In his famous speech to the Constituent Assembly on Aug 11, 1947, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah had outlined his vision for Pakistan. It was probably part of his larger approach to nation-building that he handled the issue of national language because he wanted sentiments of regionalism or provincialism to get absorbed in a stronger national identity.
Under his dynamic leadership, this might well have been possible or he might have come up with a more pragmatic approach to the matter in due course of time, but time was not on his side. What followed after him was unfortunate. Power-hungry politicians along with equally power-hungry bureaucrats ganged up to seize power and in doing so alienated the majority population that was based in the erstwhile East Pakistan. This set off a process which may justifiably be called the process of ‘nation-breaking’.
Thus, amid the consequent political instability and chaos, the process of nation-building rolled backwards and has since then been moving in the wrong direction. A state that constituted regions that had a long history of remaining relatively independent was supposed to form a loosely knit federation.
But it fell in the hands of elements that had political ingenuity and lack of foresight as their characteristic. They took measures that would at best ensure the absence of opposition to their illegitimate rule. Not only did it lead to the absence of healthy political culture, where communities would be equally represented, but also to the brazen exploitation.
The political opposition from the eastern wing, the majority, was turned into a minority and the provinces that had joined in the hope of enjoying the status of semi-autonomous regions within the federation were merged into one unit.
The path chosen by Pakistan was and has been painful and costly, leading to a gradual disembowelment of the version of Pakistan that the Quaid had in mind.
Dec 16 comes each year, and each year our policymakers should ponder over what makes the former East Pakistan celebrate its breaking away from the West Pakistan. Similarly, while on Aug 14 we celebrate our independence, we, as a nation, should pause for a moment and think how Jawaharlal Nehru made such a vast country choose the most appropriate path to nation-building and how we failed ourselves.
According to a study by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), 62 per cent of Pakistani youth wants to leave the country at the first available chance. This fact alone should help us understand the relevant issues and to find answers to relevant questions.
Through these questions and their possible answers, the nation and its leaders may realise that we have been imagining Pakistan wrongly all along, and that we must re-imagine a less radicalised, less undemocratic Pakistan, which may be more in line with the interests of all regions and communities.
This way we might be able to find a version of Pakistani nationhood that resembles the one that the Quaid-e-Azam had envisaged.
BABAR AYOOB
JAMSHORO
