Daily Times

Where we stand today in the progression of our history, we are neither at liberty to take a step forward to embrace our destiny, nor can we take a step back because it is constrained by the chains of slavery that we have so assiduously entangled ourselves in. With half-wits and rank pigmies in charge, this was destined to happen.

Pakistan started with the promise of becoming a progressive and egalitarian entity by banishing the demons of discrimination. In the words of the Quaid, “we are starting in the days where there is no discrimination, no distinction between one community and another, no discrimination between one caste, or creed and another. We are starting with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens, and equal citizens, of one State”.

Course correction on our India- and security-centricity syndrome, divorcing the game of favourites afflicting our policy to combat terror, uninterrupted engagement with Afghanistan, closer ties with Iran, and balancing our relations with other neighbours, friends and the major powers is essential to earn relevance in the regional and international domains

In his speech of August 11 made on the floor of the constituent assembly, the Quaid spoke passionately of a national polity that would free its citizenry from the fear of religious bondage: “You are free. You are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place or worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed — that has nothing to do with the business of the state”.

The irony is that, even during his lifetime, his associates had started weaving conspiracies to negate everything that he held dear. He had hardly closed his eyes when the constituent assembly moved to adopt the Objectives Resolution as a preamble to a yet-to-be-framed constitution, thus forcing the state to wear an apparel of discrimination. This was to unfurl the deadly demons of death and destruction which, with time, have become more gruesome.

We espoused friends who were quick to exploit the fault lines, turning us into a theatre of their sectarian proxy wars. They invested heavily in opening a spate of nurseries of indoctrination. Today, these hell-holes dot every distant part of the country, churning out battalions of militancy-inclined minds who take to practising the degenerate craft that they are so elaborately trained in.

From therein sprouted the later-day infatuations that we have embraced so blatantly, the principal one being that we are not South-Asians, but belong in the bosom of the al-Sauds of Saudi Arabia. The reward for embracing the sectarian inspiration was an unending trail of funds that the ruling elites needed to indulge a lifestyle in replication of their Wahabi masters. Consequently, their personal accounts swelled as the poor and the destitute of the country continued sifting morsels from the heaps piled by the wayside.

Moaning over the past may not provide us a lead into our future, but it certainly should tell us where we went wrong and how can we remedy that. One reality that comes forth is our espousal of everything in the extreme, be it religiosity, our friends and enemies, loot and plunder of the state exchequer, absence of the consultative processes, or our penchant for the despotic. Unfortunately, these monolithic blunders have continued to produce their offspring, germinating either through regressive religious edicts, or ill-conceived constitutional aberrations.

Because of such-like policies, we were plucked out of our physical neighbourhood and planted somewhere in distant lands where we did not belong. The foremost need is for us to relocate ourselves among our neighbours. They are not going anywhere and should take precedence over embraces reeking of religiosity. One prerequisite to establish this principle would be to leave the so-called Saudi-led coalition forthwith.

The demons of militancy are dug deep, but there is no escaping the need that these have to be combated. We must begin by addressing the scourge of radicalisation and all its sources including the seminaries of hate which continue to sprout in abundance. Political expediency will have to be sacrificed for holding aloft the cause of national survival as, otherwise, there will be nothing left to play the petty games of gain.

Pakistan needs a genuine democratic culture which must begin by making the political parties accountable. The Political Parties Order 2002 stipulates that “the party leader and other office bearers of every political party should be elected periodically in accordance with party’s constitution through secret ballot based on a democratic and transparent system”. Now, how many parties comply with that? Democracy in the country should be a natural extension of democracy within the political parties. This need to be enforced which, per se, will also take care of the despotic tendencies inherent in our leaderships.

Diplomacy requires the building of cushions for the state to absorb shocks. To do that, we must remove the duplicities which plague our policy formulation processes. We need to eliminate the gross contradictions which have alienated us from a growing number of countries. We can’t survive in isolation. Course correction on our India- and security-centricity syndrome, divorcing the game of favourites afflicting our policy to combat terror, uninterrupted engagement with Afghanistan, closer ties with Iran, and balancing our relations with other neighbours, friends and the major powers is essential to earn relevance in the regional and international domains.

Robust, independent, efficient and empowered institutions are a key to improved governance. They should be disengaged from the executive authority and allowed to evolve as credible checks on the government. Institutionalised mechanisms in preference to the executive’s whims should be adopted as the means to select people of the highest integrity as heads of these bodies, and not the abjectly corrupt individuals who adorn the landscape today.

This prognosis is the bare minimum that needs to be implemented to salvage the polity that Pakistan was envisioned to be. Much time has been lost. We are stuck up a blind alley. The weight of these past misdemeanours is only becoming heavier with time. Left unattended, this could suck us down into a whirlpool of destruction.

The writer is a political and security strategist, and heads the Regional Peace Institute — an Islamabad-based think tank. Email: raoofhasan@hotmail.com. Twitter: @RaoofHasan