Our forefathers who worked relentlessly to carve out an independent state for the Muslims of the Subcontinent had a vision and they literally believed in a secular edifice, irrespective of the fact that they were zealous Islamic ideologues. They were quite conscious of segregation that the Muslims were facing, at the hands of their brute majority in united India. The creation of Pakistan, a separate homeland for the Muslims of South Asia, is not a misnomer or an oxymoron as narrated by some scholars. Hindus were eventually shocked that a brief political struggle of the All-India Muslim League (AIML) – spanning not more than 50 years – bore fruits and led to the emergence of an independent Muslim state, the first in Westphalian statehood. The Hindu leadership was flabbergasted by Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s leadership qualities.
Pakistan came into being on August 14, 1947, under a politico-legal process, called the Indian Act of 1935 under the aegis of British Monarchy. But surprisingly none of the endowments entitled under the Partition deal came the Pakistan way. It was apparently so because the Pakistani leadership refused to accept Lord Mountbatten (the last British Viceroy of India) to become the newly-crafted state’s chief executive. Only 20 percent of the promised funds were transferred to Pakistan. The new Muslim state started with a scratch. On the contrary, India inherited massive resources left behind by the monarchy rule. This was perhaps the first-ever setback for Pakistan which went on to keep it fragile and backward in years to come. Starting off with shortage of funds and a feeble governmental structure, the civil administration in Pakistan tried to overcome problems as much as it could by making the best use of available resources. Another hurdle in managing and collecting of resources was the geographical divide between the Eastern (now Bangladesh) and Western flanks of Pakistan. Last but not least, the political choreographing at the hands of a powerful bureaucracy and a power-assuming military literally undermined the political evolution, and thus Pakistan was seen having toughs and crests of regionalism, lawlessness, ethnic, lingual and sectarian prejudice which contributed to an instable Pakistan for all these seven decades.
The idea of Pakistan originated as a distinct homeland for the deprived Muslims of South Asia. The founding members of All India Muslim League were unblemished in their religious thoughts, believing in oneness of Allah and finality of Prophethood of Muhammad (PBUH). The inkling was to condition a prosperous nativity for Muslims to live in peace, harmony and security. However, some analyst believes that,
The role of Islam in the political and cultural unification of Pakistan has been controversial. Some factions have argued that Islamic ideology is the only reinforcement that can bind together the country’s culturally diverse people. Opposing factions have argued that the perseverance on Islamic ideology, in opposition to regional demands expressed in secular and cultural idiom, has alienated regional groups and eroded national unity.’
Jinnah was educated, well versed in English and a Barrister by profession, completed his Bar at law from England. His political slant was secular. After the endorsement of the Objective Resolution at Minar-e-Pakistan at Lahore on 23rd March 1940, Jinnah stressed that the new country belonged to all for any religion, cast, creed, colour or race, with consideration that Islam is the official religion of Pakistan and Urdu being a national language. The cornerstone for the Constitution of Pakistan would be the ideology of Islam with Quran and Sunnah (of Prophet Muhammad Pbuh) would be the basis for its variations. Pakistan was never meant to be made a theocratic state. After the partition, Muslims and some minority groups sought refuge in Pakistan, migrated and settled mostly in the coastal city of Karachi and the rest moved or migrated directly to other parts of the country. The locals were too generous to the migrants at the time of their arrival.
Pakistan emerged on the world map, momentarily the new born state was able to fortify its status in the comity of nations attributing to its geographic and geostrategic location. It was a gateway to landlocked countries in west and Central Asia, states mostly dominated by Russia (former USSR). After the Second World War, there was a Cold War between the United States and former USSR, which plunged the world in power blocs. Nations were split, the world was polarized between the two, frequent regional alliances or treaties of allied countries were made to counter each other.
The Political Evolution:
The awareness that the Muslims are a separate nation was strewed into the Indian political philosophy by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, a philosopher and Muslim reformist. Sir Syed wanted Muslims to get educated and think in a scientific manner, like rational rather than religious. He suggested aligning with the British rather than rebelling against them, as most beneficial for the community. He had founded the Muhammadan Educational Conference (MEC) in 1886, earlier MEC had no political ambition whatsoever towards solving community problems, rather they believed in enlightenment and improvising the life and social status of Muslims of the sub-continent. However, after a brief struggle of three decades the MEC at an annual gathering of around 3000 delegates at a conference at Dhaka, nullified the idea of being reformist only, and entered into the mainstream political struggle of the sub-continent by creating All India Muslim League (AIML) on 30 December 1906. The name was proposed by Nawab Khawaja Sir Salimullah Bahadur and seconded by Hakim Ajmal Khan. The AIML became the first Muslim political party of India and was a counter narrative of the Congress Party (primarily catering to the needs of the Hindus only). The founders of the Muslim League were: Khawaja Salimullah, Viqar-ul-Mulk, Syed Amir Ali, Syed Nabiullah, Khan Bahadur Ghulam and Mustafa Chowdhury. The AIML was essentially a party of educated elite Muslims, at least, in the beginning – the first Honorary President of the League was Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah (Aga Khan III). The AIML intended to promote and secure civil rights for Muslims, while advocating loyalty to the British government as a means to achieve more political and civil rights.
The primary objectives of the league were:
• To create among Muslims the feelings of loyalty towards the British Government.
• To safeguard the political rights of the Muslims and to convey the same to the government.
• To prevent the rise of prejudice against other communities of India among the Muslims.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah joined the League in 1913. When the Congress party was opposed to the government and fighting for the gradual establishment of an independent India, the AIML still offered its allegiance to the government. They, in fact, provided the government with a tool to fight the growing nationalism in the country.
The consistent AIML support for the British Raj did not bear much fruit as reaction in an annual session at Allahabad it demanded a separate homeland for Muslims of the subcontinent. It demanded that all the Muslim majority areas specifically where AIML had an influence may be given autonomy to be part of an Independent Muslim State. On March 23, 1940, ten years after an idea of the separate homeland for Muslims, Jinnah delivered a speech in Lahore where he expressed this proposition and impossibility of co-existence with Hindus living as one nation, which was commonly known as the Two Nation Theory. The idea was opposed by some secular minded Muslim leaders who formed the All India Jamhur Muslim League which was later merged with the Congress Party.
Earlier in provincial elections of 1937 in British India, the Muslim League was not able to form the government in any province. Even in the 125 non-general constituencies out of which 59 were reserved for Muslims, the Congress managed to win 25 seats with 15 seats coming from the Muslim dominated North-West Frontier Province. In 1939, the Congress ministries resigned on 22 December following the viceroy’s declaration that made India a party to the Second World War. The AIML called it a day of deliverance for the Muslims of United India. Jinnah’s consistent struggle for a separate homeland finally at a brink was successful in its mission of dividing the country in two visible possible groups against the British Raj. The country was then partitioned along communal lines along with independence in 1947.
The league was later dissolved on 14 August 1947. It continued to exist in various forms as political parties in Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. In India, the Indian Union Muslim League functioned as a political party with its base in Kerala and ironically, aligned itself with the Congress Party.
The Muslim League and the Rest
The Muslim League formed in 1906 had led the Pakistan independence movement under Mohammed Ali Jinnah. However, after the death of Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan and the military coup in 1958, it endured many setbacks and much fragmentation. Consequently in 1962 it splintered into two parts, the Conventional Pakistan Muslim League and the Council Muslim League. Along with All India Muslim League (AIML), other political narratives also gained momentum in due process.
The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) founded in 1941 by Abul Ala Maududi (an Islamic scholar), commanded a great deal of support among the urban lower-middle classes, while enjoying great influence abroad. Two other religious parties, the Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam and the Jamiat Ulama-e-Pakistan, had strong centers of support, the former in Karachi and the latter in the rural areas of NWFP (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).
The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) was formed in 1968 by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, with support of leftist mindset who wanted to do away with religion in politics. They differed in terms of their reforms agenda and their state policies were contested as a prelude to a socialist economy. The PPP emerged as the majority party in West Pakistan in the elections of 1970 (although the Awami League in East Pakistan won the largest number of legislative seats). The influence of political forces in West Pakistan did not allow the Awami League of Sheikh Mujeeb to form the government. A row started between the two wings while Awami League dominated East Pakistan and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s PPP gained majority in West Pakistan. The political tussle ended up with involvement of neighboring India who supported the creation of Bangladesh (former East Pakistan). Later, Bhutto was called to form a government in 1972, he ruled till 1977 and was ousted by his own trusted military general Gen. Zia ul Haq, whom he had made the Army Chief surpassing many seniors in the military corps. For next 11 years the PPP leadership was muffled by the military government of Gen. Zia ul Haq, who believed in a conservative form of government based on Islamic law and Shariah, unlike the PPP and other socialist groups. After the death of Zia ul Haq in a plane crash on 17th August 1988, general elections were held. Bhutto’s daughter Benazir Bhutto gained considerable seats to form the government, however, she had to face strong opposition by the leftovers of Late Gen. Zia ul Haq, in the form of the Pakistan Muslim League (mostly based in Punjab).
The All India Muslim League was named Pakistan Muslim League after the partition in 1947. Formed in 1906 in what is now Bangladesh, had organized the Pakistan independence movement under Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Dr. Allama Mohammad Iqbal and other great visionaries. Only 10 years after the creation of Pakistan after a military coup in 1958 had undergone many setbacks. In 1962, it was splintered into two parts, the Conventional Pakistan Muslim League (PML) and the Council Muslim League. In the elections of 1970, it almost disappeared as a political party, though it was resurrected in 1985 and became the most important component of the Islamic Democratic Alliance, during Gen Zia’s rule the PML firmly held Punjab’s local politics and administration. Since then, Muslim League factions have been associated with powerful personalities (e.g. Nawaz Sharif, the Chaudhry brothers and former General Pervez Musharraf).
In 1996 Pakistan’s former Cricket Team Skipper who won the Cricket World Cup in 1992 founded the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), a political party primarily to oppose corrupt leadership and promote social welfare. It remained uncompetitive and marginal till 2010.
Ethnic interests were served by organizations such as the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (formerly the Muhajir Qaumi Movement) in Karachi and Hyderabad, the Sindhi National Front in Sindh, and the Baloch Students Union in Balochistan.
The former N.W.F.P., now renamed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) was mostly influenced by two extremities of Leftist Awami National Party and Rightist Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Pakistan.
Defense and Administrative Setup
Since its inception Pakistan’s Military has been highly skilled. The professional officers are always prepared safeguard Pakistan’s national integrity and authority over the political, religious and anti-Pakistan biases, though, never dithered to involve itself in the country’s political affairs. The military consists of an army, air force, and navy, as well as various paramilitary forces. The army, the largest uniformed group, is involved in administrative control of some major security installations and civilian high profile designations.
Each of the services is headed by a Chief of Staff (COS) in the Army, The Air Marshal in the Air force and an Admiral in the Navy, usually, the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCSC) is the senior officer of the military hierarchy, who commands all three.
The Pakistan’s Army is well supplied, equipped with several thousand main battle tanks, armored personnel carriers, and artillery pieces (both towed and self-propelled). Furnished with on ground multiple-launch rocket systems and several short-range missile systems, it still stands as one of the finest aggressive armed forces in the world. Pakistan’s naval fleet consists of a variety of relatively small surface crafts (with a bunch of destroyers, frigates, missile craft, and patrol boats), however, it has a most sophisticated submarine fleet and an air arm. Its Air space is protected by several squadrons of high-performance fighter and ground-attack aircraft and a number of support and cargo planes in its Air Force fleet, Pakistan’s Air force is considered as one of the finest and most skilled in aviation combat systems across the globe.
Pakistan’s supreme intelligence service, the Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) directorate is the country’s largest intelligence collection body, and it has been successful in influencing government policies at troubled times and counter intelligence endeavors.
The country’s Internal security is managed by a variety of local and provincial law enforcement divisions, with support of paramilitary forces such as the Pakistan Rangers, the Khyber Rifles and Federal levies whose task is largely to provide border and security, besides supporting local administration and police at the time of natural calamities and unrest. The legendary Khyber Rifles and Federal levies are officially part of the army but frequently engage in security work in northern parts of country, such as combating terrorism and maintaining law and order, it works under local administration and army both.
Pakistan official administrative setup is run and controlled by a majestic bureaucratic setup acquired from the British Raj. From a federal secretary to a peon, all are segregated in different grades, and same goes with the provincial government.
Retrospect
The call for establishing an independent Islamic state on the Indian subcontinent can be traced to a 1930 speech by Sir Muhammad Iqbal, a poet-philosopher and, at the time, president of the All India Muslim League. It was his argument that the four northwestern provinces and regions of British India, i.e. Sind, Baluchistan, Punjab, and North-West Frontier Province (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) should one day be joined to become a free and independent Muslim state. The limited character of this proposal can be judged from its geographic rather than demographic dimensions. Iqbal’s Pakistan included only those Muslims residing in the Muslim-majority areas in the northwestern quadrant of the subcontinent.
Iqbal’s vision ignored the millions of other Muslims living throughout the subcontinent, and it certainly did not take into account the Muslim majority of Bengal in the east. Moreover, it did not echo the interests of other political groups in pursuit for liberation from colonial rule. He was confronted by other Muslim leaders e.g., Abul Kalam Azad, Abdul Ghaffar Khan, and, later, Khizar Hayat Khan Tiwana, who believed that his proposal did not conform to ideas reflected in Islamic expressions that spoke of a single Muslim community (Ummah) or people (qawm). That is an imperative, a Liberal Muslim like, Mohammad Ali Jinnah gained popularity after his demise.
Pakistan: geography, implications and prospects
Pakistan accomplished independence as a protectorate within the Commonwealth on 14th August 1947. The founding fathers curtailed British Government proposal to place Lord Mountbatten, the last British viceroy of British India, to be Pakistan’s first governor-general, or head of state unlike the Indian National Congress, which accepted him as India’s chief executive. Honoring Mohammad Ali Jinnah for his services and dedication in making of Pakistan besides taking all major decisions relating to the formation of Pakistan. A title bestowed on him by Muslims of Sub-continent as Quaid-e-Azam, was made the first Governor General of Pakistan and Liaquat Ali Khan (a prosperous Nawab who threw his wealth for Pakistan) as Prime Minister.
Pakistan’s first government endured difficult times ahead of its formation. The country had been formed from the two regions where Muslims were the majority, the northwestern portion and the territories of the eastern region of Bengal province (which has been segregated by West Bengal and East Bengal between India and Pakistan, respectively). Distance was a major hurdle, a 1000 mile, in fact, a major portion of Indian Territory lies between its two parts i.e. West Pakistan and East Pakistan. West Pakistan borders west and central Asian countries, while East Pakistan bounded by India. There were no simple routes of communication between the two limitations.
…. the last settlement to be decided was the distribution of cash balances: The Indian government’s cash balance at the time of the Partition were a little under Rs.400 crore and Pakistan’s share was fixed at Rs.75 crore, which was inclusive of Rs.20 crore made available to Pakistan as working balance on August 15, 1947.
Further complicating the work for the new Pakistani government, the remaining wealth and resources assumed to be distributed amongst two nations i.e. India and Pakistan, was apprehended by the British Government, had been solely granted to India. Following this mockery, Pakistan’s survival seemed uneasy. Contrary to all the well-organized provinces of British India, the less developed areas of Sindh, Balochistan, and the North-West Frontier Province came to Pakistan’s proprietary. However, Punjab was more developed, while Bengal’s densely populated hinterlands also came under Pakistan’s control. Logically, the new Pakistani government faced real times of troubles, while starting-off the new venture of building a nation-state with shortage of funds and supplies. This was how Pakistan came into existence with a population of 75 million on board, with a treasury without a treasure.
The division of assets and liabilities of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) post-1947 remains incomplete to this day. According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), India still owes it a little over Rs.5.6 billion – mainly on account of assets held with the RBI “pending transfer to Pakistan”.
Economically, the situation in the newly-created state was despairing. Materials from the Indian factories were cut off from Pakistan, disrupting the meagre industry, commerce, and agriculture. Two nation theory sketched the course of population for newly established states of India and Pakistan and owing to this mass migration that took place on both sides supplemented by terrible massacres.
Across the Indian subcontinent, communities that had coexisted for almost a millennium attacked each other in a terrifying outbreak of sectarian violence, with Hindus and Sikhs on one side and Muslims on the other—a mutual genocide as unexpected as it was unprecedented. In Punjab and Bengal—provinces abutting India’s borders with West and East Pakistan, respectively—the carnage was especially intense, with massacres, arson, forced conversions, mass abductions, and savage sexual violence. Some seventy-five thousand women were raped, and many of them were then disfigured or dismembered.
The exodus of such a vast number of frantic populations in each direction required an urgent response, which neither country was prepared to manage. The newly formed Pakistani government had valued a division of India’s material, financial, and military assets but there was none! New Delhi displayed no intention of allocating the assets of British India with its major rival, thereby establishing a balance between the two countries. Moreover, India’s superior geopolitical position and, most importantly, its control of the vital rivers that flowed into Pakistan meant that the Muslim country’s water supplies were at the mercy of its larger, hostile neighbor. Pakistan’s condition was so precarious following independence that many observers believed the country could hardly survive six months and that India’s goal of a unified subcontinent remained a distinct possibility.
Kashmir Problem
Since its inception Kashmir has been a major point of contention in framing Pakistan’s foreign policy and its relation with its neighbors, specifically India, such that it provoked a war between the two neighboring immediately, ensuring their independence. Both Pakistan and India anticipated making Kashmir a component of their respective unions, and the former princely state rapidly became a disputed territory. India and Pakistan both acquired a portion of this beautiful valley and this remains a point of conflict for both countries, since its creation.
Education
Pakistan’s literacy rate is lower than that of many developing countries. And those who are literate have not any formal education, women are generally marginalized in urban and rural areas. Education in Pakistan is not compulsory. While Pakistan has increased the number of primary and secondary schools, eventually the number of students enrolled has risen in moderation. Teacher’s training has been promoted by the local and foreign agencies. Higher education is available at vocational schools, technical schools, and colleges throughout the country. Another major reason for less education, in rural areas most of the educational institutions teach in Urdu or English, rather than in native rural languages, like Sindhi, Punjabi, Balochi or Pashtu.
In 1970 most of the educational institutions particularly in government and public sector were nationalized, as an impediment, there was massive drainage of higher and middle class students, hence leaving a class difference between the two. During Zia’s rule in the 1980s, reversal of that policy led to the creation of private institutions, particularly in the large cities. In the 1980s the government also began to focus on the Islamization of the curriculum and amplified use of Urdu as the medium of instruction. Many madrassahs were established throughout the country, particularly in poverty driven areas and incentives helped these madrassahs to prosper, providing free education with food, room and boarding. While some of these schools provide good quality education in religious as well as secular subjects, others are simply maktabs i.e. elementary schools. The maktabs were teaching simply memorization of Holy Scripture i.e. Quran. Later, students from these remote maktabs and madrassahs ended up being recruited by Jihadist and extremist groups in the name of Islam, in return promising them heaven, these students were indoctrinated for suicide bombings and promoting jihad in different parts of the world.
The modern or educated segments of the population prefer to send their children to private schools which continue to offer western-style education and instruction is in English. A number of private schools offer college entrance examinations administered by educational agencies in the United States and the United Kingdom, and many graduates of these schools are educated abroad. The division of the educational structure into a private westernized and state-run Islamized system has thus caused social imbalance and aggravated the problem of mass migration to the west of these highly educated members of the population.
Daily Life and Social Customs
Pakistan is an agrarian society on a patriarchal pattern of family system mostly living in large and extended families. Women are generally treated as inferior in matters of decision making and family recognition, restricted to fulfilling her duties as subdued wife and mother. Generally women are dependent and are not allowed to leave home alone except with an accompanying protector. However, in the rural Punjab, cotton picking is exclusively a woman’s job, and women may keep the money thus earned for their own purposes.
The wealthy peasants and landowners commonly known as waderas and Chaudhrys kept their women in seclusion and were not allowed to meet and greet anyone without permission.
Even in wealthy and western educated families, women are not restricted to purdah or seclusion, though even among that group’s attitude towards women is similar. With the introduction of the internet and social media there was a considerable change in urban and some rural culture. Girls were allowed to have access to the modern world through social media, understanding other culture and societies, finding out privileges for an open society and culture, while some religious conservative and extremist Islamic group opposed these ideas, considering this moderation as bad influence on local customs and against the teachings and preaching of Islam. Women in Pakistan now have a good representation in colleges, universities and professional colleges, as a result they are now participating in offices, factories, private and government sectors. After the general elections of 1988, the first woman prime minister took oath with strong opposition from religious and right wing political parties.
In traditional parts of Pakistan, social organization revolves around kinship rather than around the caste system that is used in India. The baradari (berādarī literally “brotherhood”) is the most important social institution. Endogamy is widely practiced, often to a degree that would be considered inappropriate in Western society; the preferred marriage for a man within many Pakistani communities is with his father’s brother’s daughter, and among many other groups marriages are invariably within the baradari. The lineage elders constitute a council that adjudicates disputes within the lineage and acts on behalf of the lineage with the outside world—for example, in determining political allegiances. In contemporary Pakistan, the question of class distinction based on historic patterns of social interaction has become blurred by the tendency to pretend that one has lineage to a nobler ancestor.
Conclusion
Pakistan as a state, an ideology and a system of life for the Muslims of the Subcontinent has been a success story. The very argument that it failed as it was truncated and dismembered after 25 years of its creation is absurd; the benchmark is that the breakaway faction did not assimilate with India, rather evolved as a separate political entity and emerged as an independent state of Bangladesh. This confirmed the Two Nation Theory and the Muslim-hood of United India, and the need for a partition on political and geographical lines. Moreover, notwithstanding religious swings and temptations, Pakistan did not go the theocratic way nor did it ever vote for religious fundamentalism. This vindicated the democratic and pluralistic culture of the new nation-state, and finally by shunning prejudice and sense of otherness, Pakistanis have defeated parochialism, regionalism and lingual based considerations in their format of governance. This is a tribute to its resilience, and has gone on to supplement the political thought on which the state was founded for the Muslims of this part of South Asia.
