Source & Credit: Central Chronicle
Editorial | July 14, 2010
The sympathy and support of the military regimes and the Inter Services Intelligence was always there for the dominant Sunni sect which in turn had the support of Saudi Arabia- RJ Khurana
From day of its inception Pakistan has been suffering from multiple inter-provincial cum ethnic haemorrhages. Of the 5 provinces of Pakistan namely East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), Sind, Balochistan, NWFP and the Punjab, the Punjab and the Punjabi politicians occupied the most dominant positions, kept all the levers of control in their hands and most of all treated all other provinces as made up of inferior classes of people.
The big brotherly attitude was strongly resented by other provinces. They were never comfortable with the Punjabi highhandedness in all matters-political, economic, administrative and military and had an uneasy feeling of having been cheated on all counts at their hands.
The first to revolt were the Balochs who declared independence that was ruthlessly suppressed.Since then there have been four more uprisings. Next were the Sindhis who launched "Jiye Sind" movement for independence from Pakistan. The Jiye Sind movement was partially resolved by colonization of Sind by the retired Pak army generals, Pathans and Balochs.
Dissatisfaction on various counts including contined economic and military neglect led to the birth of the independent nation of Bangladesh, There had been uneasy peace in the NWFP. Large areas of NWFP remained unadministered or loosely administered..
Meanwhile, the unhappy migrants from India (Muhajirs) added another tricky dimension to the inter-provincial cum ethnic conflict. They nursed a grouse that they were being discriminated against by all other nationalities in Pakistan and demanded a homeland of their own that for long led to serious disturbances in Karachi and other cities and towns of Sind. This Muhajirs are still in revolt over the injustice meted out to them.
Obssession with annexation of Kashmir made Pakistan army all powerful in political and strategic affairs and Pak establishment to join the American axis.
A far more serious development has been the rise of sectarian conflict and its off shoot jihadi terrorism. It has hit Pakistan in a big way. Hardly a day passes without the members of one sect not attacking the members of the other sect. Hundreds of lives have been lost on all sides of the sharpening sectarian divide.
First to be targetted were the Ahmediyas, a minority sect founded in Qadian, in Gurdaspur in India whose members moved to Pakistan after the country came into existence on August 14, 1947. They hardly knew what was in store for them in the Promised Land. Z.A. Bhutto could not withstand the pressure of the Sunni Mullahs and declared Ahmediyas a non-Islamic sect in 1977. Since then a large number of them have fled from Pakistan in disgust to settle in other countries. Ahmediyas are businessmen. their expulsion dealt a serious blow to business, industry and commerce.
Zia's coming to power led to the empowerment of the Saudi brand of Sunni sect of Islam (Wahabism). This sect declared a sort of war on the Shias who too had felt empowered by the establishment of a Shia Islamic state in Iran. Since then there have been numerous clashes between the two dominant sects. The two have on their pay roll a number of terror groups.
The Sunni-Shia conflict has reached horrendous proportions and threatens to deepen further. Now even the Sufi shrines are under threat of attacks by the Sunni Lashkars.
The sympathy and support of the military regimes and the Inter Services Intelligence was always there for the dominant Sunni sect which in turn had the support of Saudi Arabia. This official policy received a fillip with the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and US-Saudi combine's extra state military initiative to defeat the Soviet. The goal having been achieved, these non-state actors have turned the barrels of their guns against the US as also against the Pak establishment.
Continuing conflict in Afghanistan has further exacerbated the ethnic and sectarian divide. US intervention is highly resented. Having become increasingly dependent on the US for help and support in strategic affairs and military and economic aid for its survival, Pakistan is stuck in the American embrace, Pakistan seems to have reached a dead end vis-e-vis some solution to its myriad political, economic and strategic problems.
Read original post here: Watch Tower: Pakistan's strategic & political chaos-genesis and impact
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