Pakistan and a changing world

Contributing Editor Vice Admiral (Retd) Iqbal F Quadir says Pakistan needs to adjust to a changing world.

With world’s political and economic scenes under-going transformations faster than most anticipated, challenges and opportunities were presenting themselves in an increasing quantity. Those countries and peoples who were willing to face these emerging challenges squarely and rise up to the occasion were bound to end up better than others and become the leaders of the future. They would also be able to benefit much from opportunities that come their way. Others that fail to appreciate the magnitude and direction of changes in offing were surely bound to fall way behind and continue to lag further until they realized the importance of change. Would then Pakistan be one of those who met the challenges and rose up to the occasion? Or, would it be one of those who neither bothered nor cared, nor even felt the need of a vision for the future of the country but instead remained mired in a self-created maze of inconsequential issues and a web of deceit and chicanery for the sake of power? Should we, the people atleast, not ask ourselves, knowing that for all practical purposes the need of a vision appears to be something completely beyond the comprehension of our present graduate elected rulers; where do we stand with respect to the rest of the world? Where were we heading for? And, what the government was and should be doing about our future and that of the country? These and other similar questions need probing, study and analysis by the people of Pakistan and more particularly by our social and intellectual leaders.
Thereafter, the answers to these questions need to be collated and translated into action. For, as the Quran conveys – unless one moves there would be no change and that profits that follow were commensurate to deeds performed. Two of Newton’s laws of motion were scientific explanation and proof of these two Quranic sayings. In addition, the Quran also mentions of frequent and unbounded benefits for those most undeserving while those who were good and deserving often faced denials as well as constraints. These later were actions beyond comprehension of human mind but were all contained in the scheme of things ordained by God. Often, the purpose of such acts of God became clear only with passage of time though as frequently the reason and purpose remained concealed. However, as individuals and as a group the humans were required to think, plan and to act for a better future, morally and materially; for without action there would be no change and no progress except for an act of God; not forgetting that acting without thinking and planning could take us onto an alluring, attractive and easy but wrong path, to the future detriment of the nation.
To start with, we need to establish what were the major changes in progress that were altering the life of this world? What were the reasons behind those changes? And, what were the motivations of those bringing about the changes. Once these changes, reasons and motivations became clear, only then in Pakistan we would be in a position to judge and decide as to which courses of action would be in the interest of our country, beneficial for the people and therefore desirable. But, even more important than all what has been discussed so far was the question, “Would the self appointed Establishment of the country be open to urgently needed changes in the country’s administrative (political) structure, economic system and in its national aims that would lead to disenfranchising themselves (the present Establishment), when after almost half a century of sustained efforts, it was so close to achieving the aim set forth for it by the first Pakistani Commander-in-Chief of the Army? Without a change of heart, mind and outlook; that to an extent were visible in Generals Beg and Karamet; in the body of the Establishment that is obsessed with thoughts of infallibility and shored up by full support of the democracy dispensing sole superpower; one wonders whether the adoption of any such drastic steps, whatever their worth, be accepted or even allowed to go beyond a discussion stage? It would seem doubtful but God knows best. Yet, this last hope in God gives one the strength to go on with the discussion, knowing tomorrow could bring in the unknown and what was not possible today may yet become possible tomorrow.The present (new) era of a sole superpower in the world commenced towards the end of the last century with downfall of Russian Communism and dismemberment of Soviet Union. Credit for this, fairly and squarely, must belong to Pakistan. It was during 1974/75 that the government in Islamabad appreciating that Daud’s policies were inadvertently leading towards ingress of communism and Soviet forces into Afghanistan, it decided to befriend suitable tribal leaders in that country and began arming those tribes while USA was still looking the other way, not believing Moscow would move its forces South. But for this timely preparation of Afghan tribes to resist and fight by Pakistan, the Soviet forces on invasion in 1979 would have had a field day and occupied Afghanistan as well as pacified its people much more quickly and easily long before USA would have had the time to react. It would be good to know the name of the person who first proposed the idea of arming the Afghan tribes, however, it would be un-Islamic and uncharitable to deny praise to the then Prime Minister who was ultimately responsible for the policies of the state for this bold and timely decision.
While the fierce Afghan resistance surprised Moscow, Washington too found itself unprepared on two counts. First, the Soviet military invasion of Afghanistan and secondly, the rapid disintegration of Soviet Union itself, much faster than was anticipated. The resulting but sudden end of Cold War also left a void in political and economic affairs of the world. At that, USA and the West became more concerned with economic down turn resulting from reduced orders for its huge defence industry that were partly compensated by keeping regional issues ‘alive and hot’ all over the world; prevention of the diffusion of Russian WMD, missile and space knowledge, technology and materials; and containment of China, which country had refused to take the bait of military pressures all around her, designed to force her to divert greater funds towards national defence and thereby reduce her rapid economic development, particularly the more alarming (for USA and the West) scientific and technological breakthroughs her scientists were constantly achieving in almost every field of activity. Meanwhile, through complex rules and working of WTO, WB and IMF; the Multi-nationals, who were mainly Americans, have been trying to create an economic world village whose powerhouse and economic base rested in USA. A powerhouse that also attracted world’s brains and wealth leaving their own countries the poorer for them than before. In all this turmoil, secular Hinduism of India has tried to make that country a countervail to China by maintaining cooperation with the West and the East (Moscow) and obtaining financial assistance as well as knowledge and technology from both. By exploiting her strategic geographic location astride the Indian Ocean, her size and with over a billion population India has kept her options open on all counts in world affairs. But a resurgent nationalistic and fundamentalist Hinduism under BJP might yet turn out to be India’s Achilles’ heel and destroy that country in the future, much like the old Soviet Union, which imploded from within because of innumerable contradictions within that state and the society. Last of all, a resurgent post-colonial post-cold war Islam that got converted to militarism has played havoc within Muslim countries with its explosive outfall on the rest of the world. Of all the above, for the present, what would affect Pakistan most was the outfall of Islamic revivalism on its neighbours; be they Afghanistan, CAS, China, Iran or Russia. Here, it must be realized that India being a slave of history, past and recent, was an entirely separate case. Fundamentalist Hindu revivalism in Gujarat, that BJP was trying to infect into the rest of India, would only aggravate the situation there and could certainly have a spillover effect across India’s borders. This and Pakistan’s own doings, internal and external needed to be watched carefully.