The reforms that a lot of people have proposed under the “Reimagining Pakistan” program are fine, but they are about fighting a fire. I don’t think they go deep enough. Pakistan has an economy built on the presumption of perpetual war. To sustain this, massive infusions of hyper-religiosity are necessary, which is unnatural, unsustainable, and ultimately destructive. Economic collapse is now on the horizon and to survive Pakistan will need to downsize its bloated military. We urgently need to come to terms with India. Blowing the Kashmir trumpet has done nothing to advance the cause.
Equally, and perhaps more importantly, after a dismal 75 years we need to abandon the Two Nation Theory as the basis for Pakistan. Instead, Pakistan must embrace a Single Nation Theory – that which officially espouses equality before the law for all citizens of Pakistan. Much can flow from this simple principle. It does not mean the end of Pakistan, just a new beginning. Religious extremism flows naturally from the Two Nation Theory because it privileges one religious group over all others, after which one sub-group fights another over matters of faith. Religious minorities don’t stand a chance when the majority insists on a religious identity. India is now an ugly example of that.
Return of the Taliban
The dire state of Afghanistan should be enough for people to wake up and know what a Taliban rule does to a people. Pakistanis are still sleeping. The media has barely reported on the termination of female education, justice via limb-chopping, installing a shura system headed by an amir-ul-momineen in place of democracy, and cutting Afghanistan off from the modern world. Instead, Pakistani ire has been directed towards the western world. In actual fact, the Afghan people are starving and freezing to death because the Taliban fanatics are unyielding. What Pakistan’s civil society should be doing is underscoring the horrors of sharia under the Taliban. But Pakistan is so filled with brainwashed people, both in the ordinary public and in the civil-military elite, that facts are being swept under the carpet.
When religion is the currency of power, both the government and opposition will try to maximally exploit it to their advantage. What is being done to the Ahmadi community, for instance, is horrific. It is on the level of persecution that existed during Europe’s dark ages. We are on a de-civilizing trajectory with the addition of anti-Ahmadi clauses to the nikah-nama in Punjab being just another step downwards.
Radicalisation of the youth
In the civilized world, a key purpose of educational institutions is to produce leaders. This is through experience gained while one is in schools, colleges, and universities. Being involved in socially meaningful organizations is the way to create responsible individuals who know how to deal with important issues. Not having student unions opens up space for religious and ethnic organizations – and that’s exactly what happened in Pakistan after General Zia banned all unions, both for students and workers. The only group that was allowed to operate was the Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba who now have been overtaken by still more radical and murderous groups.
The writer is an Islamabad-based physicist and writer
Poor understanding of Two Nation Theory by Professor Hoodbhoy. As Sir Syed expounded this theory it was meant for political survival of Muslims of British India. Sir Syed stated this in a speech that Muslims and Hindus can’t live together in peace without ‘dominating each other’.