A Medley of Internal Contradictions

A large number of natural phenomena work in collaboration with each other. The nitrogen cycle is one of the common examples of natural coordination in the form of recycling that keeps nitrogen percentage in the atmosphere constant. Similarly, immune system and other bodily functions, controlled by the brain, work in collaboration. When immune system contradicts its function and starts destroying itself, as in AIDS, the consequences need no explanation. The internal contradictions in the social, cultural and political arenas have its harmful repercussions as well.

A society or nation is like a body whose different organs of state and society are expected to work in collaboration for the good of the nation. The culture provides paradigm and constitution, acting as brain, provides blueprint for collaboration. In a democratic constitution, the internal and external security organs are supposed to work like immune system. The trigger mechanism is to be in total control of the constitution. Just as immune system is not capable of taking over the other bodily functions, the taking over of state organs by the security apparatus is a problem and not a solution. A malfunctioning brain/ constitution is a problem specifically of brain/ constitution. A taking over of the function of brain/ constitution is both opportunistic and parasitic. For the sake of coordination and good of the society, all state organs, society and individuals must accept the supremacy of constitution.

Unfortunately, in Pakistan, on one hand the powerful external security apparatus is less amenable to the constitution and the majority of public not ready to accept the supremacy of constitution over the “rules of God” on the other. Of course, the rules of God according to dogma have different interpretations for different people whereas only judiciary interprets constitution.

Supremacy of the rules of God in constitution provides weak scaffolding and astigmatic blueprint due to its wide and wild fluctuating interpretations? With Pakistan being an Islamic Republic according to the constitution, any government can be easily overthrown for not being Islamic enough. What is brain/ constitution left to do without its authority to control the functions? Brain

in abeyance? Having a constitution in abeyance or using the fuzzy interpretations to by-pass its authority reveals internal contradictions within constitution and opportunistic behavior by those who use its weakness to become CMLAs and CE.

Shedding tears for the plight of Indian Muslims is also a case of internal contradictions. For Pakistanis as Muslims and for historical reasons, concern for Indian Muslims is understandable without considering its ramifications and consequences for both Pakistan and Indian Muslims. An adversary takes the bitter pill of listening and agreeing to enemy only after surrendering to enemy. What are the chances for India agreeing to Pakistan as an adversary without any chance of surrender? In fact, a good relation followed by demands looks lot more reasonable than India meeting the demands prior to good relations.

An order of events that makes sense is: 1) good relations; 2) Kashmir solution and whatever Pakistan can ask India with regard to Indian Muslims, and not the other way around. Moreover, demanding things from an adversary that actually makes adversary stronger is crazy. A secular, progressive and harmonious India will have more powerful military also, requiring Pakistan to spend more on military to keep some sort of parity. Similarly those Indians who wish to see a continuous hostile relationship must favor a weaker Pakistan by supporting talibanization, sharia imposition, riba-free banking and inciting Pakistanis to go on nation-wide strikes as often as possible. A peace initiative with India must precede other issues in order to avoid foreign policy contradictions.

Internal contradictions are very apparent in almost every other field also. Least educated (Mullahs) think themselves to be smartest about everything, rich feudals pretend to be socialist, smugglers are more punctual with performing rituals, more corrupt go to hajj and umra more often, proponent of smaller provinces rights keeping their own people in private jails, anti-west elite doing everything to get their children educated and settled in the west and the lifestyle of many Islamists/ anti-west is very western.

People demanding free education and healthcare have little interest in population control and saving their own money for performing hajj and slaughtering animals every year. Urban population demand efficient services without worrying about very high rate of rural population moving to cities. Those political parties who opposed the creation of Pakistan are now on the forefront of defending Pakistan ideology and imposition of Islamic system. The person who brought Pakistan on the verge of a useless all-out war with India is now the Chief Executive of Pakistan.

In education, science is being mixed with religion. There are no such subjects as Islamic Science, Hindu Science or Christian Science. Science is science (laws of nature, matter, predictability) and Islam is a religion (psyche, unpredictability, morals, ethics, etc.). The unpredictability or speculative ideas like Jinn Power or Grace of God in every chemical reaction can not be taken seriously. It is a case of serious internal contradiction when speculative ideas that can not be even considered hypotheses are kept in higher esteem than predictable ones, in Science. Belief in spirit, soul and Adam being sent to earth for disobeying God and believing in evolution simultaneously is not possible, unless internal contradictions are foolishly justified by some crazy

compromising interpretations. How can one teach science or any other discipline with pre-supposition of all knowledge developed by humans to be “flawed”, finite and pale compared to the absolutely perfect and infinite divine knowledge that stopped some 1400 years ago? How can students be inspired to learn science or any other “flawed” knowledge? How can a static model be superimposed on a dynamic model with absolute superiority of static model, albeit without proof? Because of sheer number of contradictions within dogma, it is not practical to point them out here.

The superimposition of a different culture over native ones in the name of superiority of religious culture has led to whole different kind of internal contradictions. They are mainly in the area of identity, customs, traditions and languages. Identity is sum of heritage of the past with more importance given to good experiences and less to painful ones. More importantly, it must not be

harmful in the present. It must act as a catalyst for harmony, peace, understanding and progress within society. Ignoring, insulting or making native cultures subordinate to God’s desire through belief system is pathetic. Giving more importance to defending faith than defending motherland dilutes love for motherland thereby diluting love for cultural heritage. No wonder, the Punjabi cultural heritage is flourishing more in Indian Punjab, although more Punjabis live in Pakistan than in India. Asking Pakistanis to identify with Islam only is equivalent to asking Native Americans to identify with Christianity only. Since conversion to another religion is not a popular option, the influence of religion on identity must be proportional to its usefulness and its history in the area now called Pakistan. The Inclusion of Indus Valley Civilization, Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa and Taxila in the identity does not demand destruction of Badshahi Mosque in Lahore whereas excluding them demands destruction of Bamyan Buddha and, one of these days, might also demand destruction of Mohenjo Daro, Harappa, Taxila and relics of our heritage in the Pakistani museums. In order to avoid internal contradictions, acceptance of God’s favorite package deal with complete elimination of native customs, traditions and languages is not possible because those components of cultures are deep rooted with no known harmful effects or association with any group of people who are despised for historical reasons. Relegating them to secondary importance will be a constant source of friction and internal contradictions for regionalists and nationalists on one hand and pan-Islamists on the other.

Domination of native cultures in Pakistan over 7th century Arabian tribal culture is the best solution. A conciliation of 5-6 native cultures is possible but a rigid religion based culture is compromising with none. Religious culture must take a back seat behind native cultures, no matter what is the innate demand of religion.

A simple experiment to analyze internal contradictions will be to write down a summary of one’s opinions and saving it as “My Opinions”. Then reversing all of them by adding “not” to every sentence and saving it as “Not My Opinions”. If reading only “Not My Opinions” rationally and with open mind also makes sense in many areas then “My Opinions” are not perfect. If consequences of “Not My Opinions” are deemed less harmful, then “My Opinions” are flawed. Similarly, nations and societies must continuously analyze policies and cultures in order to minimize internal contradictions.