We continue to espouse the narrative that Pakistan’s foes have been long engaged in destabilising the country, and while doing so we ignore the socio-economic, religious and cultural fault lines within that pose grave threats to national security.
It is a known fact that the exterior always reflects the interior. We are the big problem ourselves whether we accept it or not. It is true that internal insecurity is best handled when we first diagnose the ills that have been challenging us directly or indirectly.
For instance, there has been an issue of political confrontation and political polarisation in the country for a long time. Instead of addressing the concern that is the major obstacle in the way of any kind of reforms, our media shapes and creates public opinion without realising the horrible consequences of diverting public attention from the major challenges to our national security.
Political instability leads to damaging implications in the form of economic tumult, educational loss, health issues, communal disharmony and many others that flow from a non-consensual political environment. Hence, national security itself breaks down and turns into a multiplier of problems.
Religious and sectarian conflicts have also polarised public opinion. It has been a lingering problem. It is like bloc politics which divides people into different groups. Some follow one religious party on the basis of their beliefs, and others follow another party owing to their attachment to its ideology.
The world environment being what it is, there is little hope that Pakistanis would compromise on their ideological differences for the sake of national security. It is in this sense that we are threatened from within, not from the outside.
As our society is diverse in culture, language and race, we seem to glorify the diversity while ignoring that such differences have proven to be a liability in our own history. We still have time to learn from our mistakes that we made in the realm of national security. Though the principle ‘unity in diversity’ sounds favourable to our security, it is the only thing that has been set aside the most. That is the main reason why provincialism and nationalism took roots in the federating units.
Apart from these internal threats to national security, dominance of the elite feudal-bureaucratic class has caused resentment among the common populace. Disparity is indubitably a social menace. Almost more than half of country’s land and properties are controlled by the elite. Will this kind of inequality not produce agitation and resentment that, in turn, will pose a challenge of their own to national security? Gross inequality is the main culprit that needs to be taken by its horns. The sooner it gets done, the better.
Hopefully, we will focus on internal weaknesses before we point fingers at others for threatening us. It is time we looked within and worked to overhaul the fault lines that actually pose the most potent challenges to our national security.
ABDUL QADEER SEELRO
LARKANA
