2. Geography

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.