Pakistan: Anarchy of a Revolution without Enlightenment | Where History Will Take Us?

"In the past 60 plus years, Pakistan has not been able to figure out what was left to the future by the founder. Even now, nobody knows what Pakistan is and what it would be like. From the mouth of Pakistan’s founder to the acts of fanatics, it seems religiosity has naturally grown over Pakistan."

Ahmadiyya Times | News Staff | Opinion
Source & Credit: Chowk.com | March 23, 2010
By Tahir Qazi  

Where History Will Take Us?
Visiting Pakistan after 25 years was a great delight and a great disillusionment. Friends from the college vintage welcomed me with open arms at the airport. It was somewhat a surprise to suddenly share those gleeful moments together. The main road leading right out of the international airport hit a dirt patch. The paved road further down was full of motor vehicles, donkey carts and pedestrian traffic from all directions competing for every inch. The dust rose high everywhere and air felt scratchy. It tells the story for all of Pakistan. It is the story of social fabric of Pakistan that was always fragile, in shreds.


History hardly unfolds randomly. Present of history is the shadow of what has already moved past. Mr. Jinnah – The founder of a new Islamic State was at his best in speculative reasoning about Pakistan in an interview with Beverly Nicholas published in “Verdict on India”. He answered a question about future Pakistan on lack of clarity regarding defense, economics and minority issues etc; he says,

“When Ireland was separated from Britain, the document embodying the terms of separation was approximately ten lines. Ten lines of print to settle a dispute of incredible complexity which has poisoned British politics for centuries! All the details were left to the future.”

Mr. Nicholas questions, “How would you describe the vital principles of Pakistan?” Mr. Jinnah responds, “In five words. The Muslims are a Nation. If you grant that, and if you are an honest man, you must grant principle of Pakistan …..” (Page 189)

In the past 60 plus years, Pakistan has not been able to figure out what was left to the future by the founder. Even now, nobody knows what Pakistan is and what it would be like. From the mouth of Pakistan’s founder to the acts of fanatics, it seems religiosity has naturally grown over Pakistan.

Mr. Jinnah might have been aware that economics and culture would form the bedrock of the new society that he was about to carve on the globe with two wings a thousand miles apart. However, he chose a religious vision as the basis for freedom from the British colonial rule and allowed expediency to win over vision in the march towards Pakistan.

This fact alone hardly leaves any illusion about the social trajectory of Pakistan. Now, Pakistan is a reality with multiple paradoxes. Like other poor countries, Pakistan has an affluent and elite class. It is a state with a rich army and poor population, a nuclear bomb and no energy for the society, failing public schools and thriving religious madrasas (religious seminaries), dwindling economy and mounting foreign debt (aid) and deteriorating social infra-structure in the face of an ever-increasing population; only to name a few problems.

The failure of public education has left a big void in the social fabric of Pakistan. The budget for public education is about $400 million for a population of almost 175 million folks. Just a cursory look at these numbers would tell the story that education is not a priority in Pakistan and, it never has been. The void left by secular public educations is being filled by religious madrassa-education that does not nurture children for a modern day life.

Education in Pakistan has become a luxury that only rich can afford. It is hard to believe that it happens at the expense of general public that is marginalized in other civic affairs too. Dilution of civic values and social incoherence is assured by failing education and limiting its access to elites.

Ethnic discord in Pakistan runs deep. If anything, it was education and equal economic opportunity for all Pakistanis that could have created a unified nation. The national character of Pakistan has not emerged from the cacophony of religious sermons from the pulpit. A philosophical dialogue necessary to crystallize a unified national vision is fragmented and dysfunctional and thoughtful voices of social dialogue are peripheral and weak.

Pakistan chose to play the proxy for the US in the ongoing war in Afghanistan that started some decades ago. It is a common knowledge that money was poured into Pakistan along with weapons to promote a religious zeal for fighting a Jihad. Fanaticism would have shaped the future of Pakistan for numerous independent reasons but foreign money, poverty and lack of national character certainly contributed towards violent thinking as if any fight was a sacred Jihad. There are many shades of an entrenched violent religious mindset in Pakistan. Taliban are only one of them. Their rise in Pakistan is not a freak accident of social history.

There are countless TV discussions among Pakistani intellectuals. Most of them are debating ‘he said, she said’ at the expense of policy discussions. Lots of intellectuals bet that the future would be shaped by the media. Some consider it as the forth pillar of democracy in Pakistan. It is hard to disagree with the importance of media in any modern society. But, is it really the forth pillar of democracy in Pakistan?

Even if we consider the newly found voice of media as the forth pillar of democracy in Pakistan; its voice practically does not go beyond political theatrics, at this time. It does not forward an economic vision necessary for democracy as a social imperative. Democracy in any society is a national vision, social congruence, justice as a cultural value and education for the masses as a pedestal for all other values. Education is one of the bases for social justice in any modern society.

A short walk on any street of Pakistan would tell the story of a nation that has perfected the nuclear technology, has not found a remedy for the population explosion. The 18th century economist Thomas Malthus theorized the relationship between agricultural resources and a population that grows out of proportion to the available resources. There are good reasons to question his theory but Malthusian collapse may become inevitable for singular reason of population overgrowth.

Population is visibly coalescing towards urban centers. Out of despair, people in far flung villages see big cities as the place that would offer better opportunities for them and their families. There are countless shanty towns sprawling across Pakistan. Mushrooming of shanty towns is really not urbanization. It is overt poverty and failure of systematic social evolution. Annual rate of so called urbanization is about 3% as of 2009, but social infra-structure is certainly deteriorating. These facts pose a big dilemma.

Amid countless important issues, a safe long term bet for Pakistan is investment in education. Japan reigned by King Meiji about 150 years ago could be a good case study. After he conceived of modernizing Japan, 43 percent of Japan’s budget was being spent on education around the beginning of 20th century. As a result Japan was quickly able to recover after the nuclear holocaust rather than devolving into a mythological or regressive mindset to deal with post World War II social and economic realities. Among other factors, the education policy enacted by King Meiji generations ago rescued Japan in her most trying times.

There is not much evidence that Pakistan has ever changed its economic priorities from military to education. Among the big budgetary issues in Pakistan, servicing debt ranks number one followed by the military budget. In contrast, the budget for education is not even close to fulfill the needs of roughly 75 million children in Pakistan who are at an age where education should be their right. Sadly, they have nowhere to go!

Simple demographics presents a dire picture for the future of Pakistan. Even with a miracle Pakistan gets the best leaders in the future, the question would remain whether or not the chosen-one would be able to prevent a social collapse? Given the ideological trajectory and social and economic realities, Pakistan may have to brace for anarchy of the French Revolution (1789-1799) but will it lead to the Enlightenment as it did in France? It remains to be seen. The omen is not good.

Read the original article here: Anarchy of a Revolution without Enlightenment

http://www.chowk.com/articles/pakistan-anarchy-of-a-revolution-without-enlightenment-tahir-qazi.htm