The founders of Pakistan committed themselves to Islam, which is as it should be , since basic reason for creation of Pakistan is to carve out a territory of Islam religion.
by N.S.Venkataraman
The history of Pakistan commenced in 1947, when Indian sub continent was split into two nations namely India and Pakistan.
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| Malam Jabba, Pakistan ( Unflash) |
While the basic reason for creation of Pakistan was to carve out a country of Islam, unfortunately, the mindset of Pakistan has not much changed and continue as that prevailed in 1947 and centric theme of Pakistan is still Islam and Islam only exclusively.. This is unlike so many other Islam countries such as in the middle east region, where the love for Islam has not prevented the countries from paying attention to the other aspects of the world and life and in the process such countries have made enormous progress and have entertained citizens from various parts of the world, irrespective of the country of origin or religious background, to enter the territory as job seekers, entrepreneurs or even as citizens.
The founders of Pakistan committed themselves to Islam, which is as it should be , since basic reason for creation of Pakistan is to carve out a territory of Islam religion. While practicing Islam religion with devotion and dedication, unfortunately Pakistan has also maintained it’s hatred and animosity towards India and Hindu religion. This is a negative stance, which has gradually and steadily taken Pakistan to a situation , where the country has got into a cobweb.
Since 1947, Pakistan has considered India as a rival and adversary, which has not helped the cause and progress of Pakistan. It is not as if there are no hate mongers of Pakistan in India . However, India has not allowed itself to be pre occupied with such hate feelings for Pakistan and has focused on several other aspects, that would contribute to economic, industrial and social progress. Of course, some sane voice was heard in Pakistan also suggesting that hate feeling and religious extremism should be given up, , but they were silenced.
Unfortunately, most part of the history of Pakistan is marked by military rule under the control of army generals. While army generals too tried to create a semblance of democracy in Pakistan by holding elections when the military generals converted themselves into political leaders and contested in the election. The military generals inevitably won !
In this process of constantly changing political climate in the country between military rule and democratic rule, the Islamic extremism grew by leaps and bounds, as the extremists were placated both by politicians and military generals ,as part of vote bank politics.
Unfortunately, the Islamic extremism became so entrenched, that in many cases, it looked and acted like Islamic terrorism. With military also playing a role in fostering Islamic terrorism, now , Pakistan itself has become a victim of terrorism as indicated by several terrorist acts including the latest one attack on Pakistan Stock Exchange in Karachi.
At this juncture, one should recognize that there are several knowledgeable and talented citizens in Pakistan and the country has also important agricultural products such as cotton and others as well as mineral and natural gas resources in places like Baluchistan. As Pakistan is largely focused on religious extremism and hate policy towards it’s neighbor, it has not forged ahead in economic and industrial progress based on the natural and mineral resources it possesses.
There is a saying that people living on glass house should not throw stone at others. Even when Pakistan is viewed as terrorist ridden country by the world community ( international tournaments and events are rarely organized in Pakistan these days due to terrorist attacks ), Pakistan is pre occupying itself in fostering trouble in Jammu and Kashmir by encouraging terrorist acts in Kashmir. On several occasions, government spokesmen and political leaders of Pakistan have not concealed their activities in supporting what they call as “freedom struggle” in Kashmir and encouraging terrorist activities.
With hatred and religious extremism against India becoming the central political theme in politics in Pakistan, the leadership of Pakistan thought that it would be clever on it’s part to firmly align with China and allowing China to set up and own infrastructure and other projects in Pakistan, as China is known to be anti India in it’s policies and priorities. Now, net result is that Pakistan is under the virtual control of China, with Gwadar port in Pakistan fully under the control of China and China laying pipeline and roadways from Gwadar port to Chinese territory.
In spite of the above negatives, there is still ray of hope for Pakistan.
All said and done, Pakistan government is now democratically elected and with the parliament functioning , justice system asserting itself and media and opposition parties often criticizing the government policies and programmes with confidence and courage. This is a good symptom.
Unfortunately, this democratic system in Pakistan still has not matured adequately to assert and make the country see the reason that Islamic extremism and hate policy towards neighbouring country would not be the right strategy for the future.
The ray of hope will be there for Pakistan, if quality political leadership would emerge with matured outlook and strong desire to make Pakistan to attain respectable role in the global arena. Such positive leadership would ensure that philosophy of religious extremism and hatred will gradually decline ,that would immediately contribute to economic and social progress of Pakistan in multiple directions.
Such positive leadership will ensure that Pakistan would find a solution to Kashmir dispute with India, slowly get out of Chinese control of Pakistan affairs and get rid of the religious extremism in the country.
It is in the hands of people of Pakistan to facilitate the growth of positive and progressive political leadership in the country . There are enough intellectuals and far sighted thinkers in Pakistan who can see the writing on the wall and can push Pakistan in positive direction. Certainly, the media in Pakistan would facilitate and support such positive forces in the country.
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