Pakistan is special. It did not exist before it became independent, and yet half of it went on to create another country a quarter of a century after its first coming into existence. It was also created on the basis of religion, but it was not envisaged by its founders as a religious state. Perhaps one reason was that the entity which brought about its creation, the All-India Muslim League, was more a national movement than a political party. Both the leftist Mian Iftikaruddin and the rightist Maulana Abdus Sattar Niazi found space to be in the same party as those representatives of feudalism, Iftikhar Mamdot and Mumtaz Daulatana. It was perhaps inevitable that, once the country was created, both Mian Iftikhar and Maulana Niazi would slope off and join other parties.
That is perhaps the essence of the political problem that has faced Pakistan. The existence of many parties is not acceptable. Parties are supposed to exist as part of a multitude rather than in splendid isolation, and need not be so grudging about the existence of other parties. The all-too-familiar cycle of suppression in opposition and administering suppression while in government is visible now, as the opposition PTI is put through the hoops it used on the PML(N) and PPP when positions were reversed. Much is made of the fact that there have been three martial laws, but one of the main reasons has been that parties have not operated the system so that they maintained a monopoly over power. Martial laws have been seen as a means to ousting the government in power, in place of elections.
Perhaps of more relevance is the economic problem. The whole idea of independence was that the colonial power was not acting in line with the wishes of the people, and was not providing them the benefits they wanted. It was hoped that independence would lead to governments more responsive to people’s wishes. People all over the world have relatively simple needs, though their wishes may be unlimited, and Pakistanis are no exception. However, providing those needs has become a problem because of the cupidity of officials, politicians and other stakeholders. The need of the day seems to be getting under one big tent, not of a single party, but of a single national identity. Unless we all pull together, we will arrive nowhere.
