On 14th August 1947, Pakistan was born out of sheer struggle, determination and sacrifices of the Muslims of the sub-continent. After right around 200 years of living subject to the British Indian Empire, the years following World War I and World War II, open the way for the Muslims living in India to go distinct and become an independent state. Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, his team and his devotees had done the incomprehensible. They had hammered out one of the largest Muslim countries of the world and grabbed it from the jaws of a debilitating British Empire and a hostile, extremist and superior numbers Hindu polity.
The idea that Hindustan belonged only to the Hindus was defeated. Muslim presence in the region since the times of Muhammad Bin Qasim had been recognized by the modern world and the rights of the Muslims were respected, unlike many years under the British who had defeated the Muslim Mughal rulers through crafty and disruptive strategies and rebuffed the Muslims of the sub-continent, as a result thereof. And keeping in mind that Muslim countries all over the world were battling between keeping their public, semantic, ethnic and regional identities versus religious, Pakistan chose to be an Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
It turned into a country that kept the predominant vision of the Holy Quran, turning into an encouraging sign and transformation. A glimmer that worn out religious standards could be renewed and a modern Islamic Republic could overcome any barrier of a majority rules government versus monarchical orders. The vision was a government assistance state, in view of the Shariah regulation, which brought the prescribed procedures of Western vote-based systems and adjusted it for individuals of Pakistan according to their social and strict prerequisites. A fantasy had worked out as expected after a horrendous nightmare of partition.
In the beginning, Pakistan started its excursion in a crippled state. Commerce was annihilated, rail routes were demolished during partition, power lines had been damaged, the central bank was close to insolvency, the government was drained of assets to help itself, the convergence of evacuees was an affront to injury and numerous other serious entanglements. Many people anticipated that Pakistan wouldn’t keep going very long. However, the cost of losing Pakistan was too great and the Quaid was as yet capable. The people of Pakistan had not lost their will and the ship was guided out of the tempests. Pakistan couldn’t be scattered according to the thoughts of the Quaid. The early death of Quaid-e-Azam was by far the first instance of instability. And after him, the cracks began to appear. The balance between the military and civil leadership was disturbed, little did the usurpers of power know, that it would have a bearing on generations to come.
At the point when Pakistan turned into a country on August 14th, 1947, to shape the biggest Muslim state in the world around then. The creation of Pakistan was a catalyst for the largest demographic movement in recorded history. Almost seventeen million human Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs are accounted for to have moved in the two headings of India and the two wings of Pakistan (the eastern wing is now Bangladesh). Sixty million of the 95 million Muslims on the Indian subcontinent became residents of Pakistan at the time of its creation. In this manner, 35 million Muslims stayed inside India making it the biggest Muslim minority in a non-Muslim state.
Scarred from birth, Pakistan’s journey for endurance has been essentially as convincing as it has been questionable. In spite of the common religion of its predominantly Muslim populace, Pakistan has participated in a problematic battle to characterise a public personality and develop a political framework for its etymologically different populace. Pakistan is known to have north of twenty dialects and more than 300 particular vernaculars, Urdu and English are the official languages however Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashtu, Baluchi and Seraiki are viewed as main languages. This diversity has caused persistent provincial pressures and progressive disappointments in framing a constitution. Pakistan has also been burdened by full-scale wars with India, a strategically exposed northwestern frontier, and a series of economic crises. It has difficulty allocating its scarce economic and natural resources in an equitable manner.
Dependency
All of Pakistan’s struggles underpin the dilemma they face in reconciling the goal of national integration with the imperatives of national security.
Following the defeat at the hands of India the breakaway of its eastern territory, which India divides it from, caused the foundation of Bangladesh in 1971. This situation epitomises the most dramatic manifestation of Pakistan’s dilemma as a decentralised nation. Political improvements in Pakistan keep on being damaged by commonplace jealousies and, specifically, by the profound feelings of resentment in the more modest territories of Sindh, Balochistan, and the North-West Frontier Province against what supposedly be a monopoly of the majority of the benefits of power, profit, and patronage. Pakistan’s political instability over the long run has been matched by a fierce philosophical discussion about the type of government it ought to take on, Islamic or secular. Without the broadly based ideological group, Pakistan has long needed to depend on the common assistance and the military to keep up with the coherencies of government.
If anything, Pakistan’s Islamic personality has not had the option to keep the nation joined together. As Pakistan commends its 76th Independence Day, the country is internally divided along religious lines. Islamic parties and right-wing conservative groups openly and regularly dispute the state’s writ.
Pakistan’s 1973 constitution spreads out the principles of administration. Be that as it may, political parties and state institutions have done all that to stomp on the rules that everyone must follow. For example, the genuine power in Pakistan doesn’t rest with the Prime Minister’s Office and Parliament, the two institutions that should settle on key strategy decisions under the constitution.
There are other institutions that have become so powerful that they have literally become a parallel state with little accountability.
The incongruity is that opportunistic politicians and religious fundamentalists look towards these state establishments for help to support their own grasp over power, and in the process reinforce their hold over the state’s affairs further.
Mismanagement
Pakistan is at present amidst one of the most awful political, constitutional, and monetary crises in its set of history. Parliament has become practically irrelevant as the political elite is at loggerheads. The country’s legal framework faces a breakdown, as thousands of cases remain pending in courts. The bureaucracy is profoundly politicised and opposes changes that could see the managerial framework turning out to be more viable.
The country’s security institutions are more associated with overseeing governmental issues than taking care of their ordered responsibilities under the constitution. Besides, militant groups and their philosophies have taken profound root in Pakistani society. As I write this, there is a mounting epic showdown among political groups and institutions which could see Pakistan getting destabilised substantially.
The country is undeniably more prejudiced, backward, and radical than ever before. To be sure, the greatest security crisis defying Pakistan today emanates from within instead of from outside.
In this setting, Independence Day ought to be a day to consider and contemplate the mix-ups of the past as opposed to commending fiction as history. The time has come for Pakistan’s initiative to do a few course remedies and ponder making Pakistan a country that is regarded, esteemed, and pursued by the world.
This Independence Day denotes the year when Pakistan is on its resurgence. Resuscitating the economy and transforming the public picture of Pakistan, there is not only hope but promise. Each Pakistani ought to keep his head high with what the country has accomplished in the beyond few years and should negate the politics of division and discord. Perhaps, Pakistan and the dream of Quaid-e-Azam was just delayed for a while, and is currently on its destined oath, by and by, with brilliance and honor.
Like never before, Pakistan needs a clear direction, any other way, the gradual decay of the state’s institutions and ethos would eventually lead to the implosion of the state.
Since Jinnah’s death in 1948, Pakistan’s leaders have marked Independence Day with fanfare, making sure that the founding father’s vision remains at the centre of all celebrations. However, with every passing year, the country has only moved further away from Jinnah’s vision.
To this day, debate remains open on whether Jinnah wanted a state whose laws were to come into conformity with Islam. On the other hand, many historians have argued that the creation of Pakistan was perhaps the unintended result of Jinnah’s strategy to force the Indian National Congress to accept a federated arrangement in which Muslim-majority provinces would have considerable autonomy.
If anything, Pakistan’s Islamic identity has not been able to keep the country united. As Pakistan celebrates its 76th Independence Day, the country is internally divided along religious lines. Islamic parties and right-wing conservative groups openly and regularly dispute the state’s writ.
Pakistan’s 1973 constitution lays out the rules of governance. However, political parties and state institutions have done everything to trample the laws of the land. For instance, the real power in Pakistan does not rest with the Prime Minister’s Office and Parliament – the two institutions that are supposed to make key policy decisions under the constitution.
There are other institutions that have become so powerful that they have literally become a parallel state with little accountability.
The irony is that opportunistic politicians and religious fundamentalists look towards these state institutions for support to sustain their own grip over power, and in the process strengthen their hold over the state’s affairs further.
More than ever, Pakistan needs a clear direction, otherwise, the gradual decay of the state’s institutions and ethos would eventually lead to the implosion of the state.