What you sow, so will you reap. It is that simple. This is a hard fact of history, true for everyone, every time and everywhere, but nowhere more so than Pakistan since it relates to the very foundations of this country. The spectre of religious extremism that is haunting Pakistan today and threatening the basic fabric of society owes its neo-natality to the early days of this country’s existence, even, to some extent, before that. And the advancement of medical science has shown that one can cure a chronic disease only when, and if, one knows and addresses its root cause.
Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s speech to the Constituent Assembly on August 11, 1947 is considered a defining moment and a benchmark for the order of things to come. Particular importance is given to the paragraph: “From today we are all Pakistanis. Religion will have no concern with the affairs of state.” These words definitely sound very rational and give hope for a secular, plural and inclusive society and a state apparatus ensuring equal status and opportunities to all citizens irrespective of their religious affiliations.
But alas! The facts are harder to understand than the words. One cannot change these facts as per one’s wish. Also, things can be understood and analysed properly only when seen in their correct perspective. Up to August 10, 1947, it was claimed: “Hindus and Muslims are two separate nations; they have nothing in common, they cannot live together.” A day later, the world is told: “Hindus and Muslims are part of one Pakistani nation.” Nations are not like an electric switch that we can turn on and off at our whim. Nations are made through the long journey of history and the arduous process of nature. So, despite Mr Jinnah’s nice words and honest intentions, a secular Pakistani nation, without reference to religion, could not be created and religion, rather Islam, remains the primary reference for Pakistan’s identity. That is why the mullahs, despite being a tiny minority, possess so much power and so strongly influence the policies and decisions of the state though there is also the factor of expediency on the part of subsequent rulers. Whenever given the chance, a huge majority of the people in this country has supported parties and leaders with a secular manifesto. However, on coming to power, these parties succumb to the power of the fatwa.
Religion’s role in the state’s affairs was formalised and institutionalised by the adoption of the Objectives Resolution in 1949. This started the process of negation of the 1940 Resolution, the founding charter of Pakistan. This document, called the Pakistan Resolution, revolved around the issue of, not religion, but the autonomy and sovereignty of constituent units. And the current constituent units — Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — owed their existence to history, the land, language, culture and collective economic interests, the factors on which nation-states were established in Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries, turning the continent into a centre of enlightenment, progress and development from the time it was a ‘house of darkness’ when the troika of feudalism, church and military ruled the roost.
In Pakistan, since day one, this inherently conservative troika (mullah, military, feudal) has dominated the narrative and actions of the state. To challenge this combine were the forces of enlightenment and progress, in the shape of nationalist and leftist parties that wanted to make Pakistan a modern state and a forward looking society. Recognising these parties as a potent threat to their vested interests, state forces treated them as enemy number one and used all the state’s apparatus to crush them. In their campaign, religion remained the most effective and easily available weapon. The first major casualty of the Objectives Resolution was the Communist Party that was banned in the early 1950s.
After this followed a series of dismissals of governments, banning of progressive parties and incarceration of their leaders on the charges of being anti-Islam and anti-Pakistan. Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Abdul Samad Achakzai, Hyder Bux Jatoi, Ghaus Bux Bizenjo, Ajmal Khattak, Wali Khan, Malik Ghulam Jeelani, Habib Jalib, all suffered heavily and spent long spells behind bars. The most prominent target of state oppression remained G M Syed since he was the most vocal and ardent defender of the cause of separation of religion from the state. As early as 1952 he had warned of the dangers implicit in the Islamisation of the state. And the subsequent spread and intensity of religious extremism he had predicted in a speech in Vienna, was exactly what we are witnessing today.
(To be continued)
The writer is Chairman Jeay Sind Mahaz