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Mainstream, VOL LI, No 33, August 3, 2013

In Search of Pakistaniat

Saturday 3 August 2013

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BOOK REVIEW

by Sajad Padder

Pakistan—Unique Origins; Unique Destiny? by Javed Jabbar; publisher: National Book Foundation, Islamabad (Pakistan); 2011; pages: 246.

The book “Pakistan—Unique Origins; Unique Destiny?” is written by Javed Jabbar, a former Senator of Pakistan. The book is divided into six parts. Barring the sixth part, which contains bibliography, all other parts are left with blank pages at the end for further information and feedback from the readers. The author’s aim is to make the people of Pakistan and the world community aware about the novel aspects of Pakistan’s origins. He tries to identify the factors which make Pakistan’s origins virtually the single-most unique set of origins amongst all nation-states in the world. But the author immediately cautions that being of unique origins is by no means a guarantee for perpetual existence. For a country that has already survived the trauma of disintegration in 1971, some of the factors that make Pakistan’s origins unique, may also seem to make it abidingly vulnerable to erosion and further division.

The author argues that the peculiar circum-stances of Pakistan’s birth may seem to make it an “overnight” creation, or an accident of history. But the origins of Pakistan as an aspirational fulfilment of Muslim nationalism in parts of South Asia are firmly and deeply rooted in history. At one extreme it may be construed that the Pakistan of 1947 and the Pakistan of post-1947 are the inevitable conse-quences of the process that began over a thousand years ago when the first Muslim stepped on to the soil of South Asia. At another extreme, it can be surmised that for a variety of reasons the sense of separateness between Muslims and Hindus became sharply accentuated after 1857. If leaders seem to reflect their followers’ views, relations of trust and mutual respect between leaders and their respective religious communities declined after 1857 over the next 70 to 80 years. Finally, the rush and complexity of events in the 1940s made Pakistan inevitable.

The author believes that the disintegration of Pakistan in 1971 does not negate the “two-nation theory”. The pride and zeal with which an average Bangladeshi Muslim retains his/her Muslim identity only shows that, far from the two-nation theory having failed in 1971, it has simply evolved into a two-nation-three state theory, that is, predominantly Muslim Pakistan, predominantly Muslim Bangladesh and Muslim Indians, constituting about 15 per cent of India’s population who wish to live within a predominantly Hindu society. The author, after analysing the nitty-gritty of “state and nation”, argues that a nation can exist in one or more territories, but without a common state. For example, the Kurds, which are a distinct nation, live separately in Iraq, Turkey, Iran, and else-where, but do not have an independent Kurd state. Another example is the United Kingdom which is a single state that contains four nations: the English, the Scots, the Welsh and the Northern Irish.

The author then proceeds with the reasons, good or bad, that make Pakistan’s origin unique. To begin with, Pakistan is the only nation-state whose name is an invented adjective. In Urdu the word “Pakistan” means “land of the pure”. The name of only one other nation-state, that is, Liberia, is derived from a concept of the ideal. The word Liberia means “land of the free”. Pakistan is the only country created with two wings separated by 1000 miles with no friendly country in between. Although Alaska and Hawaii are separated from the rest of the USA by long distances, but they became formal parts of the USA in 1959, that is, about 183 years after the USA became an independent nation-state in 1776. Pakistan is the only nation-state created on the principle of religious identity on land which is neither the “homeland” of that religion nor the “headquarters” of that religion. Neither did Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) live in, nor did he travel to the land that constitutes the territory of Pakistan. Nor did the first four Caliphs ever step foot on the land that is now Pakistan.

The author reminds us that Pakistan is the only nation-state which was created at 10 weeks’ notice. In the selection of August 14 and 15, 1947 as the dates for the independence of both Pakistan and India, there was supreme arrogance and self-centredness on the part of Viceroy Mountbatten. The British Government authorised Mountbatten to prepare plans for British withdrawal on/or before June 1948, that is, about 15 months after his arrival in India on March 22, 1947. Instead of using all the time-frame given to him, he arbitrarily advanced the deadline for British withdrawal by 10 months. Mountbatten chose mid-August 1947 because the date marked the exact second anniversary of the date on which the Japanese forces in World War II formally surrendered to Allied troops under Mountbatten’s command in Burma (Myanmar) on August 15, 1945 to mark the end of the war.

Pakistan is a state located on land with a 7000-year history of human civilisation but which began its evolution with a Pakistani national identity only after becoming a nation-state in 1947. This is unlike Greece or Egypt or China or Persia where there are also signs of some of the pioneering sites of human civilisation. But in these countries the same national identities have existed for hundreds or thousands of years. Pakistan is also the first nation-state which disintegrated after World War-II in 1971. The imposition of “Urdu” as the official language acted as a precursor to the liberation struggle of Bangladesh. The author holds that although the leadership of West Pakistan generally perceived Hindu East Pakistanis to be “enemies” of Pakistan, but in reality a large majority of Hindu East Pakistanis were poor, peaceful, law abiding citizens of Pakistan.

Pakistan is the only nation-state in the world in which the majority of the population (East Pakistanis) separated from its own nation-state and in which the minority of the population (West Pakistanis) retained the original name of the nation-state.   

After bringing out the reasons that constitute the uniqueness of Pakistan, the author lists the strengths of Pakistan. He holds that Pakistanis are a very resilient people capable of absorbing great shocks, trauma and tragedy to carry on in life. Pakistan has a strong, independent superior judiciary setting unprecedented standards of accountability and protection of the public interest. Pakistan has a vibrant, flourishing mass media sector. The media in Pakistan exercises freedom of expression that is difficult to find in any other Muslim country or even in many other developing or developed countries.

The author maintains that Pakistan is a very hospitable country. The country has hosted over 2.5 million Afghan refugees for about 30 years. Pakistan is also the first Muslim country to develop and test nuclear weapons in 1998. The country has allocated 17 per cent of seats to women in both Houses of the Federal Parliament and in the four provincial legislatures.

After highlighting the strengths of Pakistan, the author points to the weaknesses of the country. The Human Development Index of the country is deplorable. Corruption is also rampant in Pakistan. Religious extremism is peaking up. The brutal assassination of Salmaan Taseer, the Governor of Punjab, on January 14, 2011 in Islamabad is the most recent and tragic example of how the name of the great religion of Islam is misused by ignorant fanatics to kill and injure human beings who simply call for amendment to defective laws. The author further admits that the non-Muslims are routinely persecuted in the country by easily invoking the blasphemy law.

The author also deplores that there are 6.8 million children in Pakistan who are not enrolled even in primary schools. The women bear the ire of patriarchy. Besides, the Pakistani Armed Forces have a tendency to intervene in the political domain and enjoy special privileges. Of the four military interventions in Pakistan, the author places the second one by Yahya Khan (1969-1971) to be the most tragic one. It was during this period that the country got divided and East Pakistan became the new nation of Bangladesh.

In part-E of this book, the author tries to identify the unique destiny of Pakistan. He wishes that the preferred unique destiny has to be in the direction of a rational, compassionate society guided by knowledge and values of humanism. The author’s message is that the Muslims of Pakistan will have to come to terms with the scientific knowledge. Pakistan has to prevent the sectarianism within Islam from keeping Muslims divided. Pakistan has to devise methods to confront murderous terrorism and extremism perpetuated in the name of Islam.

At the end the author believes that the unique destiny of Pakistan will be considerably shaped by the country’s relations with India. There is need of a transforming breakthrough in relations with India so that the scare resources could be diverted for welfare measure instead of spending on defence procurement.

There are few instances in the book where a reader could disagree with the author’s viewpoint. The author advocates compulsory voting in Pakistan and favours penalty for those people who do not vote. I believe that Pakistan is still in a nascent democracy. People have witnessed long periods of military rule. In the midst of all this, to expect that every Pakistani will vote in the elections is a futile dream. Similarly the author stresses that every Pakistani must be a member of a political party so as to enhance the national cause. But there is no guarantee that the people with political affiliations serve the nation better. Nations can be adequately served outside the realm of party politics.

Also besides India, Pakistan has to develop cordial relations with all its neighbours including Afghanistan. After the expected withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan in 2014, the region is supposed to plunge into chaos and confusion. Pakistan has a crucial role to play in the stability of Afghanistan. It remains to be seen whether Afghanistan will become another battleground for India and Pakistan or they will act in collaboration for the basic interests of the Afghan people. This book is a good read for scholars and students interested in Pakistan affairs and South Asia at large.

Sajad Padder is a Ph.D Student in the Department of Political Science, University of Kashmir, Srinagar.    

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