British author Anatol Lieven writes in his book entitled Pakistan: A Hard Country that Pakistan is a hard country to make sense of. He writes, “Trying to understand Pakistan’s internal structures and dynamics is complicated; for if there is one phrase which defines many aspects of Pakistan and is the central of this book, it is ‘Janus-faced’. In other words, many of the same features of the Pakistan’s state and government which are responsible for holding Islamist extremism in check are at one and at the same time responsible for holding back Pakistan’s social, economic and political development.” Anatol’s claim of Pakistan being a hard country can be testified from the sit-in’s by the religious right in Islamabad which just concluded a few days ago. The protestors in Islamabad were condemning a change in text in certain clauses of the Election Act 2017. Even though the change in language was minimal, religious parties saw it as an attempt to make the National Assembly more secular. Claims by the government that the change in language was a clerical error were ignored. To put it in more simply and understand Anatol’s claim regarding Pakistan’s fight against extremism, Pakistan’s state and society have hardly understood the nature of the extremism which have permeated it’s society. There is a big disconnect between the state and society at large in understanding extremism and what approach should be taken in eradicating extremism which morphs into terrorism. In promoting an environment conducive to religious extremism, the Pakistani establishment has lost the country around 50,000 lives. Over the past two or three years, the state began to realise how badly it had botched things and attempted to fix things through a mixture of military operations and reforms. But the journey to attain a society and state free of extremism does not end with a few military operations and symbolic reforms. It needs an inclusive and consistent approach. To eradicate extremism, Pakistan needs to make sure that it nurtures an atmosphere that is conducive to diversity. Over the past two or three years, the state had begun to realise the extent to which its affairs were botched and attempted to fix things through a mixture of military operations and reforms. But the journey to attain a society and a state free of extremism does not end with a few military operations and symbolic reforms. It needs an inclusive and consistent approach. To eradicate extremism, Pakistan needs to make sure that it nurtures an atmosphere that is conducive to diversity To attain an environment that accommodates diversity and repels extremism, the Pakistani state needs to make sure that it leaves no stone unturned in its fight against extremism. It needs to fight this war in multiple forums and should make sure that it copes with its every dimension effectively, be it political, economic, religious, social, linguistic or psychological. Unfortunately, while society is ready to support the government in its efforts to eradicate extremism through military operations, it doesn’t stand behind the government if it makes any efforts to promote pluralism. The government’s recent ‘clerical mistake’ during the passage of the 2017 Election Act could have been an attempt to make the constitution more accommodative towards diversity. This would have been a move in the right direction but it backfired because of the social backlash the religious right was able to bring about. The clause related to allowing disqualified persons like former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to lead political parties somehow created a fuss. However, opposition parties couldn’t do anything about it because of the PML-N’s majority in the parliament. Instead, they were able to jump on the religious parties’ bandwagon to hurt the PML-N’s credibility. Lack of awareness among the masses was a major factor here. The sit-ins across the country in the wake of changes in the Election Act 2017 and the way the PML-N was left in a lurch by political parties at large and some other powerful institutions in particular brought about some interesting revelations which I would like to share. The first lesson is that the state remains under the influence of popular extremist thinking, which developed in the 1980s and 1990s. Though it has the intention to fight extremism, the way the government was cornered in the unfolding of recent events when all political parties tried to stand by the protesters, the government had to withdraw with its tail between its legs. Secondly, all major stakeholders in Pakistan’s politics prioritise their own interests over the interests of the country. Not a single stakeholder attempted to diffuse the situation created by the inconsequential changes brought about by the 2017 Election Bill regarding the Khatm-e-Nabuwwat. Everyone became a yes-man and towed the extremist line. Thirdly, this episode reveals that the biggest obstacle faced by Pakistan in its pursuit of democratic ideals is the way it has been restrained by ideological straitjackets peppered with narrow minded political acumen by the political stakeholders who give space to non-political actors. There is no denying the fact that at the age of 70, Pakistan is a state which still needs to mature. Maturity dictates that one learn from the past and show a proactive approach towards future goals. But the Faizabad fiasco shows us that we are unwilling to leave history, and remain trapped in our ideological straitjackets. Our politicians have no vision for Pakistan which goes beyond their own vested interests. Those in the government have such poor credentials that society at large does not want to connect to them and thus even if they attempt to do something positive, it is perceived as negative. Pakistan has a long way to go until it can somehow achieve true democracy and rid itself of extremism. But for that, the powers that be need to think beyond their own interests and the masses need to be educated. The writer is an MPhil scholar studying International Relations at Department of Political Science at University of the Punjab, Lahore. He can be reached at uinam39@gmail.com, https://www.facebook.com/inamullah.marwat.56 Published in Daily Times, November 29th 2017.