What is at the Stake?
“History repeats itself,” is as true as to say that we need
oxygen to breathe, and the world has experienced many repetitions of history in
broad daylight. Karl Marx as he says, “history is written on the back of the
people is as much right as the saying, “The sun rises in the East”. The present situation of the country is much
worse than is stipulated or anticipated by the “leaders” of this war and
corruption torn country. A curry of chaos is boiling within the pits of the
provincialism and nationalism, the cap is loose but yet intact. This may be
considered as dead silence before a tornado. Limits of the exploitation to both
the vertical and horizontal planes has long been reached, and the exploited classes
are waiting for an outburst. The minority classes are being suppressed, the
minority provinces are being neglected, the remote areas, FATA, is being made
the playground for the Vested Interests.
Class Polarization is being aired in a systematic manner. It today is a
“do or die” or more specifically, “now or never” condition for the country
sought for practicing the fundamental principles of Islam freely, of which
class equality is the one.
Some stakeholders have also hinted of a “new social contract”.
The idea is not novel neither is the term used for the first time in the
history of the infant country, it has long been used in the country and its
history can be traced back to the creation of the country. How was the East
Pakistan deprived of its basic rights, how the Bengali population was exploited
by Vested Interests, how the trade was monopolized by 20 families of West, how
the biggest contributors to the country’s economy and foreign reserves were
bypassed by the ‘powerful’ Big Business. The result was devastating; people
gathered under the flag hoisted by secessionists and separationists, and raised
their voice for a separate sovereign country, Bangladesh. The people and the
“stakeholders” of West Wing are as much responsible for the dismemberment of
country, as was sheikh Mujib and his “extremist” followers. What did they
demand? They demanded an actual representation of their people in the country,
they demanded their money to be spent on them, and these rightful demands when
denied gave birth to the famous “Six Point” formula. The Mujib was declared a
secessionist and a traitor, but why the real stakeholders of the Western Wing
weren’t treated the same way. It was so because, they were powerful, and have
enslaved the people of the East as well as of the West.
The same thing is happening again, since the creation of
Pakistan, Baluchistan is deprived in the similar manner as was Eastern Wing,
FATA is similarly made the target of Vested Interests, Sind and KP are still
demanding their rightful representation and acknowledgement in the national
mainstream. Four provinces collectively make a Pakistan, not a single province
can be called Pakistan. This discrimination if continued in the same way, will
burst and create a chaos resulting in the Bengal type civil war in the country,
and will be greatly appreciated and funded by the International Players for
their own interests. However, if someone says, situation in “what is remained
of Pakistan” is not as worse as it was in the East Pakistan in 70’s. A simple
reply to this philosophical argument is that, it is “calm before the cyclone”.
We are on the brink of an endless dark tunnel of destruction, we are ready to
fall in it, but something more powerful is holding us. As the ordinary, down
trodden people of the country say, “It may be the hand of God, by the help of
whom the country is still intact.”
Personal egoism of the Vested Interests has developed another
school of thought in the country, the thought that constitution must be
abrogated and a new constitution needs to be drafted. The constitution of 1973,
if, as being anticipated, abrogated will lead to two consequences, as Z.A.
Bhutto said:
a)
It would mean falling back on Indian Independence Act
1947 passed by British Parliament.
b)
It would also mean that quantum of autonomy
voluntarily surrendered to the Federation by the Provinces would revert back to
the Provinces in preference to restoration of Indian Independence Act of 1947.
It is obvious from the above interpretation, “the abolition
of the federation of Pakistan,” and consequently the provinces will surely
demand for a loose federation, a confederation or a complete autonomy. This is
what, that will occur if the graveness of the situation is not assessed and
remedies are not made today. Everyone needs to step back and let the physician
heal his own wounds; Constitution itself is capable of taking the preventive
and remedial measures according to the needs of the state and the people of the
country. If the remedies are not made today and the horse is let galloping, it
will run to the brink of destruction, separationists in the minority provinces
and FATA have their spectators’ seats reserved, only they have to do is to lure
him to fall in the endless pit of destruction, and we will once again become
the victims of “Vested Interests”.
It’d be worth mentioning to share that, the results of the
2008 general elections were a clear indication of the resentment of the people
for the state and the system imposed by the Dictatorship. In KP the sweeping
victory of the national party showed frustration of the people against the
prevailing system. The people were suppressed to such an extent that they
wanted their own voice to be heard, provincial autonomy. They wanted their own
representatives to govern them, so they voted for the slogan of provincial
autonomy, elimination of exploitation and suppression. In Sindh the Peoples
Party swept the elections because the people were sick of the government
imposed on them by coterie. They wanted to breathe in the free air. In
Baluchistan, if the nationalists hadn’t boycotted the elections, and the
elections weren’t manipulated to someone else’s favor they’d surely have swept
the polls. After the restoration of democracy; real representation of the
people in the government settled the issues to a large extent, the tension was
relieved. In elections of 2013 the free, unexploited people of Pakistan voted
for the change. This was a clear indication for the people trust on democratic
process and the democracy. They now know that their problems can only be solved
by the true democratic government elected by their own votes.
The need of the moment is to
assess the serious threats to the federation of Pakistan, both internal and
external. If the suppression is not eliminated, and exploitation continued,
there will be no second chance left. This can easily be done by the
democratically elected government, to take all the stakeholders on board for
the formulation of National Foreign Policy and strategy to cope with internal
threats to the unity of the federation by national consensus. The use of force
may create desired results for a while, but it also creates a lot of vacuum,
which if not filled by the people centric policies can cause huge damage. By
force you can win the piece of a land, but for winning the hearts you need to
make revolutionary steps for making the lives of public better. For winning
hearts of people you need to introduce them to the national mainstream, you
need to give them opportunity to play their part, you need to give them the
chance to place their problems on the table. Or the results of the use of force
may not be more different than those in our neighboring Afghanistan. It is the
last chance for all our national leaders to sit on one table and resolve the
issues once and forever, and be amongst the makers of the history.
