A Secular Pakistan

The trend to blame religion for the problems of Pakistan is becoming more and more common among the people of this country. Some Pakistanis now believe that being an ‘Islamic Republic’ is the biggest problem of Pakistan. The country can’t prosper and can’t get rid of its problems unless it gets rid of Islam. To a certain extent these thoughts are somewhat justified. Every Pakistani knows how many people have lost their lives and their loved ones in the violence that comes from religious extremist groups, besides people observe that the western nations, most of whom are far more developed than their country, are secular. They have limited religion to the places of worship, and are now enjoying the fruit of secularism. And the countries where religion is still predominant are quite underdeveloped. These observations force some of the people of Pakistan to think that they should strive for an Islam free Pakistan, and then they might be able to develop their country.

But is Islam really predominant in the Pakistani society? Is the state really being run by the religion?

If analyzed with an open and objective mind, the answer would be ‘No’. Islam is not predominant in the Pakistani society. Apparently it’s a very bold statement, but let’s see what Islam tells Muslims to do, and what is being done in the Pakistani society.

Is it Islam that tells people to make money through corruption? Does Islam tell its followers to kill women in the name of honor? Does it tell Muslims to indiscriminately kill innocent people, women and even children? Does it tell the people to deprive the followers of other religions of their liberties? Does it tell the people not to educate themselves?

All the answers are ‘No’. Islam strictly prohibits corruption. It teaches its followers to respect women instead of killing them in the name of honor. It has specific rules for Jihad, and a Muslim isn’t allowed to kill a woman or a child in any case. It prohibits the killing of unarmed people. It offers total religious freedom for non-Muslims. It obliges every Muslim to get educated.

When the people of Pakistan aren’t even following any of the major teachings of Islam, how can they blame it for their problems? Going to the mosque for prayers and fasting in the month of Ramadan is not ‘Islam’. Islam is a way of life, and the life of almost every Pakistani is against what Islam teaches. Following Islam isn’t creating any problems for the people of Pakistan, but not following is.

Islam strictly obliges its followers to get educated. But the literacy rate in Pakistan is less than 60%. Had the government been run according to Islam, its first priority would have been education, but on the contrary, education is being given the least attention by the government of Pakistan. Islam has a strong system of Zakat that manages the flow of money in the society so that the wealth doesn’t accumulate in the hands of some people. But despite the existence of a department for Zakat, rarely any poor person receives financial assistance from the government. Islam tells the rulers to live their life like the poorest person lives in their territory, but the government officials of Pakistan live like kings, as if the state reserves were their personal property.

Some people say that Islam is to be blamed for the problems of Pakistan, because one of the major problems that the Pakistanis face is religious extremism, and that of course comes from religion. Had there been no religion, there would have been no religious extremism, and half of the problems of the Pakistani society wouldn’t have existed. But as a matter of fact, the problem is not religious extremism, the problem is extremism. Had there been no religion, there could have been political extremism, ethno-national extremism, and even economic extremism, and Pakistanis are prone to all of them. So, if religion is removed, extremism would still exist. People can kill each other for political differences, they can kill each other for ethnic differences. The situation of Karachi is the best example of political and ethnic extremism. Some say it is a common observation that religion turns people to violence. But that is only a media perception. Edhi is less violent than Dalai Lama and more religious than Osama. So, the problem isn’t the religion itself, the problem is with the people who don’t have respect for each other’s opinion, who turn to violence instead of tolerance, and who misinterpret religion. This trend in the Pakistani society needs to be changed, not the religion or ethnicities. Whether Pakistan becomes an Islamic state, or a secular one, the situation won’t change, until the mentality of the Pakistani population doesn’t change.

The roots of extremism in the Pakistani society have already been discussed; the most apparent of them being Poverty, Illiteracy and Unemployment, and Islam isn’t an obstacle to the solution of these problems. Rather it necessitates education for everyone, and thus higher literacy rate. It tends to circulate the wealth in the society in order to remove poverty. It obliges the government to provide the people with as much job opportunities as they need. So, the fact is that Islam is not the problem. The problem is extremism, and that is caused by illiteracy, poverty and unemployment. The people who want Islam to be expelled or limited should think again. They are wasting their energies for a cause that won’t improve the condition of the Pakistani society. They should instead focus on the real problems that are causing many more problems. Secularism itself is not a flawless ideology; it has problems of its own. There is no guarantee that it won't fail. It would be better if Pakistanis try to solve their problems using the ideology that is the foundation of their existence, instead of pursuing a totally different ideology.      

The Forgotten Issue

Green is the national color of Pakistan, but the country itself is not much green. Deforestation is one of the major environmental problems that this country is facing, but unfortunately few people in Pakistan realize the gravity of this issue. May be because they are facing many more problems, and they have little time to think about something that they deem less acute. But as a matter of fact, deforestation of this country can prove to be more fatal for the people of Pakistan than corruption or extremism.

Pakistan has only 4.8% of its land covered with forests and has the highest deforestation rate in Asia. According to a government report, there will be no forests in this country after 15 years if no steps are taken to improve the situation. And what happens after all the forests of a country are consumed? The answer is ‘desertification’. The whole country can turn into a desert like that of Arabia, and desertification means lack of arable land and thus shortage of food. Pakistan already relies mostly on its agricultural products, which are the major export of this country. So desertification will deteriorate the economy of Pakistan quite significantly. Another phenomenon related with desertification is shortage of drinking water. Due to these shortages, a desert can’t host world’s sixth largest population, so a huge number of people will either have to die or leave the country.

More than 60% population of Pakistan lives in rural areas, and the rural population mostly rely on agriculture. Deforestation is continuously causing desertification and that turns more and more arable lands barren, which means that at a very fast rate the rural population of Pakistan is losing productive lands. Deforestation also causes a drop in annual rainfall rates, thus the areas where people rely on rains to water their crops become unproductive. So this rural population will then have to populate the urban areas to earn a living, and for that the government will have to provide more accommodation and more job opportunities. Otherwise the unemployment rate of the country will rise and will cause more poverty among other problems.  

The consequences of deforestation are very horrible, but little is known about it by the people of Pakistan. That’s why few people care to take some serious steps to prevent their country from becoming a desert. It’s not impossible to reverse the situation. Countries like Vietnam and China have increased their forest cover through reforestation. In China, citizens between ages 11 and 60 have been obliged by the government in the past years to plant three to five trees per year or take part in some other forest services. The government claims that at least 1 billion trees have been planted in China every year since 1982. But in Pakistan it’s very improbable that the government would ever take any serious steps to hamper deforestation, because none of the other problems of this country have ever been solved by the government. So, the people of Pakistan themselves will have to take responsibility to join their efforts for reforestation of this country. Individual efforts might not yield any significant results, because a tree planted in front of someone’s house won’t increase the forest area, although it would help to improve the environment of the cities. To increase the forest cover of the country, swaths of land having considerable area need to be planted with as much trees as possible. This of course is a very difficult task for an individual, but if people join hands to fight against deforestation then it won’t be very difficult for them to achieve their goal. People shouldn’t wait for the government to take any initiative, because one can’t expect any such thing from the Pakistani government. This country belongs to its people, and they themselves will have to save it. 

The Terrorism Cycle

The first American drone hit the tribal areas of Pakistan in 2004, in which 4 to 5 people were killed, almost all of them terrorists. After that the number of drone strikes per year rose constantly, and in 2010 at least 118 drones attacked the tribal areas. Apart from the increment in the number of drone strikes, the number of civilian deaths also elevated. According to an estimate, in 2009 alone, some 700 civilians were killed by American drones. For unknown reasons, the drones constantly lost their accuracy and in each successive strike, they killed more civilians than before.

A very similar trend was seen in the rates of suicide attacks in Pakistan. There were 7 suicide attacks in 2004, and after that, almost in every successive year the number of suicide attacks increased, and in 2009 alone, there were 83 such attacks in Pakistan. Again for some unknown reasons, the suicide attacks, that previously used to kill more civilians and were mostly sectarian in nature, got concentrated on police and security forces of Pakistan.

For a person outside Pakistan these might be separate events, but for a person who is living inside Pakistan and is observing all the events very closely, these events are too much interlinked. It is a cycle, in which all the steps cause the other step and all events are linked to each other. Let’s see the cycle step by step:

Step 1:

More terrorist activity; when terrorist organizations get enough recruits, they start attacking the Pakistani cities.

Step 2:

More drone strikes; US government instantly increases drone attacks in the areas where the terrorists are supposed to be hiding i.e. the tribal areas, assuming that the surge in terrorist activity indicates that the terrorists are growing stronger in their havens.

Step 3:

More civilian casualties; As usual, the drones kill more civilians than terrorists and thus elevate the number of civilian deaths in the tribal areas.

Step 4:

More terrorists; Due to the increasing drone strikes, more and more people lose their loved ones, and thus they join anti government forces to avenge their dead relatives. And this of course leads back to step 1, and in this way the cycle goes on. The cycle can start from step 2 as well, but in the end the results are the same.

Why the terrorists shifted from sectarian attacks to targeted attacks against the Pakistani government and military? The reason is very much clear, these are revengeful attacks. The problem is that this is not only a cycle, it is a snow ball effect as well. Increasing suicide attacks increase the drone strikes and increased number of drone strikes in turn increases the suicide attacks again, and in this way the number of both attacks keeps on increasing. Intentionally or unintentionally, the US government is creating more and more terrorists, and similarly the terrorists are causing more drone attacks. Unfortunately only the people of Pakistan are on the receiving end. The terrorism from both sides has made their life apprehensive.

The Roots of Extremism

The roots of religious extremism in Pakistan are deeper than what is usually conceived. The masterminds of terrorism have fabricated a whole ideology to lure in those people who tend to have a firmer belief in Islam. The second target is those people who are illiterate and don’t actually have any significant knowledge about their religion. It’s not very difficult to convince such people, especially when the convincers are very proficient in their job. Third are the people who are dying of poverty, and they already hold a grudge against the government. Fourth are the children of the tribal people who lose their parents in the American drone strikes. The alliance of the Pakistani government with the US is enough for them to declare war on it. Pakistan is full of these four kinds of people, so there is no difficulty for the terrorist groups to find recruits. The Pakistani and American governments themselves are indirectly making the task of recruitment easier for the terrorists.

Let’s take a look at the first kind of people. They are the so called fanatics who can do anything for their religion, from killing themselves to killing others. These people are the easy target for the terrorist recruiters. Such people might be very harmless in normal circumstances, but when they are told that the Pakistani government is allied with such governments which have killed thousands of Muslims and are still dropping bombs upon them, they won’t hesitate to grab a gun and start a war that they think is actually ‘Jihad’. Now, what is the cure for these people? Should the military hunt for them all around the country and wage war in the areas where such people are thought to be concentrated. This seems to be the least affective method, because killing people will increase the number of the fourth kind of people. Instead of killing the people, the ideology should be killed. People should be taught what the real Islam is. What are the rules for ‘Jihad’ and when is it needed, and how Islam teaches its followers to express themselves and fight against the evil using pen instead of gun. And then the most important thing, the government should really revise its policies. Their policies are serving as a tool for the augmentation of extremism in the country. They should adopt more friendly policies towards religion and limit their cooperation with the US.  Pakistan was created for Muslims of subcontinent so that they could freely practice their religion without anyone opposing them, but unfortunately the government and media of this state itself has started opposing them.  The nation hasn’t yet forgotten the blood that was spilt for the creation of this country and in the name of Islam. So, they have every right to demand the state to be Islamic instead of secular, but of course peacefully.

Now about the second type of people who are frequently recruited by terrorists. They are the illiterate ones, and due to lack of education they have a lack of understanding and thus can easily be fooled by the cunning recruiters of the terrorist organizations. These people don’t understand that the so called ‘Jihad’ that the terrorists are using for their own benefit hasn’t been benign to Islam. Rather it has disgraced Islam all around the world. The only cure for such people is of course education. Illiteracy is the root cause of many social evils, and thus a society with a literacy rate less than 60% would suffer from all types of crimes. The government should focus more on education of the Pakistani population and build more schools in those areas where literacy rate is too low and where people tend to join terrorist organizations due to their ignorance. Spending on education can be more profitable for a country like Pakistan than spending on its military.

The third type of people can be recruited for money. Poor countries all around the world face more insurgency from within the population because the insurgents can easily recruit poor people by offering money to them or to their families. Almost 23.1% people in Pakistan live below the poverty line according to the government of Pakistan, and just like illiteracy, poverty is also instrumental for rising crime rates in a society. Government of Pakistan has to create more job opportunities and should establish an effective system to financially help the poor and needy citizens.

Let’s now take a look at the role of USA in fueling the extremism by continuously attacking tribal areas of Pakistan with its drones that kill more civilians than insurgents. According to Brookings Institute, drones kill almost 10 civilians for 1 terrorist. This collateral damage is totally unjustified. The tribal people are usually very aggressive when it comes to avenging their murdered relatives, and the best way for them to take the revenge is to join the anti government forces and start an armed struggle against the murderous government of USA and its ally, the Pakistani government. Although it is rarely admitted by the authorities, but drone strikes have been a major contributor to the hatred that has spread among the Pakistanis for the US government.

Albeit its obvious that the governments of USA and Pakistan are being run by people who are quite smart and astute, and of course they don’t need any kind of advice from a blogger whose posts are rarely read by anyone, but apparently they don’t seem to adopt any policy that could improve the current situation. May be because they don’t care whether someone dies in a drone strike or in a suicide attack. All they care is how much money they make and how much power they attain.

The Sheeple of Pakistan

Many years have passed since the people of Pakistan have been complaining about the injustice, illiteracy, poverty and other problems that are being faced by this nation. But till now almost none of them have been dealt with by any government, rather there has been further increase in the number of problems.

Why is it so? Who is the root cause of these problems and who is the obstacle to the solution of these problems?

Most of the Pakistanis would answer that the governments of Pakistan have been both the cause of all the problems, and the obstacle to the solution of these problems, and it is quite true as well. There have been few Pakistani politicians who have ever been sincere to their nation. Most of them are known to be corrupt. They care more about their pockets than the life of a poor person. 

But can any government survive if it is the sole cause of all the problems of a country? Who is keeping such governments in power, while they are being abhorred by the nation?

The answer would be America. Pakistanis would instantly blame The US government of supporting the unpopular Pakistani governments, like they have been doing so in many Arab countries. This is again true, as now even a child knows how The US government kept Mubarak in power for decades and how the Bahraini regime is being supported by them in spite of nation wide protests. They have always supported the governments all around the world who submit to their desires and alter their policies according to their requirements, no matter how much these governments are disliked by the people.

So, what happened to those governments that were being supported by America but were unpopular? And what happens to the people if they successfully get rid of such governments?

A very common response by some Pakistanis would be,”its quite impossible for us to survive without the American aid. If we don’t have a government that is loyal to the US, we will lose everything. We would be deprived of the aid and will have to live hand to mouth”. Well, aren’t the Pakistani people already living hand to mouth? What do the people of Pakistan get out of the aid that is sent by the US? According to the government of Pakistan, 23.1% population of Pakistan is living below the poverty line. For those who don’t know what it means, 23.1% people among the Pakistani population earn less than $ 1.25 a day. So, what are they getting out of the money sent in by The US? Absolutely nothing.

Then what difference will it make for the people of Pakistan if someday Pakistan gets nothing out of the American treasury? There will be no difference at all, because people aren’t getting anything even now. All the aid gets absorbed in the highest levels of Pakistani military and political establishments, and Pakistanis can easily survive without the leftovers that reach them. Besides Pakistan is a very self sufficient country provided the government is interested in the country’s prosperity. It has large gold and copper mines like that of Sandak, it has huge reserves of coal in the Thar desert, it has fertile lands, it has some very appropriate locations for big dams, Baluchistan is full of mineral mines and precious stones. This country doesn’t need any foreign aid; it is the government that needs it. Because they don’t care about the country, they only care for their own bank accounts.

What happened to the people of Iran after they threw out their corrupt monarch who was loyal to the US government? Did they starve to death? Could the US government bring them down to their knees? Aren’t they surviving in spite of all the sanctions imposed on them by the US? Someone would say that they can do it because they have oil. But how did the people of Iran get the oil? Before 1979, The British used to gather all the income from the Iranian oil through its corporations and take it back to their own country. The people of Iran just got a very small share, and that’s why at that time they suffered from the very problems that are now being faced by the people of Pakistan; poverty and illiteracy. They revolted against their corrupt ruler and got hold of their oil and threw the British companies out. Now there are less than 2% among the Iranian people who are living below the poverty line, same as that of The US. Their literacy rate improved dynamically after the revolution. That’s how Iranians got the oil, can’t the people of Pakistan get beck their resources that are being plundered by foreign companies?

What happened to the people of Egypt and Tunisia? Are they now starving to death? Tunisians don’t even have any significant oil reserves, but still its economy is apparently improving after the ouster of Ben Ali. The fact is that the people of Pakistan themselves are responsible for their problems. They are still somehow inclined to bear all the corruption of their politicians, and the problems that they cause. They aren't utilizing their potential to solve their problems and to get rid of the corrupt system. They can’t bring around a change because they don’t want to strive for it, because they aren’t people, they are ‘sheeple’. It’s not very difficult for the politicians to make a fool out of them again and again. They are easily lured in by the false promises of their false leaders. Sheeple of Pakistan wouldn’t see a different day until they don’t start thinking on their own, and don’t start striving for a change. The least they should do is to vote for someone who hasn’t been tested yet. Why vote for those who have always proved to be corrupt, selfish and greedy? Why do they keep on voting for those avaricious people who have always preferred their own desires to the desires of nation? This term ‘sheeple’ isn’t meant to be offensive, it just describes a common tendency among the Pakistanis, that is to follow their leaders blindly, without thinking that their leaders aren’t leading them to a better future, rather they are just fooling them to get themselves rich. Pakistanis are the nation who got a separate country when they strived for it. Thus they have the potential, but they are now lacking the enthusiasm. Once they open their eyes and start thinking for their better future, they would get rid of the current system of corruption and live a far better life than what they are living now.

"Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves." Qura'an, Verse 13:11 

A Polarized Society

The ideology of ‘Enlightened Moderation’, coined by Gen. Musharraf, is still being used to combat extremism in Pakistan. But unlike its name, the ideology didn’t prove to be moderate. It targets Islam and Muslims instead of extremists and terrorists. The governments of Pakistan have been trying to fight extremism in Pakistan by eradicating Islam itself, which in turn is fueling the extremism, and is creating two poles in the Pakistani society. On one side are the people who support extremism, while on the other side are so called moderates, who have actually started opposing Islam. The people in between have slowly been depleted by this constant polarization of the society. They either have to choose the Islamic extremist side, or the ultra secular side, and unfortunately both sides are getting almost equal number of supporters, which is making the polarity stronger.

So, what happens when opposite poles meet? The simple answer is ‘annihilation’. A civil war can break out due to this polarization, and of course it will disrupt the remaining stability of this already unstable country. Such a situation might not be very dangerous for many countries around the world, but for a country like Pakistan, which is very unique in many respects, such situation can bring an end to even its existence. Pakistani media is continuously trying to change the mentality of a moderate Pakistani to either an extremist, or an ultra secular mindset. In an effort to reduce the radicalization of the society, media has started campaigns to promote secularism, and discourage religion. This they are trying to do by showing different plays on Pakistani TV channels that don’t represent the Pakistani population at all. They encourage the young generation to 'free' themselves from religion and the 'backward' traditions of modesty. There are talk shows that criticize religion and try to portray it as a backward idea that can’t cope with the problems of this era. All this infuriates a person who has even a slightest belief in Islam, on the other hand it encourages the secular people to adopt an ultra secular mindset, and hence the ridge between the Pakistani people continues to widen.

Most of the people who can be labeled as religious minded or fundamentalists, reside in Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. These two provinces have already been deprived of many facilities that the people of other provinces have access to. So, discontent is already there, which combined with this media war will eventually turn them against the people of other provinces. People with a more secular mindset are concentrated mainly in Punjab, and some areas of Sindh e.g. Karachi. This polarization, along with deprivation, can lead to disintegration of this country. There has always been a tendency in the people of Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to get a country of their own, where their rights wouldn’t be violated and where they would be able to practice their religion more openly without being discouraged by the government and media.The future of Pakistan will be darker than what is usually thought, if Pakistani media keeps on this campaign.

The Dying Language

Stronger the language of a certain nation, the stronger will be their nationalism. Strength of a language can be determined by observing the purity, with which people speak it, the amount and quality of literary work done in that language, and the self sufficiency of that language. English, Turkish, Persian, Arabic are all examples of some ‘strong languages’. Their speakers usually don’t mix words from other languages considerably, although nowadays it’s very common for people to use some words of other languages, but comparatively this practice is quite rare among the speakers of the mentioned languages. These languages also have a huge stockpile of literary work, and most of them are very self sufficient i.e. translations for most of the words that didn't originate in the areas where those languages are spoken can be found in these languages (but of course there are many exceptions as well). Now, about the nationalism of the speakers of these languages, Arabs are known for their staunch sense of nationalism, same goes for Turks, Iranians and Americans.

After observing all these nations, let’s take a look at the Pakistani nation. The founders of Pakistan were smart enough to understand that they can’t lead the Muslims of Indian subcontinent as a nation till they don’t provide them with an ideology to form the basis of their nationalism, and a language which will serve to consolidate their idea of being a single nation. The ‘Two Nation Theory’ was propagated as the ideological foundation of Pakistani nation and Urdu was selected to be their language, because it was mostly spoken by Muslims in the subcontinent. The Hindus also labeled this language as the language of Muslims and refrained from speaking it. This language was supposed to be the official as well as national language of Pakistan, because without a common language it’s very difficult for a group of people who belong to very diverse ethnic backgrounds to feel like a nation. At the start it went very well, but soon Bengalis started demanding their local language (Bengali) to be declared the national language along with Urdu. This was the start of the discord between the people of East and West Pakistan that eventually led to the separation of East Pakistan, which is now known as Bangladesh. Although there were many different factors that had an affect on this separation, but one of the most important factors was language.

Afterwards, the Urdu language constantly weakened, which means that its speakers lost interest in their language. They seized feeling proud of their language, and gradually its literature lost its quality and contributors. English is taught as a secondary language in most of the Pakistani schools, but is considered more important than the first language. A person with poor English will be considered more illiterate than a person who knows English well; no matter how poor he is in Urdu. When such tendencies develop in a nation, it loses the sense of identity and nationalism. This can even result in its annihilation.

The first thing that the Israelites did after building their country was to revive Hebrew, which had been their language in ancient times. It developed a sense of identity for the people of Israel and helped them to feel that now they are a ‘nation’, with a ‘national language’.

In Pakistan some people proudly tell each other, or in some cases they will deliberately make people notice that they don’t know Urdu very well. The question is why a Pakistani would behave like this in the first place. Why have Pakistanis mentally accepted that English is superior to their own language? The simple answer would be that Pakistanis have mentally accepted that English speaking world is superior to them, so their language of course would be considered by them to be superior to their own language, or in other words, although Muslims of subcontinent have got independence from Britain, but mentally they are still enslaved by them. Rather to be more precise, Pakistanis are now enslaved to the Americans, and nowadays American English is more common in Pakistan. This mental slavery has divested the Pakistanis of their national dignity and pride.

So what should the Pakistanis do to revive their nationalism and their sense of pride? As language is one of the most important elements of nationalism, so in order to make the nation strong, the national language has to be strengthened. If weakening of nationalism can weaken the language, then strengthening the language can strengthen the nationalism. People should feel proud to speak their own language, and government should encourage writers and poets to contribute in building and improving the Urdu literature. State media should promote the national language and more emphasis should be put on the national language in the schools instead of foreign languages. Steps should be taken to purify Urdu from words of other languages that can be translated.

A nation can’t be a nation without a national language. So, if Pakistanis really want to survive as a nation they will have to strengthen their national language, otherwise the powers which have mentally enslaved this nation will soon enslave them physically as well.

The Dangerous Nukes

Pakistan conducted its first nuclear weapon test in 1998, just after India tested its nukes for the second time. Six nuclear explosions were carried out in a remote area of Baluchistan after India carried out five nuclear explosions. And after that Pakistan just accelerated its production of nuclear weapons, and according to Natural Resources Defense Council, has eventually surpassed the number of nukes possessed by India. It estimates the warheads possessed by India to be between 80 and 100, while that of Pakistan to be between 90 and 110.

The US government has long been concerned about Pakistan’s nuclear ambitions. Most probably they are afraid that the nuclear technology could be ‘exported’ from Pakistan to Iran, or Pakistani nuclear arsenal could fall into the ‘wrong hands’. So, it’s in the best interest of the US government to eliminate Pakistan’s nukes or at least bring them under their own control. But few things are guarded in Pakistan with such agility and invincibility as its nuclear arsenal. Besides using force against a country armed with nukes and missiles with ranges long enough to hit all the US military targets in the region doesn’t sound convincing, but what if the guardians of the arsenal itself are proved to be incapable of guarding it. 

In the past few years, many events took place which directly affected the reputation of Pakistani armed forces, who are the sole guardians of Pakistani nuclear program. Let’s take a look at three major events chronologically:

GHQ Attack (October 10, 2009):

General Head Quarters of Pakistan Army was attacked by four to six terrorists. After heavy gunfight, SSG was called in for assistance, and they eliminated the terrorists, while it is said that two of them managed to escape, and six Pakistani soldiers died. This was a huge setback for the reputation of Pak Army. GHQ was considered to be the most difficult target for the terrorists. The attack convinced the people of Pakistan, and the whole world, that Pak Army isn’t that much strong now as it used to be in the past. 

Abbotabad Raid (May 2, 2011):

US SEALs landed in Abottabad, some kilometers from Pakistan Military Academy, and killed Osama Bin Laden who was hiding in a compound right inside the town. ISI and Pak Army were criticized by the whole world, and people of Pakistan were once again demoralized due to the incapability, or alleged contacts with the terrorists, of their security forces. There were only two possibilities, either ISI was not able to track the most wanted person on the planet who was hiding just some kilometers away from Pakistan military training facility, or they were themselves hiding him inside Pakistan. In both the cases Pakistanis were to lose faith in their security forces. Besides the Army was criticized for not intercepting the US helicopters that invaded the country without any permission or prior knowledge of the Pakistani government. Though many people around the world doubt whether the American forces actually killed Osama, or was it just a false operation conducted to make the world believe that Pakistani nukes can really fall into the ‘wrong hands’. There is lack of evidence that Osama was really killed, as there were no photos to show (except a pathetically photo shopped one) and the dead body was instantly thrown into the sea without showing it to the world. Still those who prefer to believe in ‘official statements’ don’t like to think that their president can ever lie to them. 

Mehran Base Attack (May 22, 2011):

More than ten terrorists stormed PNS Mehran Naval base in the port city of Karachi. According to Pakistani news channels, two P3-C Orion aircrafts were destroyed in the attack. Security forces regained the control of the base after 17 hours of fierce fighting in which some 12 soldiers lost their lives. This was yet another setback for the reputation of Pakistani security forces. 

There have been many other incidents which were relatively minor, but they also contributed in shattering the image of Pakistani military and eventually the Pakistani people lost confidence in their security forces (who in the past used to trust the forces blindly). Pak Army was criticized by the whole world for their incapability to secure some of the very crucial sites in the country. 

There have always been some indications of the presence of foreign elements in these incidents. The idea of some illiterate narrow minded terrorists planning such attacks is not convincing. These incidents, along with some other minor incidents, have led the Pakistani people and the whole world to believe that Pakistani forces aren’t really capable of defending their nukes, because they couldn’t even defend their own Head Quarters, and couldn’t track Bin Laden who was hiding right under their nose. The Army Chief needs to take some immediate steps to improve the reputation of the security forces, otherwise the days are near when Pakistan will be ‘defanged’. 

“We have accurate information that, in order to gain dominance over Pakistan and weaken the country's government and nation, the Americans want to sabotage Pakistan's nuclear facilities and pave the way for the US's extended presence and the weakening of the national governing of the people through the lever of the [United Nations] Security Council and some international organizations,” ~Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Lost Identity

People of Pakistan have nothing in common other than faith. It is their faith that serves as a binding force for a group of people who otherwise belong to diverse ethnic backgrounds. Most of the times, nationalism is defined on the basis of ethnicity. For example, Arabs are an ethnic group, and they have a very strong nationalism. Similarly Turks, Germans, French and majority of all other nations, but Pakistanis are classified as a nation on the basis of religion.

What if someone snatches their religion from them. Would they survive as a nation after that? Or would they just disintegrate into their respective ethnic backgrounds?

Observations show that whenever religion becomes weak, ethnic differences become strong. For example in 1916, it was very easy for Lawrence of Arabia to convince the Arabs to revolt against Ottomans and build an empire of their own. It was a time when Islam was losing its strength and people were slowly unifying as ethnic groups instead of religious groups. So, as long as religion was playing an important role in the lives of the people of middle east, they lived together as a single nation. But as soon as people lost their faith, they got divided. It doesn’t mean that they seized practicing Islam, they just seized giving that much importance to religion as it was given some centuries ago. Same is the case with the people of Pakistan. This nation can easily be disintegrated once someone rips off their faith.

After Pakistan got involved in the war on terror as an ally of The US, its governments had to fight religious extremism on a very basic level. To change the mind set of people, Gen. Musharraf started a media campaign to reduce the influence of religion on the minds of people and persuade them to adopt a more secular mindset. He introduced a term ‘Enlightened Moderation’, which was defined as practicing  Islam moderately, as opposed to practicing fundamentalist version of Islam. But the media campaign that followed the introduction of this ideology wasn’t even ‘moderately Islamic’. Instead of targeting the extremist mindset, it targeted even the moderate Muslims and attempted to marginalize or almost eliminate the factor of religion from the life of the Pakistani people. This bore two major drawbacks. First, it polarized the society and eventually encouraged extremism, indirectly. Secondly, it reduced the influence of religion on the people of Pakistan, and thus they lost their identity. Now there is more ethnic discrimination in Pakistan than it was ever before, because people are slowly forgetting the faith that was holding them together. Besides the extremist mindset has been fueled by this propaganda campaign because fundamentalist Muslims perceive it as a threat to their religion, and thus they get motivation, instead of discouragement. 

A better way to handle this situation was to educate the people of Pakistan about the real Islam. The teachings of Islam can be misinterpreted to fuel terrorism, but they can also be taught in their true sense to end this problem. An extremist Muslim will never turn an ear towards any media campaign that attempts to marginalize Islam, but campaign that preaches peace and tolerance in the light of Islamic teachings will have quite an effect on that person.