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While there is no harm in spending a few billion Rupees on the Independence
Day every year in flags, banners, buntings, flag raising ceremonies
and illuminations for providing a ceremonious mooring to the spirit
of nationalism, it is also an opportune time for a little candid introspection
- a brief social audit of our society and its general drift, relative
to the aspirations of its origin.
I can not find better criteria for social audit than Bertrand Russell's
description of three evils, in his book, 'Roads to freedom'. "When
we consider the evils in the lives we know of, we find that they may
be roughly divided into three classes. There are, first, those due
to physical nature: among these are death pain, and the difficulty
of making the soil yield a subsistence. These we will call 'physical
evils'. Second, we may put those that spring from defects in the character
or aptitudes of the sufferer: among these are ignorance, lack of will,
and violent passions. These we will call 'evils of character'. Third,
come those that depend upon the power of one individual or group over
another: these comprise, not only obvious tyranny but all interference
with free development, whether by force or by excessive mental influence
such as may occur in education. These we will call 'evils of power'.
A social system may be judged by its bearing upon these three kinds
of evils."
Pakistan is a progeny of dreams. It is not a natural, historical,
geographical or demographical country. It was a reaction to the fear
of the Hindu numerical superiority in a democracy; to the narrow mindedness
of the Hindu leaders; to the social intolerance built in to the Hindu
culture; to the fear of Hindu economic domination. Fears are best
sublimated by dreams. Hence, the dream to have a homeland for the
Muslims of India where they can establish an ideal State based on
the eternal and universal tenets of Islam. Dreams may be beautiful
or vile, they are rarely objective. The dream of Pakistan was beautiful;
it promised a heaven on earth. The founding fathers promised us both,
a cultural continuity from our past and the induction of modern civic
principals of liberty, equality and fraternity.
It takes 18 years for a generation to grow up. In the 58 years of
Pakistan's existence three generations have grown up, and they range
from 18 to 60 years of age. Add to these one pre-independence generation
and you have four generations living concurrently today. What has
Pakistan offered these generations? Disillusionment! That is the common
denominator between the generations and this feeling spans right across
the social scale, from the poorest peasant to the richest collaborator
of the exploitive State organs. Let the U.S.A, U.K., Australia or
Canada remove all restrictions on immigration for Pakistanis and you
will have such an exodus that will make family planning a criminal
activity in the country. All anti-American , pro-Saddam, pro-Taliban
gadflies will take the first flight out, even before the Mullah can
say, "Bismillah..." We have come to hate the west only as
far as it is denied to us.
Street wisdom has logic to it; it is never impulsive or ideological.
Why would Pakistani's give their left eye to leave this country for
greener pastures in the West today even if they intend sitting there
cursing that culture? We can only answer this question from the individual's
point of view. The common psyche understands Russell's three evils
better than sociologists, economists or politicians can imagine.
"Physical evils" hurt all people equally hard. In Pakistan,
55% of the population has been trying to eke out a living out of the
soil but the exploitive policies of the government have denied them
a decent standard of living and a fair share of the development funding.
The budget allocation for the beautification of Lahore exceeded the
allocation for the maintenance of all the canals in the Punjab. It
took the Asian Development Bank to thrust a loan for the maintenance
of canals down our throats. They were concerned that our canal system
may collapse and they knew the consequences; we are more philosophical
about such matters. For the balance 45% of the urban masses, life
is equally grim. Wage earners grind away 8.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. in
a degrading mill of sycophancy, nepotism and corruption, perpetually
impaled on the dilemma of preserving the conscience or preserving
the family. Majority of small enterprises dwell outside the realm
of formal economy as second-class citizens. What a choice! Jinnah
never warned us about such perplexities; he said work hard, be honest
and things will work out. Are they working out? The Human Development
Index Report by UNDP has rated Pakistan in the lowest developed countries
with 35 other African countries, below neighbouring countries in south
Asia.
Then there are the evils of the character. Illiteracy is one of them.
Over 70% of the people suffer from it. Bigotry, chauvinism, caste
prejudice, myopia and hypocrisy are other character evils that know
no boundaries of education, status or caste. Severe inferiority complex
inflicts masses, delusions of grandeur haunts leaders, business magnates
and generals. If self respect and dignity is to be made the yardstick
of sanity, few people measure up to it in society. The education system
is the only remedy to the "evils of character" but here
we have a system, which is geared to breed deception, chicanery and
violence. Young minds are raped by a callous and corrupt teaching
system with a syllabus that has no bearing to contemporary social
or market needs. Learning is by rote, devoid of curiosity; teaching
is through a transparent loot of private tuitions and paper guesses
by insiders; marking of papers is subject to influence and cash. "Evils
of character" are dispensed institutionally, producing thousands
of sick minds every year to dilute the little sanity that survives
in the face of the dual menace of illiteracy and corruption.
As for the "evils of power", where do you begin to count?
The feudals and the bureaucrats were inherited; but we permitted the
megalomaniac generals, the ruthless business magnates, the bigoted
intolerant mullahs, the drug barons, the mercenary press barons, the
conniving politicians and the conspiring intellectuals to spawn the
socio-political milieu unabated. So what has happened to Jinnah's
dream? It has gone sour. No matter how much icing of rhetoric we put
on top, the cake is rotten inside.
The failure of the system to eradicate the three evils gets associated
with western liberal political ideals, and especially so since 9/11
when the government is perceived to be towing the U.S. line. Ravaged
young minds are seeking counter poles to western ideals in theological
ideals of Islam. This provides war-fodder for militant Islamic organisations
at one end of the spectrum and a burgeoning pool of anti-western and
isolationist intellectuals on the other. Their paths are diverse at
the moment but if conditions deteriorate they may begin to converge
and the invisible hand of national destiny may move closer to the
'self-destruct' button.
For the sanctity of the occasion, I raise my right hand to 'Salaam
Pakistan' but I am so ashamed to admit that my heart is not as jubilant
as the streets may indicate. My mind is lost in deep introspection
- that's the best homage I can pay to my motherland on this day.
Iqbal Mustafa
1230 words
14 August 2004
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