After Ideology, geography is the most important stage of a society's growth. It defines culture, tradition, language, profession and commerce. Similar to the question of ideology, the geography of Pakistan is also a point of much debate. Kashmir and Bangladesh complicate the situation further that was already debating whether our geography starts and ends with Indonesia and Morocco or with Nagaland and Afghanistan.
The lack of a clear definition of geographical boundary has rendered the questions of culture, language and commerce wide open leading to complex ethnic issues now deep rooted in our DNA. The serious mistrust between the handful of ethnicities is on the verge of tearing the country apart. The only thing keeping the country together is the corrupt leadership of all ethnicities. They know that they have to scratch each other's back to control the masses of each region. Divide and conquer. So our federation is bound by the ideology of corruption and the Supreme Court deposed justice Iftikhar seems to be challenging that. No leader or intellectual has so far put forth a plan to bring the warring Baluch and Pakhtoons back into the federation. Do we not consider that to be part of our geography? What is prohibiting us from reaching out to these factions? More importantly, what is the common message that will bring them back into the country? Do we have such a message? Wouldn't an ideology be a good tool to have at this point. Since nothing is bringing us together, even minor differences are forcing us apart.
The ethnic divide in Pakistan is at a point where no one seems to even have an idea how to bridge it. Like the group of poor people losing faith in Allah, we seem to have accepted this ethnic divide as a cornerstone of our society. A deeper look into this ethnic mistrust makes one realize that basically it is all economics that is dividing us further and creating this animosity amongst our own people. Muhajirs don't trust Punjabis and that has changed since the 80s when GM Syed led Sindhi separatist groups were the main rivals of Muhajirs. There seems to be some truce between the Sindhis and Muhajirs more like a realization at the people level that we are in this together. The combined hatred or suspicion of Punjabis is always there. The Muhajir Pakhtoon situation is also stirring up with frequent attempted and somewhat damaging conflicts between MQM and ANP. Baluchs don't seem to be interested in any other group and Pakhtoons are confused between the arbitrary boundary that the British used to divide NWFP and Afghanistan.
The problem of Ideology may be a little simpler to solve compared with the problem of geography. people need to realize that it doesn't matter what their ethnicity is. What matters is how much money and power they have. Poor Punjabis in Punjab are being oppressed by the rich Punjabis and are no different than the poor Sindhis in Sindh. It is not about ethnicity, it is about money and power. However, this type of message is nowhere to be found in print or electronic media.
Next come the analysis of Politics and the state of political affairs in Pakistan.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
1. Ideology of Pakistan
This fundamental question is still debated as firecely as it was during 1945 to 1947. Is Pakistan a Muslim country or a country for Muslims? I am not going to try and answer this question but the fact that this question is unanswered has consequences. I am going to talk about the consequences.
There is a clear divide among the populous on the issue of ideology. The educated and well-to-do tend to have a more modernist opinion that Islam is antiquated and cannot address the challenges of today's global village. There are people who have access to foreign lands and they have seen how lack of religion helps a society grow and prosper. But that group of people is small. A much larger group of people is the one following this opinion blindly. Media is fueling this concept by adopting Indian and American cultures and presenting them as it is what we are. This is a dangerous trend creating an identity crisis. Marriage functions, social gatherings and entertainment is all pushing the society in this direction of confusion where we are starting to think of us as something like that of Americans. Consumerism is on the rise and appears to be the sole purpose of life. Young professionals working hard and smart are only focused on one thing. Ability to get a high-paying job to afford a nice car, frequent dinning out and brand name clothing and personal care accessories. "He who has the most toys wins" sums up the mindset of this group within middle, upper middle and the elite in our country.
The next group is the one which hates the first group. They also have confusion and division on what is the Ideology of their country. In the absence of the ideology, they bond together on a common hatred that of west. It shows up with different names capitalism, consumerism, secularism, westernism, Americanism, etc. but if you dig deeper there are the same 3-4 arguments about Jews, Riba, Oil and Nuclear Assets. There are groups who want to declare Jihad on this hated entity. Then their are groups that want to convert all the "
misguided" and then there are who want to establish Khilafat. None of them have been able to start with the ideology rather with nostalgia and hatred of this one confused evil entity which at times includes World Bank and IMF.
The 3rd group is of the downtrodden and beaten up masses of this country facing oppression, injustice, hunger and humiliation. This type of catastrophe used to turn people towards their only Hope, that of Allah. People tend to become more religious when faced with a predicament. However, this group has been beaten up so badly that they have even lost Hope. Some have accepted this to be their destiny and therefore they are not complaining. They know they are supposed to be beaten up like that. Fathers seeing their daughters gang raped in broad day light, mothers seeing their kids surviving on 1 meal every 2-3 days, youth toiling in the fields or on the streets to get enough labor for 1 piece of bread is being accepted as the purpose of living. The loss in faith in Islam or Allah is tied to loss in Hope. Hope has been taken away from these people. This actually has given rise to Pir-Faqir and Urs and Mannat at numerous tombs and mazaars across the country. The average count of people visiting these places has dramatically increased. Even though their situation doesn't change but at least they see that as making some effort.
So basically lack of Ideology and lack of Identity is pushing our society in three primary directions and then there are sub branches of these primary stems in all sorts of directions. We are heading farther and farther away from each other.
Next I will address the Geography
There is a clear divide among the populous on the issue of ideology. The educated and well-to-do tend to have a more modernist opinion that Islam is antiquated and cannot address the challenges of today's global village. There are people who have access to foreign lands and they have seen how lack of religion helps a society grow and prosper. But that group of people is small. A much larger group of people is the one following this opinion blindly. Media is fueling this concept by adopting Indian and American cultures and presenting them as it is what we are. This is a dangerous trend creating an identity crisis. Marriage functions, social gatherings and entertainment is all pushing the society in this direction of confusion where we are starting to think of us as something like that of Americans. Consumerism is on the rise and appears to be the sole purpose of life. Young professionals working hard and smart are only focused on one thing. Ability to get a high-paying job to afford a nice car, frequent dinning out and brand name clothing and personal care accessories. "He who has the most toys wins" sums up the mindset of this group within middle, upper middle and the elite in our country.
The next group is the one which hates the first group. They also have confusion and division on what is the Ideology of their country. In the absence of the ideology, they bond together on a common hatred that of west. It shows up with different names capitalism, consumerism, secularism, westernism, Americanism, etc. but if you dig deeper there are the same 3-4 arguments about Jews, Riba, Oil and Nuclear Assets. There are groups who want to declare Jihad on this hated entity. Then their are groups that want to convert all the "
misguided" and then there are who want to establish Khilafat. None of them have been able to start with the ideology rather with nostalgia and hatred of this one confused evil entity which at times includes World Bank and IMF.
The 3rd group is of the downtrodden and beaten up masses of this country facing oppression, injustice, hunger and humiliation. This type of catastrophe used to turn people towards their only Hope, that of Allah. People tend to become more religious when faced with a predicament. However, this group has been beaten up so badly that they have even lost Hope. Some have accepted this to be their destiny and therefore they are not complaining. They know they are supposed to be beaten up like that. Fathers seeing their daughters gang raped in broad day light, mothers seeing their kids surviving on 1 meal every 2-3 days, youth toiling in the fields or on the streets to get enough labor for 1 piece of bread is being accepted as the purpose of living. The loss in faith in Islam or Allah is tied to loss in Hope. Hope has been taken away from these people. This actually has given rise to Pir-Faqir and Urs and Mannat at numerous tombs and mazaars across the country. The average count of people visiting these places has dramatically increased. Even though their situation doesn't change but at least they see that as making some effort.
So basically lack of Ideology and lack of Identity is pushing our society in three primary directions and then there are sub branches of these primary stems in all sorts of directions. We are heading farther and farther away from each other.
Next I will address the Geography
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Stages of Societal Growth
For a society to establish and grow it has to go through the following stages
- Ideology
- Geography
- Political System
- Justice System and
- Economic System
The Ideology brings the people together. It is the message that links people into a chain. Their emotions and intellect become affiliated and their faith and trust on their fellow human being is established. Once the ideology is accepted and adopted, the group then needs physical space where they can live together. Immigrants moving to a new land or country in droves is a classic example of Ideology and Geography being interlinked. Once the geography is secured, next come the power structure needed for governance of that geography and people. This is the political system required to formulate a power structure and creation of succession plans within the power corridors. Democracy, theocracy, monarchy are all forms of the political system.
It can be debated whether a system of justice comes before a system of politics. The argument is that if the politicians are corrupt, they will never let the system of justice prevail. In an existing society this is probably true but if we look at the evolution of society from the very begining, someone in power has to form the code of conduct. So rules of conduct with fellow citizens and with the state machinery are defined and an enforcement mechanism is built around it. Therefore political system and its commitment and endorsement of the justice system is necessary. This provides the basic platform for survival and now the economics can take over.
The reason for this background is to analyze Pakistan along these stages. These stages have to be followed in this exact same order for a society to prosper. In subsequent blogs, I will cover this one by one with respect to Pakistan as a society.
1 year after returning - Hope
It has been 1 full year when I moved the family and my home from USA to Pakistan. While my personal situation has been relatively event free, the country has really transformed in the last 1 year. I had not spelled out the political situation in Pakistan in my original post on returning to Pakistan but it is absolutely critical that I do it now. The opportunities and the future outlook for expats wanting to return has changed significantly since then.
I still see reasons strong enough to come back but the nature of those reasons has changed. When I started planning my move, it was a bright financial and professional outlook. A prosperous Pakistan waiting for the sons of its soil to come back, toil the earth of their motherland and reap rewards. Now the country asks for sacrifice. Sacrifice of comfortable and safe living in foreign lands as it has to be abandoned to save the country from imploding. Since most of the audience of this post is probably going to be science and engineering professionals, they may be wondering what can they do against bomb blasts, civil war, unaffordable cost of living, corrupt politicians and incompetent bureacracy. Well, all that their brethren, the fellow citizens of Pakistan need at this time is HOPE. If that one thing is left with the people, they will persevere, they will be able to survive the storm, they will rise again but unfortunately there is no one to give them hope. Even the thought of better days ahead has been taken away.
I still see reasons strong enough to come back but the nature of those reasons has changed. When I started planning my move, it was a bright financial and professional outlook. A prosperous Pakistan waiting for the sons of its soil to come back, toil the earth of their motherland and reap rewards. Now the country asks for sacrifice. Sacrifice of comfortable and safe living in foreign lands as it has to be abandoned to save the country from imploding. Since most of the audience of this post is probably going to be science and engineering professionals, they may be wondering what can they do against bomb blasts, civil war, unaffordable cost of living, corrupt politicians and incompetent bureacracy. Well, all that their brethren, the fellow citizens of Pakistan need at this time is HOPE. If that one thing is left with the people, they will persevere, they will be able to survive the storm, they will rise again but unfortunately there is no one to give them hope. Even the thought of better days ahead has been taken away.
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