Daily Times

It is not only the Federation of Pakistan, which is confronted by serious political, territorial and ethnic fissures. The constant wrong political and economic policies and institutional failures have created serious socio-economic and ideological imbalances and contradictions in our society, which have now morphed into dangerously strong power centres or states within the state. Hamstrung by these contradictions, the state has lost its resolve to collide with these powerful forces. This is a marked sign of the crumbling state writ.

With the inception of the country and the untimely death of the father of the nation, the aristocratic class (created by the British imperials) crowded on the popular bandwagon of the Muslim League, monopolising political power and state resources. The subsequent laws and policies of the country were designed to suit their venal interests. In the power struggle that ensued not long after the assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan, this greedy class lost sight of the urgent task of constitution-making and building fundamental structures of a representative rule to carry out land reforms and design policies for the fair distribution of state resources; reducing the wide socio-economic disparity.

This gap has ever been growing in the country. While a number of the hewers of wood and drawers of water has grown, the aristocratic class has also been bolstered in strength and power by nouveau riche, including corrupt politicians, bureaucrats, tax evaders, hoarders, profiteers, smugglers and drug peddlers. Over decades, this disparity between the wealthy and poverty-ridden masses has found its way into the nation’s governance structure, education, healthcare and social, economic and financial institutions.

In the power struggle that ensued not long after the assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan, this greedy class lost sight of the urgent task of constitution-making.

This wealthy class, though in minority, has completed its capture of state resources and enforced a sort of apartheid in the country, keeping the masses at crumbs condescendingly thrown to them by this lot. The wrong economic and financial policies, designed by their ruling brethren, have facilitated oligarchs to transfer and park their ill-gotten wealth in foreign banks, and buy properties abroad for their children. Their loyalty to this country remains confined to exercising political power and amassing wealth. They have found patrons in the foreign countries who favour them with permanent residence facilities, including iqamas to hide their illegitimate wealth in their capitals. The state feels powerless to take on this powerful class, being well-capable of manipulating the country’s law enforcing agencies, bureaucracy and judiciary in our faulty legal and judicial system.

The economic disparity has spawned an ominous class hatred in the society; setting poor against the rich, worker against worked for, rugged against well-dressed, peasant against landed gentry, labour against the manufacturer. No wonder, we have growing numbers of the poor turning into dacoits, highway robbers, kidnappers for ransom, muggers, thieves and snatchers. In 2009, the TTP’s attempt to take over northern areas, where they occupied vast stretches of territory and distributed lands among peasants. This swelled popular support for them. Nowhere in the world can any wealthy class match our oligarchs in callousness and cruelty. The anger in the deprived class is ready to burst into a volcanic eruption. It needs a spark only.

The adoption of the Objective Resolution, as the preamble of the Constitution of 1956 and later of the 1973 Constitution, followed by the state’s patronage of the leaders of Salafi Islam and their seminaries in the 1980s to have recruits for the Afghan Mujahidin, have well-entrenched religion in our body politics; sparking sectarian tensions between the Shias and Salafi Sunnis, Devbandis and Brevlis supported by foreign powers. Our wrong policy of encouraging militant organisations for Jihad in Jammu and Kashmir; tolerating the remnants of Al-Qaeda in FATA and allowing Mulla Fazal aka Mulla Radio to morph into a monster in the early 1990s has kept the spirit of militant jihad aglow for the last three decades.

Some reports suggest over 30,000 unregistered and unregulated seminaries in the country; churning out thousands of half-lettered Mullas every year to strengthen ranks of the religious political parties like JUI, JI, TLP and JUP. They have tremendous enrolments from the children of the deprived class with no access to public schools. The religious parties have become formidable powers. They can get away with any crime, excess and highhandedness by intimidating any powerful government by their street power. The frequent sits-in by TLP to mock the state power, blatantly outraging the sanctity of the Constitution of the country, are just recent examples. Each time, the party has terminated these sit-ins on its terms; getting away with all crimes perpetrated on the state officials. This should have rung alarm bells to shake our timid and tepid rulers out of their sickening slumber.

The power equation in the country has been undergoing a subtle change for decades now. The traditional understanding between the sword and pulpit has given way to the latter’s growing alignment with the deprived population of the country. Sitting on the pulpit, the bearded man has become the flag bearer of the grievances of have-nots–more vocal than the erstwhile communists, labour and peasant unionists. He takes head-on the exploiters–rulers, bureaucrats, landed gentry, nationalists, liberal and leftists. This religious class is fast emerging as an alternative to the ruling PPP in Sindh. The victory of the Afghan Taliban against a mighty power has given a fillip to this growing alignment between the Mulla and have-nots.

These are all self-created problems. In seven decades, we have failed to clear this muddle, whether Pakistan is a theocratic, garrison or democratic and progressive state. As put by a scholar, wickedness and foolishness stand on the same pedestal–perhaps foolishness on a higher–in inflicting permanent harm. The country was ruled by military and civilian leaders–wicked and foolish–but none of them went beyond his selfish and narrow interests, thereby, inflicting permanent harm on this land.

These fissures have rendered the fort vulnerable. It is time for us to shake out of our criminal stupor.

The author was a member of the Foreign Service of Pakistan and he has authored two books.