personalities of Gandhi, Nehru and Patel in united India. He believes that Mr. Jinnah; a liberal himself who drank and ate to his liking, stimulated the religious sentiment of the uneducated Muslim population of the sub-continent to his personal advantage and in return, surrendered the state to the Islamists. He also said that the current PM of India; Mr. Narendra Modi is a follower of Gandhi’s ideology of keeping ‘the national identity above the religion’.

As religious zealots in India storm Muslim homes and lynch Muslim men and women for offering their prayers or eating beef, Mr Jinnah stands vindicated.

For me, reading Mr. Roy’s feedback was an education on the power of perspective. While we can agree on veracity of the account of partition and whatever happened afterwards, the lessons we draw differ greatly.

Mr Gandhi, a proclaimed proponent of Hindu-Muslim unity, was assassinated on 30th January, 1948 by Nathuram Godse; a member of the RSS; a movement that envisions India as a state exclusive to Hindus. The RSS was banned in India after the demolition of Babri Mosque in 1992 and has ever since remained steadfast in its opposition of minorities, especially the Muslims of India. It is insane that Mr. Narendra Modi; himself a member of RSS who oversaw the massacre of Muslims in Gujrat in 2002, is called a follower of the non-violent Mr. Gandhi. The RSS along with its political wing; the BJP, is only an anti-thesis of all that Gandhi stood for. Let us be clear that young Pakistanis who, disillusioned with the economic and technological progress of India, sometimes doubt the idea of partition, are often awakened to reality by incidents of growing religious intolerance in Modi’s India. This is not meant to absolve Pakistan of its failure in protecting its minorities. A country founded in the name of minority rights ought to have done far better but it also remains a fact that in this particular area, India’s example is far worse.

The ambitions of Gandhi, Nehru, Jinnah and Mujeeb and how they shaped the destiny of the three splinters of India’s fission can be debated. The one thing common among Gandhi, Jinnah and Mujeeb is that they didn’t live long enough to bear the fruit of their life’s work. Gandhi and Mujeeb were assassinated and Jinnah died of bad health under mysterious circumstances. While Nehru carried forward the vision of the founding fathers in India, Pakistan’s misfortunes grew with the assassination of its first Prime Minister Liaqat Ali Khan, creating a vacuum yet to be filled.

The current state of Pakistan, however, has less to do with absence of leadership than its proximity with India. Instead of assuming the role of the big brother, India, right from the start, characterized itself as a bully. Thousands of families that crossed the newly drawn borders, did so believing that they’d be able to again meet their friends and families. Such reunions were made impossible with India’s coerced annexation of Kashmir and other princely states. The idea of a peaceful coexistence died as the nascent states battled for Kashmir in 1948. India even refused to pay Pakistan its due share of 750 million rupees from the cash balance of united India, jeopardizing its economic survival. The amount was eventually released yet a part of it still remained unpaid. How could a relation, started in such bad faith, yield prosperity?

Today, India doesn’t allow its cricket players to play the Pakistan Super League while Pakistanis are not included in the Indian Premier League draft. During the recent years, India has repeatedly refused to play even the ICC tournaments hosted in Pakistan. Artists and craftsmen from Pakistan, despite their popularity in India, are discouraged to perform in Indian ventures.

It can be rightly said that Pakistan lost its track soon after partition but that was not without the war hysteria that gripped this country soon after partition. Despite India’s economic rise, its electoral campaigns are still incomplete without anti-Pakistan rhetoric. This is particularly true for the recent years when Mr. Modi actually went to war with Pakistan to prove his anti-Pakistan credentials. Had it not been for Pakistan Air Force dominating the skies on the very first day, the pointless conflict in 2019 could have escalated into a full-scale war. Having a neighbor with such hostile designs, it becomes imperative for Pakistan’s survival to overspend on its defense thus ignoring the human development of its citizens.

It is true that Pakistan today is plagued with abuse of religious sentiment. This phenomenon has hindered political stability, economic growth and promoted intolerance in society. For Pakistan to survive, it is important to stop the exploitation of religion for personal and political gain yet it remains a fact that since independence, no religious party has been able to form a federal government in Pakistan. They have instead, always stayed on the sidelines, joining coalitions in exchange for small favors and sometimes as pressure groups against incumbent governments. On the other hand, India for the last decade, has been under the far-right BJP with the butcher of Gujrat as its Prime Minister. The current Indian government has walked away from the secular identity of its state and has instead focused on erasing not only the Muslim population but also the legacy. It continues to rename cities, rebrand places of worship and restrict Muslims from practicing their religion.

Over the decades, many Pakistanis argued that the idea of partition was flawed and that Muslims could have lived with a Hindu majority but it was only since the rise of Mr Narendra Modi that we realized how necessary it was for Muslims to get their own homeland. Mr Jinnah might or might not have been a perfect Muslim but time has proven that he was right in his demand for a separate country for Muslims. As religious zealots in India storm Muslim homes and lynch Muslim men and women for offering their prayers or eating beef, Mr Jinnah stands vindicated. Unfortunate as it is but Pakistan today is justified in drawing its relevance not from what it offers to its populace but from what that populace could have suffered had it not been carved out of united India.

Pakistan and India must learn to co-exist peacefully. The only way forward for collective progress of South Asia is meaningful dialogue. Both the states should explore through diplomatic channels the avenues of mutual interest. Pakistan can be India’s gateway to Central Asian markets and Indian markets can help Pakistan grow its exports. Let’s reach out to each other, citizens and governments alike, for exchange of views, of culture, of craftsmen and sportsmen and remember that armies cross the borders only if trade goods don’t.

The writer is a veteran journalist based in Islamabad. He writes on social, political, economic, defence and strategic developments across the South Asian region. He can be reached through email: zm.journalist@gmail.com