Pakistan bashing has become a
favored pastime for many international organisations lead by the Americans.
Yesterday the lone shrill voice in this context was India’s but today we hear a
cacophony. Witnessing this transformation from a distance, one can’t help but
wonder as to why it is happening.
The North West part of the Indian
subcontinent is a treacherous place, both in metaphorical and literal sense. It
was in the long forgotten pages of history when the Indus valley civilization
existed, whose people were accepted to be advanced based on what-so-ever
visible excellent living conditions. That civilization declined. Today we see
only a shadow of that human mind and spirit. In no way am I blaming the people
of that region. In fact over many countless centuries, the people of that
region have seen the rise and fall of religions, the rise and fall of empires,
the rise and fall of cruel and not so cruel kings, and the bad and not so bad
changes in environmental conditions.
Their sensibilities have been strongly tempered and they have learnt to
live with a certain limited quantum of principles. Over generations these have made
in-roads into their behavior patterns and into their understanding of life and
living. It is unfair and unethical to expect anything alien from them,
precisely which today the world is doing. It could be very easy to compare the
history of this region with another so as to highlight similar circumstances
but dissimilar behavior, but that would be merely a theoretical and futile
exercise.
Mass migration in and out has
left the region populated with variety of tribes and cultural groups from
different faraway locations. The erstwhile riches of the river valley
civilization have served more as a bane than a boon. These migrations have
happened along with invasion and bloodshed, therefore there is little by way of
a binding kinship within them. Due to their warrior background, individual honour
and pride plays an important role in their psyche. These numerous tribes have
accepted each other through an unspoken bond based on mutual respect and a
mutual tendency to avoid trouble. As long as self-respect and honour is
permitted to remain intact there would be no fighting. Secondly most amongst
these people were mercenaries with an easy willingness to sell their soul to
the devil in exchange for some wealth and physical comforts. Such attitude is still
not considered unbecoming because condition of life in the region has always
been unpredictable and harsh. Third, this region as a whole had never had the
opportunity to develop an independent nationalistic feeling until the creation
of Pakistan and Afghanistan in the 1950’s. They lived under the rule of the Hindu
Kings of Maghad and then the Mughal emperors of Delhi but being the border region,
skirmishes were too common and frequent. Each small group of men was a sellable
commodity in the war market and thus they considered every other group as
potential enemies. The ideas of nationality and one people never took root. Fourth,
the cold dry mountains, the wayward rivers, the flooded plains and the
unpredictable monsoons have all added to an unstable and poverty stricken lifestyle
where people are more concerned with todays’ food rather than the niceties and
extravagance of science and arts. Physical hardships have also made them strong
willed and a determined lot. Therefore these people know tenacity, they know
hardship, they know warfare, they know an enemy and they know what is loyalty honour
and pride; all too well.
Since nationhood was thrust upon
people of this region by Mohammad Ali Jinnah six decades ago, they have surprisingly
chosen democracy over anything else. To their credit they have been trying but
not without failing at every bend. The very principle of democracy cannot be
acceptable to people who have accepted to live with the notion that might is
right and so to consider that every ordinary man has a right is a difficult
concept to digest for most. Military rule would be most suited to the people of
this region however the urban population who had witnessed the rich luxuries of
the British and Europeans would have none of it. The urban population has
therefore taken to democracy more easily as compared to the non-urban
population. Thus what the world can see today is a divided population based on
their ideology and history.
Militancy and mercenary
justifications are not new to the people of Pakistan. Thus whether it is the
Taliban of Afghanistan or the Jihadists of Kashmir, the people of this region
have been sympathetic to their cause. They relate easily to the need to take up
arms because it strikes a deep rooted cord in their hearts; cords of honour, of
living with pride and of economic deliverance. To expect ordinary citizens to
desist from supporting the so called freedom-fighters is like asking for the
moon.
Pakistan is a fragmented country
with a striking display of different people from different backgrounds doing
different things. The political and judicial class is trying to live up to the
notion that they are a single nation. The urban rich and middle class population
is only focused on earning money through every legal and crocked means
possible. The tribal people are busy fighting for their pride against foreign
forces. The army is confused and awkward being out of power and wonders why it
is not being allowed to take control which infact only they can. It appears
that everybody is fighting against each other which as a matter of fact they
are not. However it is very clear that nobody is in charge, nobody has a length
and breadth of vision and nobody knows how their problems can be solved. It is
not their fault because too much maturity is being expected from too young a
nation. Left to themselves they will slowly settle down and start improving in
about another century.
However America as always is once
again using dollars to get events in Pakistan to move as per their desire but
amongst such fragmented people it is not happening. The Americans then end up bad
mouthing the Pakistan government, calling them names, threatening them with not
paying more money which is only denting their own reputation and jeopardizing
their future abilities to extract better relationships with other nations. It
is also hurting the Pakistani peoples pride and pushing them into a depressive
corner. It is a lose – lose situation for both that is being created and
pursued. It would be to everyone’s benefit if the Americans left Pakistan for
good, to mind their own business.
