Preserving Pakistan
Ashraf Jehangir Qazi

There are ultimate questions that arise at critical times in a person’s or nation’s existence. They bear on the continued existence of the person or nation concerned. They are existential questions. They can be ignored for a while. They can be acknowledged and superficially addressed for a while longer. But a time comes when addressing them can no longer be put off without endangering the existence of the person or nation concerned.
That moment has arrived for Pakistan. It has arrived comprehensively. It comprises the political, economic, security, human rights, education, healthcare, press freedoms, institutional and governance situations. This comprehensive national pathology has generated deep-seated and widespread alienation, hopelessness, and the perception that criminal and arbitrary governance has become an extractive and permanent indigenous colonial occupation. Nothing could be more lethal for Pakistan.
The 1973 Constitution of Pakistan, along with its valid amendments, is the only legitimate fundamental law of Pakistan. Constitutional changes brought about through manipulations and pressures by the power establishment instead of through free and open debate in a properly elected parliament are in complete contempt of the people of Pakistan. They are also at the expense of the future of Pakistan. There can be no greater act of national betrayal.
Accordingly, the decision makers in Pakistan today must take account of the consequences of their acts of commission and omission for the future of the country and for coming generations of Pakistanis. Otherwise, history will hold them responsible for denying them a country and a national identity of their own. History will never absolve them.
No person or institution can legitimately be the master of Pakistan and its people. He or she can only legitimately be a servant of the people of Pakistan which is the highest honour any Pakistani can aspire to. A servant of the people, moreover, is chosen by the people. He does not appoint or impose himself. This is so obvious a truth that stating it should be unnecessary, except that it has not been the case in Pakistan for far too long. This situation today threatens the existence of the country.
Foreign or geo-strategic policy, however clever and smart, can never compensate for the cumulative effect of serious flaws in domestic governance. A failing state can never have a credible foreign or strategic policy. China, Pakistan’s truest friend, is fast losing faith in Pakistan. As a result, the whole edifice of Pakistan’s strategic policy faces collapse.
Similarly, economic strategies and technology policies can never compensate for the lack of good governance. Nor can imposed structural reforms such as the creation of a whole set of new provinces by breaking up existing ones achieve anything positive and lasting, unless they are demanded by the people affected. The attempt to create a greater Punjab through the military imposition of another One Unit can only fatally weaken the country.
On the contrary, once constitutionally legitimate and politically acceptable and responsible governance is in place, reform initiatives will have a political base rooted in the demonstrated interests and support of the people. This will provide the essential stability and momentum for their potential to be realised. Outside this context, ‘reforms’ will be seen as political gimmickry based on deceit and force. They will be resisted. They will not last. They will waste precious time. They will ensure that we have no means, no policies, and no time to meet and overcome the looming existential challenges of the Doomsday Clock.
So, what is to be done? This is both the easiest and the most difficult question to answer. Easy because the answers are obvious. Difficult, because those who currently determine policies will not do them, nor will they allow anyone else to do them, no matter what the consequences for the nation.
Accordingly, we must believe – for which we must have good reason to believe – that such pessimistic assumptions, although confirmed by decades of experience, are not the whole truth. This will require us to believe that those who have one way or another seized the power and means to determine the fate of the country in blatant violation of the Quaid-e-Azam’s clear instructions to the military not to concern itself with national politics will have the courage and decency to desist from exacerbating their grievous errors.
Accordingly, the concept of ‘hybrid governance’ is no more than a cover for unconstitutional, undemocratic and unacceptable military rule. It can only fatally exacerbate the political and security situation, instead of addressing and resolving it. Moreover, recruiting well paid ‘tout intellectuals’ to publicly lend credibility to non-credible policies is not only an act of cynicism, it is also an act of extreme infidelity towards our country. The middle-class intelligentsia has a critically important role to play in the development of a country. It has an obligation to resist any organised and systematic campaign of misinformation and disinformation that hollows out the foundations of the state.
Sadly, the Pakistani media and middle-class intelligentsia have shown very little stomach for a sustained struggle on behalf of what they know to be right and essential for the country’s survival. Keeping the faith is an essential ingredient for any freedom struggle, and cynicism and low self-esteem are the poison that kills it. We lost half our country because of these character failings – and they threaten the rest of our country today.
Pakistan today has a population of around 250 million souls whose potential, by and large, has been deliberately untapped for the convenience of the so-called elites who have chosen to prioritise their comforts and privileges over the welfare and potential of the people, and the survival of the country. The military, unfortunately, has allowed itself to become part of this hostile elite rather than guardian of the country. This has been the fundamental tragedy of our country.
By 2040, this exploited mass of Pakistanis will have ballooned to 400 million, by which time our elites plan to have escaped from the hell they have irresponsibly created to safer shores where their stolen assets await them. The evil of this situation is beyond description. There is a way out of this situation. But the doors to it have been locked and bolted. If this situation continues Pakistan’s epitaph shall read: “No one cared enough to serve this jewel of a country!”
Accordingly, we must refuse to lose hope, and we must believe in the fundamental decency, patriotism, humanity and commonsense of all Pakistanis, including those most responsible for the current dire state of the country. But hope alone, however pious, does not deliver. What is needed is honest resolve, concerted action and a determination to overcome all obstacles. We lost over half our population more than half a century ago through criminally insane policies based on an arrogant contempt and stupidity, and finally surrendered almost without a fight. Unforgivably, over the several decades since, we failed, rather, we were not allowed, to learn any lessons from that shameful military debacle and moral disaster.
Nevertheless, there is good in all of us, and we must expect, indeed demand, that those at the helm of power today will choose to be servants of the people of Pakistan by submitting to their just demands, which only their legitimately elected representatives can ascertain. Whatever shortcomings these representatives may have can be separately discussed and addressed. But there can never be any justification for aborting genuine constitutional and democratic rule. A loyal army can never oppose its will to that of the country.
Within this framework, all the challenges confronting Pakistan today in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Punjab, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir can be peacefully and satisfactorily resolved. Similarly, the people of Pakistan have overwhelmingly made it clear whom they regard as their elected national leader, and the decision to remove and incarcerate him because he refused to kowtow to dictation was one of the most shameful moments in our history. This disgraceful chapter needs to be brought to an immediate end by restoring the verdict of the people, and immediately releasing Imran Khan. A process of truth, justice, reconciliation and forgiveness can then ensue. If we are able to do all this, we shall stand tall, united and stronger than ever. We shall be in a position to forge principled relations of friendship and cooperation with all our neighbours, regional partners, the international community – and most importantly with China.