PAKISTAN – A PERSPECTIVE

PAKISTAN – A PERSPECTIVE

By: Anwar Ahmad Hanafi


Western, especially American analysts and think-tanks continue to draw and project somber, indeed doomsday scenarios about Pakistan’s future. There are some who even predict the eventual meltdown of Pakistan. Their prognosis about Pakistan is dismal and sickening. Pakistan could be Yugoslavia in the making; it has been claimed, albeit with a nuclear capability. Yugoslavia disintegrated in the wake of dismemberment of the Soviet Union and the East European bloc twenty years back. The emerging South Asian order, visualized by some Western analysts, perceives Pakistan as a nation gripped with economic crises, ethnic or sectarian strife with the people of smaller provinces protesting and agitating against the domination by comparatively bigger provinces in terms of resources and demography, breakdown of law and order, growing Islamic militancy and extremism and to add to all these perceptions we have Professor Shaun Gregory of Bradford University, having claimed to have the expertise on Pakistan acquired during a visiting fellowship programme with Pakistan’s ISS in the year 2000, engages himself in a rhetoric that a direct attack on Pakistan’s nuclear weapons infrastructure by the Taliban could not be ruled out. He obviously is ignorant of Pakistan’s command and control system of its nuclear infrastructure.

Rather than being unduly depressed or frightened by doomsday scenarios painted by doomsayers, the requirement is that we sit up and take notice of their efforts to degrade Pakistan at all forums and concurrently devise bold and innovative strategies to turn around our sagging economic fortunes, increase our tax revenues, step up exports to reduce the trade gap, revive the industry, increase agricultural production, reduce the fiscal deficit and progressively retire the external debt rather than add to it exponentially. Economic self reliance is the key to resurgence. Non-productive spending by all the institutions must be substantially reduced.

By far the most serious challenge that we are facing is handling of extremism and terrorism. We have to meet this formidable threat with courage and conviction, for it is seriously hurting our economy by driving both foreign and local investors away. Poverty alleviation and spread of education are also serious imperatives for meeting the growing menace of militancy and extremism. These require an economic upturn, which must be forthcoming before long. Good democratic governance and inexpensive and speedy justice are the other imperatives for improving the political and economic climate generally.

There is absolutely no reason, however, to be despondent, or even skeptical, about Pakistan’s future as it has been borne to stay. For one thing, the progress of doom coming from doomsayers in the West is wildly speculative. For another, it is well within our power, given the will to survive and develop, not only to avert any possible disaster but to decisively and irreversibly turn around our sagging fortunes. Ours is a land very rich in natural resources. Our people do not lack talent, innovativeness or capacity for sustained hard work. Our engineers, doctors and other professionals who have over the years emigrated to the West have won accolades there. The brain drain has obviously resulted from lack of opportunities and could be reversed by accelerated economic and industrial development. We are the only nuclear capable country in the Islamic world. Given a sincere committed and dedicated leadership, we can definitely build a stronger Pakistan. There is no ground for skeptism or cynicism. Our intelligentsia in particular, must rid itself of self doubts for it is vibrant self belief that animates and motivate nations.

When Pakistan became a reality in August 1947, many a doubting Thomas questioned the new nation’s viability. It was predicted by detractors that the fledgling state would melt down in a matter of months. But the resolute and defiant Quaid-i-Azam, who had achieved Pakistan in the teeth of relentless opposition from the British as well as the Indians, declared that Pakistan had come to stay and that no power on earth could undo it.

The dominion of India had grudgingly allocated only 200 million rupees to Pakistan, which was a mere five percent of the cash balance of four billion rupees held by the Government of British India on the eve of sub-continent’s partition. A cash strapped and virtually resource less Pakistan had to contend with the arrivals of millions of destitute refugees from across the political divide and their rehabilitation. As far as accession of Kashmir was concerned at the time of partition, India illegally occupied it by force in October 1947. Pakistan had hardly any troops to go into the state and resist the illegal occupation based on a fraudulent accession by India.

The nascent state resolutely overcame the turmoil and near-chaos that attended its birth. If Pakistan could manage to survive at birth with honour and dignity, there is certainly no reason why we cannot overcome the present challenges of terrorism and economic crunch. There is no option for us but to consolidate and build now that we are stronger as we come out from the terrorism menace. We need not be alarmed or scared by the adverse and misleading propaganda of the Western media. We should rather steel our determination to frustrate all doomsday scenarios and forge ahead with a firm and unwavering resolve and an indomitable will. We have to rediscover the undying spirit demonstrated by the nation during various major events that we were confronted with like the epic struggle for our freedom from the clutches of the British India in 1947, the war with India in September 1965, and, more recently in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in October 2005.