There is no place in the world where all is well. The difference between societies in this respect is one of degree and not of kind. A great many things may be going right and well in societal interaction at any given time but quite a few may be falling apart. Wrongdoings in Pakistan are said to be excessive. The most grievous troubles afflicting it at the present time are pervasive corruption, dissolution of ruling authority, breakdown of law and order, mounting hazard to the citizen’s life and property, and an enormous rise in religious extremism. The first three of these conditions may be transient and may diminish considerably with the advent of a new regime. Religious extremism is not likely to disappear as quickly. It has been disrupting the social order in Pakistan for several years. Militant Sunnis, moved by the mullahs delivering Friday sermons, are killing Shias indiscriminately and in great numbers.
This kind of passionate violence is not unique to Muslim historical experience. During the 17th century, agents of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in Spain killed every Protestant that they could lay their hands on. Persecution of Protestants in Italy and France continued for another 200 years. Catholics and Protestants murdered one another and ravished each other’s places of worship in Ireland for 100 years. But all that was more than 60 years ago and various religious communities have been living in peace together since then.
Generally speaking, a religion is an explanation of the whys and wherefores of man’s presence in this world and a code of conduct in order to make the individual’s life orderly and fulfilling. Assuming that man and the environment in which he lives are creations, it tells its adherents who the creator and what his design for them might be. Needless to say, these are all suppositions and several sets of them have surfaced through human experience. The authors of some of these explanations have claimed, and their followers believe, that these are good and true to the exclusion of all others, which are said to be heresies that deserve to be eradicated.
The religions being practised in the world are not necessarily antithetical to one another. Their notions about the Creator and His design of rewards and punishments may vary but their prescriptions for organising life are similar. Hinduism is an exception to this general trend. It prescribes a social order whose occupationally based segments are placed in a hierarchy of status and respectability. In this order the priest is at the top followed by the ruler and his fighting forces, tradesmen, and menial workers of whom the lowest will merge with the untouchables.
Turning to some of the other problems mentioned above it may first be said that a virtually complete breakdown of law and order is an alarming trouble spot in Pakistan. The federal government’s writ does not travel much beyond the prime minister’s house. Gangsters have become blatantly lawless. Corruption has become the most profitable industry in the country. Reports have it that an ordinary citizen cannot even file an FIR (First Information Report) at the local police station unless he pays the SHO (Station House Officer) a hefty bribe before the latter will take official notice of his complaint and send officers to investigate it. A newsman on a television channel told his viewers a few days ago that residents in parts of Karachi could not have access to drinking water without paying as much as Rs 1,000 per tanker to agents of the water mafia patronised by a government agency. Officials of the Water and Sewage Board are said to manipulate shortages in the town’s more prosperous localities, where residents can afford to pay the tanker mafiosi. If all of this is happening with the connivance of high-ranking public officials, it means that the government of the day is not interested in governance, which necessarily includes provision of needed services to citizens.
A word now should be said about the work ethic in Pakistan. Let me begin with a conversation between two friends, Peter and Paul. Peter asked Paul how he was occupying himself. Paul said he was learning the art of making money without having to work for it. Peter said he should go to Pakistan where the people had developed this art to perfection. Let us see if Peter was right. Young junior executives working for multinationals and modernised local corporations put in long hours finding buyers for their product and sellers of raw materials needed to manufacture it. Their employers make sure they get their money’s worth, money that is being paid to these young people. Small peasants out in the villages do a full day’s work during the sowing and harvesting seasons and have an easier time during the intervening months. Shopkeepers open their doors sometime after mid-morning and remain at their cash registers until fairly late in the evening. Public servants are the least burdened. Barring worthy exceptions, they will arrive at their desks later than the appointed hour, take extended lunch breaks, which they will join with time for noon prayers, entertain friends to tea in their offices, and go home early. Those who occupy the pulpit will urge their audiences to devote themselves to the observance of religious ritual. But they are not known for advocating devotion to official duty. Pakistanis who go abroad to study or take jobs do work hard. Their brethren who stay back are not inclined to do the same.
Before independence, Hindus who lived in the areas that now compose Pakistan were believed to be industrious but Muslims had the reputation of wanting to be freeloaders. The same is the case now. I am not sure why that should be. If I may be allowed a bit of speculation, I will say that traditionally Muslims have been farmers, soldiers, and public servants. In all of these roles, they could expect stable incomes and in none of them were they likely to be discharged on the ground that they were lazy. This attitude of mind became a serious impediment to their advancement after independence when they had to fill the roles that the Hindus used to perform in the areas of commerce and industry.
The writer is professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts and can be reached at [email protected]