For the Pakistanis, August 14 is the day to remember those thousands of Indian Muslims who, after partitioning of the Indian sub-continent, were martyred while migrating to Pakistan - the country where they wanted their future generations to live their lives according to their beliefs and practice the humane values that their faith and their leader Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah had given them.
Partitioning of the Indian sub-continent was the consequence of Gandhi's slogan of Ram Raj aimed at making Hinduism the state philosophy. Until Gandhi's return from South Africa in 1920, Jinnah-believer in a secular India - was in the forefront of Indian politics, as accepted in several British political missions that visited India between 1905 and 1946. Nehru, a young man in the early 20th century, entered politics much later.
That Jinnah was the most tolerant of all Indian politicians at the time, is proved by the fact that he was awarded the title of Ambassador of Hindu Muslim Unity by none other than Gandhi. The proof of Jinnah's tolerance and unflinching faith in secularism is that, despite being criticised his supporters he accepted the Cabinet Mission's recommendations for a united, secular, and democratic India.
He did so because Congress Party leadership assured him that Muslim majority provinces will be autonomous and the federation will retain only the defence, foreign affairs and communications portfolios. What eventually led to the partition of the sub-continent was that Nehru - elected President of the Congress Party in 1946 - reneged on this assurance, as disclosed by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad in his famous book 'India Wins Freedom.'
According to Azad, this was an unforgivable blunder because it forced India's Muslims to create Pakistan. This blunder continues to fuel the distrust that characterizes the sub-continent, and led to three wars. If the likes of Narinder Modi stay in power, courtesy the British legacy of half-baked democracy that nourished successive generations of myopic politicians, the sub-continent's future remains uncertain, and hence dark.
But the Quaid's dream was to make Pakistan one of the most progressive and just societies in the world where, without any distinction, followers of every faith enjoyed equal rights; he reiterated this in his historic first address to Pakistan's Constituent Assembly to emphasise the fact that, for progress that spreads prosperity far and wide, unity of the nation is imperative.
Remembering the sacred aim of national unity makes August 14 the day for introspection to assess whether we lived up to this noble expectation of the Quaid, and honoured those who sacrificed their lives for Pakistan. The unfortunate reality is that we didn't fulfil this expectation; instead, we stand divided on a variety of issues due to the flawed, short-sighted ambitions of our leadership.
The ongoing tragedy afflicting Pakistan is that soon after the Quaid's demise, the Nawab-Raja-Sardar clan whose greed-driven in-fighting led to the colonization of India grabbed the leadership; the exit of its British masters allowed it to revert to its pre-1857 mindset, and courtesy Pakistan's flawed democracy, this clan was elevated to the parliament empowering it to pursue its self-serving aims.
This clan's concern for fairness was exposed as early as 1954 when Governor General Ch. Ghulam Muhammad dissolved the Constituent Assembly because East Pakistanis (forming 56% of Pakistan's population), quietly justifiably, weren't prepared to accept the principle of 'parity' but were goaded into doing so and, ironically, the country's first constitution was drafted under Major General Iskandar Mirza's (not a politician's) presidency.
Despite its highly damaging consequences, this clan continued to fuel ethnic divides, and in less than a quarter century, Pakistan was split because this clan's multi-dimensional greed, due to which (defying the Quaid's concept of fairness and equality) West Pakistan began thriving on the wealth earned from East Pakistan's jute exports without fairly sharing it's benefits with East Pakistan.
This clan forgot the partisan role played by India's British rulers (lasting proof thereof being their demarcation of the Indo-Pak border) that was to fuel conflicts between India and Pakistan on Kashmir and on sharing the Indus River water. That's what happened in 1948 and 1965, and in 1971 we offered India the opportunity to exploit the anger of the East Pakistanis and split Pakistan.
The political chaos shaking the foundations of the state in 1958 brought General Ayub Khan into power, and the socio-economic chaos characterizing Pakistan during the 1972-77 rule of the PPP led by Nawabs, Sardars and Rajas led to massive rigging of the 1977 elections, which brought General Zia-ul-Haq in to power through a military coup-the man who sowed the seeds of the unending sectarian divide and terrorism.
Beginning with Pakistan's joining the Jihad-e-Afghanistan (that General Zia agreed to in exchange for the West's legalization of his military regime) the society has become a worshiper of weapons, power, and looted wealth, because politicians opted to continue with Zia's horrible legacy; the proof thereof are the now exposed and accepted 'militant' wings of the political parties.
From the very beginning, the Nawab-Sardar-Raja clan ensured that a system to effectively enforce country-wide writ of the state didn't evolve, and the strategy it adopted was to ensure that the masses in small towns and villages - forming two-thirds of the population - remained illiterate. General Musharraf came into power because, by end of the 1990s, the socio-political chaos this strategy caused was again threatening Pakistan's stability.
Instead of curbing lethal ethnic tendencies after the 1971 tragedy, our leadership encouraged it. Today, the basis for creation of more provinces is not administrative logic but ethnicity. Courtesy this tendency, we stand ever-more divided. As for justice, it was rarely done; hadn't that been the case, there wouldn't be so many shady characters holding key positions in every walk of life.
Except General Ayub Khan's regime, all regimes ignored even basic education (let alone providing industry-specific vocational skills), and expanding and up-grading the basic health services despite a rapid rise in Pakistan's population. While vocational training has belatedly been initiated, the condition of health services remains miserable, which has forced the Supreme Court to take suo moto notice thereof.
Given this setting, two-thirds of the electorate continue to be goaded into voting for Nawabs, Rajas and Sardars. Result: cronyism, resource-theft and lawlessness is eroding Pakistan's social and physical infrastructure and crippling its economy because unchecked corruption and resource waste load Pakistan with higher debt and risks as manifested by the slide in Rupee-Dollar parity from Rs 2.87/$ in 1947 to Rs 105/$ at present.
The Rupee's slide prevented timely BMR of the industrial base laid in the 1960s. Now what Pakistan can do is to optimize the benefits of being the 5th largest milk producer and the 6th largest producer of fruit nearly 30% of whose annual crop rots due to inadequate preserving and processing capacities. Increased output of these sectors can also increase exports. Similarly, fishery, poultry and animal husbandry sectors offer huge potential.
These sectors have potential for country-wide investment and employment, and higher activity in specialized support sub-sectors - auto, refrigeration, processing, packing and packaging. Improved dairy farming practices, producing up-graded animal food, setting-up country-wide chains of veterinary clinics, and availability of veterinary medicines and instrument can increase the output of these sectors and add to exports.
Sadly, despite loss of industrial competitiveness, these sectors and energy and mining sectors continue to be ignored although expanding them can cut imports, increase exports, and employ bulk of the bludgeoning youth population that now accounts for over 50 percent of the total. Politicians also don't realize that keeping this huge mass unemployed is fuelling petty and mega crime as well as terrorism.
In the pre-partition era, our ancestors blamed the segregationist attitude of the British rulers for the economic miseries of the Muslims, but for our current miseries the responsibility lies with our political leadership that doesn't realize that, for a developing economy like ours, its financial services sector must 'guide' investment in sectors of crucial current and future importance; instead even the DFIs were wound-up.
The leadership's focus on national priorities is portrayed by the fact that while the US forced Pakistan to join the Jihad-e-Afghanistan (whose after-effects now bleed Pakistan), it couldn't push the US to force India into fairly sharing the Himalayan waters with Pakistan, nor did it build more dams to store water and generate hydro-electricity, nor prioritized the exploration of energy resources to increase self-sufficiency.
While neglect of energy and power sectors continues, the un-investigated and unpunished scandals exposing colossal waste of state resources in energy exploration and power generation projects result in ever-higher borrowing by the state. In the last three years alone, public debt increased by a hefty 23 percent, and debt per capita has crossed Rs 110,000.
Sadly, despite its stark governance failures that prevented Pakistan from materializing its economic potential, and unbothered about making Pakistan ever-more self-sufficient given its huge human resource (falling prey to mini and mega crime) and its un-explored natural resources, the leadership claims 'supremacy' of the parliament although Pakistan now resembles a 69-year old man who often finds it hard to stand upright.