Pakistan on the brink: Lessons for Bangladesh
Photo: AFP
NEWS from Pakistan over the last few months kept getting worse. The threat posed by the Taliban and their Al-Qaeda sponsor have been growing everyday. Vast swath of northern territory in the Federally Administered Tribal Agency (FATA) as well as parts of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) is virtually outside the control of the government. Militant leaders, each with his well-armed militias, have declared their own Emirates. The Taliban incursion into once-peaceful valley of Swat has been particularly brutal; they destroyed hundreds of schools, especially girls' schools. Banks and treasuries have been looted and people terrorized by arbitrary killing, whipping and other cruel punishment. All men have been forced to grow beard and women driven inside the Burqa. Pakistan government's policy of appeasement has only emboldened the militants. Since the joint declaration by President Obama, Zardari and Hamid Karzai on 5 May '09, a renewed offensive started in Swat. But how long the steam will last is a big question. The situation is particularly perilous in view of the nuclear weapons in Pakistan's possession. The West is worried about the disposal of the nuclear weapons if the militants come to power in Islamabad or a right wing coup takes place. There are troubles elsewhere in Pakistan too. Much of Baluchistan is in the grip of an insurgency that goes back to the partition in 1947. The Baluch Liberation Army (BLA) regularly conducts operations to disrupt vital gas supplies to the industrial bases in Sindh and Punjab. The sectarian violence between the Shias and Sunnis has become perennial. Some Sunni sects consider the Shias as Kaffir (Infidels) and a legitimate target of attack; the Shias retaliate in the same fashion. Sectarian groups are active all across Pakistan attacking rival mosques, holy places or religious ceremonies. The Shia-Sunni divide is threatening the very fabric of Pakistan's nationhood. In Karachi, old rivalries between the Muhajirs and the Pashtuns are claiming lives once again. Politics in Pakistan had been moribund with the power being exercised by privileged class of landowners, industrialists or tribal heads. Ordinary Pakistanis have little say in the affairs of the state. The military had always played a key role in the politics of Pakistan. It orchestrated a jihad in Indian controlled Kashmir and had been instrumental in creating the hype of an imminent Indian invasion. It thus secured for itself a large chunk of the national budget. The Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan Military's intelligence service, acted as the midwife at the birth of the Taliban in the 1990s; the same Taliban are now waging a war against the state. Events in Pakistan influence Bangladesh in many ways. Our geographic proximity and historic ties, our membership of SAARC and our common interest in many geo-strategic issues make it imperative for us to keep a close watch on the events in Pakistan. After Pakistan, could Bangladesh be the next Islamist battleground? It is a question that cannot be easily shrugged off. It is, therefore, important for us to learn from the Pakistani experience and draw lessons to avoid similar pitfalls. Some of the lessons learnt are described below. * Mixing religion with politics: Religion mixed with politics makes a dangerous cocktail. Although Mr. Jinnah's vision was a secular Muslim majority state, Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan, his successor, legislated in 1951 that Pakistan will be an ideological state based on Islam. This opened the Pandora's Box of endless feud on the role of Islam in Pakistan. The Ulemas argued that if Pakistan was to be an Islamic state then they were the rightful guardian and interpreter of its ideology. However, various schools of Ulemas could never agree on a common ideology and in course of time, the nation was divided on sectarian lines. Politicians always used Islam as means to achieve their objectives. "Islam is in danger" has been a slogan to divert the attention of the masses from crucial temporal issues. Islamist parties such as Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) or Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) have always been patronised by the major political parties. Radicalization of Islam, sectarian divide and the militancy in Pakistan owe it to the cardinal sin "mixing religion with politics." * Keep military out of politics: The democratic principle of keeping military out of politics had been violated repeatedly in Pakistan. While military had intervened in the name of saving the state from crisis, in the end, every military intervention only deepened and exacerbated the crisis. Once again, as Pakistan is facing a grave national crisis, there is the whisper of a military takeover that would lead Pakistan to yet graver crisis. Democratic institutions in Pakistan continue to remain fragile, mainly due to military intervention at regular intervals. Military's omnipresence meant a far greater than usual share of the national wealth going for the military. This, of course, came at the expense of other social sectors their needs remained unattended. The country became a militarized state, where vital state policies were decided by the military hierarchy without popular participation. In Indo-Pak War of 1965 and Kargil War in 1999, the military decided on national objectives bypassing the political organs of the state. * Keep the intelligence agencies under check: The Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) in Pakistan had become virtually independent, beyond the control of the government. It started with the agency collaborating with CIA in fomenting anti-Soviet War in Afghanistan during the 1980s, then dubbed as Jihad. Billions of dollars in cash and weapons were funneled through ISI operatives. We all know how ISI first helped Mujahidin forces to gain control of Kabul, and few years later, organized, trained and equipped the Talibans to replace the Mujahedins. ISI had a key role in running the Jihad in Indian controlled Kashmir. While these covert activities went on, the nation was kept in the dark. ISI became a government inside a government. * Reform education to curb extremism: Islamic militancy or the sectarianism that the Pakistani society is facing today is the result of years of radical teachings imparted in Pakistan not only in Madrassas, but in the mainstream schools as well. President Ziaul Haq, in his bid to Islamise the society, ordered revision of school text books. Thus, the students were taught that the non-believers are enemies of Islam and Jihad must be waged against them. Raising the spirit of Jihad became an objective of education. Even after the demise of Zia, the text books remained unchanged. Thus, a generation of youth got indoctrinated in an extreme and exclusive version of Islam. Militancy was only one step beyond. Thousands of Madrassas, financed by CIA and ME states, sprouted all over the country during the Anti-Soviet War in the 1980s. Those became the recruiting centres of the Mujahedins and Taliban. Former President Parvez Musharraf's effort to register the Madrssas and reform their syllabus came to a naught. The Madrassas refused to accept governmental supervision despite various financial enticement offered by the government. If the radicalization of the Pakistani youth is to be reversed, the education system must be revised to promote liberal version of Islam, which indeed was the traditional Islam in Pakistan. * Strengthen democracy and ensure social justice: Pakistan could not institutionalize democracy, nor could it ensure social justice to its citizens. While Zamindari (Feudalism) system was abolished in the then East Pakistan in 1948, it still prevails in Pakistan. Landlords, controlling the national politics, would not allow any meaningful land reforms. Pakistani government kept alive the Tribal Sardari system in the FATA that was essentially colonial, backward and corrupt. People there had seen nothing better than arbitrary justice. There has been significant economic development in Pakistan, but the rich-poor and urban-rural divide widened. Confrontational politics, dynastic leadership, corrupt bureaucracy have so disenchanted the people that they seem to have lost faith in the state itself. Poor governance is one of the most important reasons why Pakistan today is sliding into chaos and anarchy. It would be apparent that the socio-political development in Pakistan and Bangladesh has much in common. The principle of secularism was abandoned in 1975 in Bangladesh and religion made deep inroads into politics. Like Pakistan, the Islamist parties do not attract votes, yet politicians of all hue court and covet them. Lack of democratic control of the military and the intelligence agencies are evident in Bangladesh. At present we are witnessing the unfolding of a covert gunrunning operation by an intelligence agency that could have seriously jeopardized national security and embarrass the government. As far as the education system is concerned we are in no better shape. The nation is burdened with at least four types of education streams. Confrontational politics, dynastic leadership, poor governance, growing rich-poor divide are all common factors between Pakistan and Bangladesh. However, our democratic heritage, as well as liberal cultural traditions is deep rooted in the Bengali psyche. There lies our hope for the future. The troubles in Pakistan demand that we re-evaluate our overall national strategy to ensure a prosperous and peaceful future. The author is Registrar, University of Asia Pacific.
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