Pakistan: Earning distinction as a failing state
Enayet Rasul Bhuiyan | Saturday, 14 March 2009
Pakistanis are in the habit of blaming others for their troubles. Most of the time, their accusing finger is pointed towards India. At other times, it is the United States (US) which is cited as the villain keeping Pakistan in torments. Very seldom do Pakistanis ever entertain the idea in their minds that they themselves could be responsible in the main for their woes.
Only about a year ago, Pakistan was in flames over the rule of former President Musharaff. This writer wrote in this column at that time that Musharaff was necessarily not at the centrepoint of Pakistan's agony and that his removal would not usher in a period of bliss for this strife-torn country. Subsequent developments have only uncannily supported this view. Musharaff has been gone for over a year now. But peace and stability is nowhere to be seen in Pakistan. It is already in the throes of grave widespread troubles that could turn worse in the weeks ahead.
Earlier, the focal point of discontent was President Musharaff and his autocratic government. Pakistan now has an elected government in place in the post Musharaff period and the election that led to change in governance was recognized generally to be free and fair. But in no way the exit of Musharaff and his replacement by a new President or his party, led to sobering effects in that country. Rather, the new President is considered as ruling in despotic manner much like his hated predecessor. The opposition, in fury, has risen against him and with such vehemence that the whole country is under a threat of being pulled down by the associated violence and mayhem. So distressing and disorderly has been the course of politically induced violence in Pakistan, that the army chief Ashfaq Kayani, sent an ultimatum of sorts to the government to take measures to restore reasonable normalcy . What would happen if the warning goes unresponded, can only be guessed. It could be an army takeover afresh in Pakistan, according to analysts.
But army takeovers as were proven by past such takeovers in Pakistan, led to no long term sustainable solution of the country's problems of good governance. The army rules accompanied by crackdown on dissent in any form , created only volcanoes of dissatisfaction that erupted from time to time to pull the country down in different ways.
Besides, the army rule could not dissolve the centrifugal forces that have been building up. Specially, the greatest threat to the security of Pakistan stems today from Taleban influence spreading across the country. Not only Taleban, but other extremist or terrorist forces such as Al-Queida and Lashkar-e-Taiyaba , are also becomne growingly important in the affairs of Pakistan. The Taleban stranglehold has become so strong in parts of the country, that the command of the central or provincial governments are hardly respected there. The federal authorities recently struck a deal with the Talebans in the Swat valley that would allow the latter to introduce their version of the Shariah laws. The Talebans have been destroying schools in that region and forcing the girls to stay indoors away from schools as part of enforcement of their views of Shariah laws. And now the central government has succumbed to this scheme.
It used to be thought that Taleban influence exists only in the fringes or in the frontier areas. How wrong this view is can be seen in the writing of a brilliant Pakistani expatriate in Australia. Lahore, the cultural capital of Pakistan, has a huge concentration of the mainstream population of that country. The Lahorites were always known for their cosmopolitan existence and cultural liberalism and cultural flourishment. But it appears from the writings of this young Pakistani expatriate in the Internet that Talebans are finding and enlarging their footholds in this once vibrant centre of culture and arts. They are sending threat letters to coffee shops, art schools, cyber cafes and other places of hang-outs of young Pakistanis that they would meet dire consequences for their decadent life-style. In his writings, this young Pakistani expresses his fears about the increasing influence of the Talebans and like forces in the main centres of population, which is pushing young people like him to go abroad to escape the growing presence of the extremists in Pakistani society. Indeed, the above has been vindicated by other accounts by other persons in Pakistan that the influence of the Talebans is rising in the main centres of population in Pakistan and the Taleban threat is not only limited to the bordering areas.
It is ironic that even many of Pakistan's best educated persons have a rather confused view of the future. A survey was carried out sometime ago by a US based research group. They put their question among a large number of well educated Pakistanis about what force or philosophy should guide developments in their country. The respondents to this question were expected to say that they wanted modern education, science and technology, good governmental policies, etc., to be the guiding factors. But instead, they overwhelmingly expressed the opinion that they considered ' Islam or more application of Islam as the cure for all the ills that Pakistan was facing.' Thus, the greatest threat to Pakistan stems from its population not having clear visions about what they want. There is probably a better view of the future but the ones having such ideas seem to be decreasing in number.
Somehow, the ruling elites in Pakistan must get their acts together engaging in deep introspection. They must have the courage to accept that it is not so much the hostile world outside but the warped thought processes and activities of a growing number of their own, which is helping to make their country a happy hunting ground of regressive and intolerant forces. If they fail to arrest this deadly trend through effective coping and elimination strategies, then fairly soon Pakistan could be branded as a rogue state or a pariah state with all its adverse implications. Already troubles in that country have earned for it the distinction as a failing state.
Only about a year ago, Pakistan was in flames over the rule of former President Musharaff. This writer wrote in this column at that time that Musharaff was necessarily not at the centrepoint of Pakistan's agony and that his removal would not usher in a period of bliss for this strife-torn country. Subsequent developments have only uncannily supported this view. Musharaff has been gone for over a year now. But peace and stability is nowhere to be seen in Pakistan. It is already in the throes of grave widespread troubles that could turn worse in the weeks ahead.
Earlier, the focal point of discontent was President Musharaff and his autocratic government. Pakistan now has an elected government in place in the post Musharaff period and the election that led to change in governance was recognized generally to be free and fair. But in no way the exit of Musharaff and his replacement by a new President or his party, led to sobering effects in that country. Rather, the new President is considered as ruling in despotic manner much like his hated predecessor. The opposition, in fury, has risen against him and with such vehemence that the whole country is under a threat of being pulled down by the associated violence and mayhem. So distressing and disorderly has been the course of politically induced violence in Pakistan, that the army chief Ashfaq Kayani, sent an ultimatum of sorts to the government to take measures to restore reasonable normalcy . What would happen if the warning goes unresponded, can only be guessed. It could be an army takeover afresh in Pakistan, according to analysts.
But army takeovers as were proven by past such takeovers in Pakistan, led to no long term sustainable solution of the country's problems of good governance. The army rules accompanied by crackdown on dissent in any form , created only volcanoes of dissatisfaction that erupted from time to time to pull the country down in different ways.
Besides, the army rule could not dissolve the centrifugal forces that have been building up. Specially, the greatest threat to the security of Pakistan stems today from Taleban influence spreading across the country. Not only Taleban, but other extremist or terrorist forces such as Al-Queida and Lashkar-e-Taiyaba , are also becomne growingly important in the affairs of Pakistan. The Taleban stranglehold has become so strong in parts of the country, that the command of the central or provincial governments are hardly respected there. The federal authorities recently struck a deal with the Talebans in the Swat valley that would allow the latter to introduce their version of the Shariah laws. The Talebans have been destroying schools in that region and forcing the girls to stay indoors away from schools as part of enforcement of their views of Shariah laws. And now the central government has succumbed to this scheme.
It used to be thought that Taleban influence exists only in the fringes or in the frontier areas. How wrong this view is can be seen in the writing of a brilliant Pakistani expatriate in Australia. Lahore, the cultural capital of Pakistan, has a huge concentration of the mainstream population of that country. The Lahorites were always known for their cosmopolitan existence and cultural liberalism and cultural flourishment. But it appears from the writings of this young Pakistani expatriate in the Internet that Talebans are finding and enlarging their footholds in this once vibrant centre of culture and arts. They are sending threat letters to coffee shops, art schools, cyber cafes and other places of hang-outs of young Pakistanis that they would meet dire consequences for their decadent life-style. In his writings, this young Pakistani expresses his fears about the increasing influence of the Talebans and like forces in the main centres of population, which is pushing young people like him to go abroad to escape the growing presence of the extremists in Pakistani society. Indeed, the above has been vindicated by other accounts by other persons in Pakistan that the influence of the Talebans is rising in the main centres of population in Pakistan and the Taleban threat is not only limited to the bordering areas.
It is ironic that even many of Pakistan's best educated persons have a rather confused view of the future. A survey was carried out sometime ago by a US based research group. They put their question among a large number of well educated Pakistanis about what force or philosophy should guide developments in their country. The respondents to this question were expected to say that they wanted modern education, science and technology, good governmental policies, etc., to be the guiding factors. But instead, they overwhelmingly expressed the opinion that they considered ' Islam or more application of Islam as the cure for all the ills that Pakistan was facing.' Thus, the greatest threat to Pakistan stems from its population not having clear visions about what they want. There is probably a better view of the future but the ones having such ideas seem to be decreasing in number.
Somehow, the ruling elites in Pakistan must get their acts together engaging in deep introspection. They must have the courage to accept that it is not so much the hostile world outside but the warped thought processes and activities of a growing number of their own, which is helping to make their country a happy hunting ground of regressive and intolerant forces. If they fail to arrest this deadly trend through effective coping and elimination strategies, then fairly soon Pakistan could be branded as a rogue state or a pariah state with all its adverse implications. Already troubles in that country have earned for it the distinction as a failing state.