Pakistan’s Territorial Integrity: Lessons from American Democracy

Masadi you appear to be anti america type and appear leftist to me, sorry but stronly feel you are lefist with radical attitude type kind of revolution type. We hate lefist and revolution wanting people as we do not want problems.
Good afternoon and good week ahead.

Other Osama..... you have done great job in presenting unity and necessity of that withoutn which we will have many more problems.
One of way to avoid problems is to appoint some investigation commission with due report in 15 years with possibility of 10 years extension for completing report, so things can cool little and problem can be left to future. At this time building dam will play in hands of Indians who are masterminding blow up of railtracks, power poles and pipelines. It is specially bad when China engrs are working in B.Stan. Sindh separting is not going to solve any problem as then indians and sindhis can make problems more can divert water to Sindh through india and enter in near southern punjab through Sindhi territory. Also after Indus biggest source of water is Kabul river. With our friends like indians and afghans we do not needs enemies. With indian encouragement Afghans are thinking of building dam with india providing loans. That can be daggar at heart of pakistans water problem.
Your points are correct of exploitation of some by others and it is going all world over does not mean divorce is needed, what is needed is therapy of what Jinnah gave Unity , Faith and discipline and belief in two distinct nations and Islamic unity in pakistan is overriding little tribal nationalism of Jiye sindh of BLA etc. We should respect whining and moaning of Sindhi nd balochi but they need to be told sindhi port or balochi gas and minerals are not property of only local people but is property of all pakistanis. And these are national assets and no body should be allowed to damage gas line, rail, and towers. Those who do shold be tried by military courts so justice swift and fast and final.
You have given good example of usa. We should follow that if they start to cede from pakistan they should be treated as law and order problem and traeted as criminal. Just like when in usa soouth wanted to go away they were invaded by dark skin lover from north same way all pakistani army should not allow sindi and baluchi ti indulge in antipakistani activities and they should be crushed with iron hand any thing less means same problems. Like cancer some times need cutting hard operation. And all should support army in liquidation of spittist tendancies once for all and teach lesson to them also send message to India not to indulge in internal problems in Pakistan or they should expect same in india only multiplied by factor of ten.
You have put good points. I support your thinking. It is good you did not take side of miserable wrekers and not support them like emerging leftist fools of pakistan.
good luck 2006

This article is completely absurd. I wonder if the author is on drugs. The US was able to form a union because there was a collective commitment towards creating a constitution, implementing democratic institutions and basically giving a equal chance to everyone for participating in the administration.

How on earth can that be compared to Pakistan? In Pakistan, there is a commitment alright. It is a commitment to have permanent military rule by a army that is dominated by Punjabis. In the brief periods where democracy has been tried, as soon as the results are slightly uncomfortable for the army or the Punjabis, it has resulted in coups, prime ministers getting jailed and the constitution getting tossed into the garbage. In 1971, Pak army could not accept the democratic result and literally pushed Bangladesh out of the union.

The resources and administration of Pakistan is tightly controlled by one province and by a small coterie of people in that province. How can other provinces feel that they are also stakeholders in such a situation? They feel more like they are colonies who are getting exploited. No wonder they want to secede. Making emotional appeals is of no use. What you need is to establish a proper constitution and implement democratic institutions so that everyone can participate in the nation. Thats the only way to keep people together.

#2, you state <<< So, this country is bound to fail, because it is not based on natural reasons for statehood - ethnicity, language, economic reasons, democratic ideals, or a homogeneous population. >>>

The modern nation state system is artificial because it divides up territories based upon geographic boundaries and political/economic relationships- it is not only Pakistan but the entire modern nation state system. Islam has been used only as a rallying slogan in Pakistan and for sectarianism while its essence has been ignored. Its essence is a unifying force based upon common origin of humankind and one creator, something much wider than language and ethnicity and I would argue, much more natural because it bases its commonality on humanity- so I disagree with your characterization of Islam as unnatural. Take the uniformity of the human genetic code, something natural, much more natural than language and ethnicity which have social origins as well, but much more universal.

Why we see greater uniformity/lack of conflict in modern societies compared to developing nations is because with centralized means of communication and bureaucratization, cheerful robots are produced that totally lack freedom, hense the term ``mass society`` for people living in developed nations (to a greater or lesser degree). Homogeniety out of diversity due to bureaucratic adaptation. Not something very desirable.

Greater freedom of thought, and lesser implicit control results in greater conflict, which is also intensified by levels of deprivation- as we see in developing nations. So, yes my claim is that people in developing nations are much more freer than people in developed nations inspite of any explicit coersive control. If those developing nations get modernized following the American example as the author recommends, they will produce lesser conflict, greater inequality but much lesser substantive freedom: a society of cheerful morons- something that is not very desirable or humane. I pity the mass society in the ``developed`` world. While they celebrate their ``freedoms``, I see them and see totally controlled robots, moved in a push button fashion through mass mediated information~ regular short-time swings in polls whenever any ``news`` comes out reveals just such control.

One more comment, Athar Sahib - The comparison to the American experience is rather irrelevant. There is no commitment to democracy, no zest for freedoms of speech, religion, assembly, and conscience - OK just the freedom to bear arms. :)

Athar Sahib {``What then is the solution for Pakistan`s interprovincial rivalries? ``}

You raise a very important and timely question for Pakistan. Unfortunately, the process of disintegration of the country started with the secession of BD and continues to this day with the arrogance of Pakistani Punjabis. Personally, I have come to the conclusion that anything founded on division is bound to terminate by division. Over and over again, history teaches us that Islam, despite what religious leaders and aspiring caliphs tell us, is not a sufficient basis of unity to form a nation-state. So, this country is bound to fail, because it is not based on natural reasons for statehood - ethnicity, language, economic reasons, democratic ideals, or a homogeneous population.

For the short term, I recommend splitting Punjab into at least three, if not four, provinces. India did something like that to East Punjab and the cutting down to size has been a positive experience for the residents and the nation. Good luck.

I am totally amazed at these desis that love America more than America loves itself~ and while doing so they follow the official mythology of the American elite rather than look at the masses who are given little or no benefits of a ``democracy``.

The article is off on atleast three counts

1. First the history of the US and India/Pakistan cannot be compared. The US started off as a mostly white `settler state`, an overseas extension or replica of the colonial power while we were a non-white ``colonial state`` . In a settler society the dominant culture, institutions and economic order is much different than a colonized society and the resulting history as a result is much different as well. Look at all the settler states and look at the colonized states and you can see how differently they have progressed. Neo colonization has maintained a more or less similar though much more centralized apartheid arrangement.

2. The author states <<< The American democratic experiment, despite all its short-comings--including a civil war after 70-odd years of declaring nationhood--represents one of the most happy if not the perfect union of several states in modern history, if not all human history. It is by far the one and only union of a continental scale that has strengthened with the passage of time while all others ( e.g. the Roman or Islamic empires) have dwindled and evaporated in thin air.>>>

This is exactly what I mean by a ``house slave`` mentality. His conclusion, worshiping the US is premature to say the least. The union has been very unueasy to say the least and the empire even more tenuous. It will not even last a fraction of the time that the Roman or Islamic empires lasted.

3. There is no substantive democracy in the US, there can never be in a society based upon purchasing power where 1% of the wealthiest controls more wealth than the rest of the 99% combined.

To the author, ``NO thank you``. Pakistan is already messed up because of being the ``most aligned`` of all states to the US, we do not need further emulation or alignment or our misery will only increase. We need to tell the American elite and the American facade of ``democracy`` to go to hell.