Daily Times

It is said that patriotism is defending your country all the time and your government only when it deserves it, whereas nationalism is an outright defence of the motherland, regardless of the performance or positions of any particular government at any particular time. This not-so-subtle difference has been thrown up, after a long time, over the last few years as right-of-centre, conservative governments have established themselves in most democratic dispensations across the world.

This debate was chiefly triggered in the US, where the Trump presidency was like a shot-in-the-arm, although a short-lived one, of the white supremacist lobby, most of which happens to be ultra-conservative as well and is spread over the far and extreme right. For these people, disagreeing with anything that the White House said or implied over those years was about as non-nationalistic as possible, and this attitude played perhaps the central role in events that culminated in the historic storming of the US Congress by Trump’s admirers.

This argument is also all the rage in India ever since the extremist Modi administration came to power in 2014 and split the whole country into pro-and anti-Hindutva groups; for the first time in its history. There, it does not matter if you are discriminating against minorities or even killing people in the streets on the mere suspicion of eating beef, if you raise your voice against anything or anybody that suits the Hindutva lobby, it is taken as something akin to treason itself.

For Pakistan and Pakistanis, the fine line between patriotism and nationalism does not exist because everybody is subservient to the state before anything else.

Much of Europe is also embroiled in such contradictory debates as liberal democrats are losing ground to outright conservatives. Fortunately in Pakistan, though, such divisive rhetoric is nowhere to be seen because, despite our struggles with and for democracy, we as a nation have always been coloured the same way; whatever some people’s or parties’ political leanings are or have been. We are all Pakistanis before and after everything, even the most glaring differences. And the credit for holding the whole country together like this has to go to the Pakistan army. The most recent example of how it brought the whole country together as a united entity was just a couple of years ago when Indian fighter jets violated Pakistani airspace and made ridiculous, completely false, claims on intentional media.

All the Pakistani military had to do was mobilise and deploy its air force, which promptly shot down two over-eager Indian pilots and took one of them, prisoner. In one instance, the entire country was brought together, with social media trends; also suggesting that the people of Pakistan were actually eager to join the army in a fight on the ground if the enemy actually dares to trigger a war with its ground forces. For Pakistan and Pakistanis, the fine line between patriotism and nationalism does not exist because everybody, including the government and the opposition, agrees with and is subservient to the state before anything else. Of course, we have our differences internally, as all democracies do otherwise they wouldn’t thrive, but nobody wants the country to regress so one party or group can progress. Whereas the Indian government, just like its civil society, prefers to stay silent whenever divisive events like mob lynchings occur, it’s very different on this side of the border.

Here everybody comes together in the strongest possible condemnation of incidents that hurt the people’s trust in the nation, with the state itself spearheading reforms. It’s very pleasant to note that Pakistan has taken the lead in enacting legislation that safeguards the interests and values of all its minorities. It’s a breath of fresh air, considering how India has spread toxicity right through the subcontinent, to see Pakistan’s religious affairs ministry being given the charge of renovating and protecting temples and all places of worship of all minorities. It says a whole lot that Muslims in India are persecuted, even kept from performing Friday prayers in open areas, whereas Hindus in Pakistan are protected by the state and they can not only worship in peace but also count on Islamabad to protect and improve their shrines and holy places.

Such freedoms are only possible when the state machinery is up to scratch when it comes to protecting its frontiers and everybody within them. The Pakistani military knows that it is more than capable of protecting all Pakistanis, whichever religion they belong to, and also sending the enemy back with a red nose. It is, in turn, the duty of all people of Pakistan to understand and appreciate how the army takes care of the whole country and keeps everything in line. It is the reason that we are not disturbed or sidetracked by distinctions between concepts like patriotism and nationalism. For us, the country comes first and we are willing to follow the army into making all sacrifices as and when they are demanded to protect all our freedoms.

The writer is an old Aitchisonian who believes in freedom of expression, a freelance columnist, entrepreneur and social activist.