From Jinnah to Jamali

Farrukh Khan:
Though I don`t much enteratin notions along these lines (despite accepting that Pakistan is a true banana republic), let`s suppose your assertion is correct as you`ve obviously thought about this. You`ve chosen the Mughal times as the reference point to show how the relationship between the people and their land has continued to breakdown. So let`s ignore the series of conquests prior to the Mughals.

``What we need is a cultural renaissance based on re-establishing the long severed organic relation with our land and our people. ``

What in your opinion will help re-establish that relationship? What is preventing this from occuring?

I liked the first half of your article where you clearly stated that we need analysis of Pakistan`s problems that would lead us to their rectification. In particular, I liked the idea in your words that

``Leaders and managers of a social order come from the ruling class. A social order is the name of a particular set of relations between a ruling class and a class of producers whom the former rule.``

However, in the second half, you have not really outlined the way to go about solving this problem. Sure, we all know that the rulers of this country depended more on exogenous factors for their income like IMF etc. but what should we do to solve this dillema?

I think a lot of Pakistanis are not realistic enough when looking for solutions. We know that having civilian rulers seems a better idea than having military rulers. However, we need to face the fact that the military in this country calls the shots and this will continue for a long time. What we need to understand that even in these times we can move forward.

I don`t claim to have solutions nor do I claim to have the best knowledge about the problems of Pakistan. But I do sense this feeling of hopelessness among people that because of what has happened over all these years, now we can`t do anything. That feeling if anything else, needs to change.

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M B Z Isphahani # 3

Your style is a bit like Nadeem Farooq Peracha. NFP.

A bit acidic.

Rozaiba # 1

(``What we need is a cultural renaissance based on re-establishing the long severed organic relation with our land and our people. ``)

You got it 100% right.

What is needed in Pakistan is to dethrone Jinnah`s philosophy since 1937 toadying to the British till his death in a mutually shared spite against resurgent India under the enlightened and progressive leadership of Gandhi and Nehru.
THAT IS THE FIRST STEP.

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Although I agree with most of the things written in this article, I think the author is going a bit too far in his analysis. Most of Pakistan’s problems are shared by all developing countries. Interesting read though.

#6 by Inquirer on May 3, 2004 7:03am PT

Yes, if some enlightened and progressive leader of Pakistan movement had Nehru`s vision of having an intimate affair with Mountbatten`s wife, and later keeping Mountbatten as the first Viceroy of ``free`` India, many problems (including Kashmir) would not have arisen. There is a lesson to be learnt indeed.

Only the sensitive among us... Let this be a debt we owe to our future generations and the price that we have to pay for having deeper sensitivities and better understanding.

So when do we start? I am so fucking ready.

#7, AhmadBilal:
GROW UP.

Ahmadbilal,

If we share our problems with other developing countries, does this mean that it is something to write home about? And what pray do you mean by developing countries? India? Malaysia? China? Because as far as my knowledge goes these are some of the countries that are called `developing. Anything lower than this is under developed or least developed. Are we anything like India, Malaysia or China? To listen to an emphatic NO as the answer to this question, all you need to do is to take a trip home and travel to a village away from the Metropolitan Lahore and Karachi.

When will we wake up to face the music? We lost one half of the Islamic Republic in 1971, will we come to the real world when the rest of it wont be anymore? Will the daisy cutters wake us up? Or will it be foreign soldiers pissing on our naked bodies?

Farrukh M Khan

Good read, though with a bit of ends left loose....!!
A question.....``Why did that particular class of ppl. so effectively took control of Pakistan and not no so quite effectively of India...????`` ``Why and how india was to see quite different results of the same act called ``independence``???? Both the countries, essentially inherited the same thing i.e. British colonialism and the class of ppl. then why is that so that the outcome is so drastically different in both countries, specially during the first quarter after their ``independence``??

Hassansiddiqi,

Thank you very much for appreciating the first half of my article. Let me however assure you that I am not at all hopeless. The only thing which is preventing me from leaving this country is the hope that some day my people are going to wake up from their historical slumber and I want to right there with them as an ordinary worker trying to help the cause in whatever way possible.

However, let me confess also that I don’t have any ready-made solutions to a problem that has been compounding for last several hundred years. As I wrote in my response to rozaiba, point is to know the path that has led us to where we are today, so that we can get our bearings right and then look for solutions. Otherwise we will only keep barking up the wrong tree and continue to miss the real issues and keep scratching the surface with reports written by Harvard or Yale educated poverty experts.

Had I any claim to possess solutions, the conclusion to my article would not have been a appeal to the sensitive among us to come together and pay a collective debt that we owe to our future generations.

Farrukh M Khan

Rozaiba,

I have certainly thought about what I have written ... Thank you very much for giving me the benefit of the doubt! :-)

Now as for re-establishing the organic link between the rulers and the ruled in Pakistan, what is the point of asking me this question while you have rejected the premise on which I have built the argument? The link will be established the moment the rulers will start relying on the locals for the generation of their wealth. Just as the ``Moghals and the conqueres before them`` did. However inhuman or crule they might appear to us today, they did not sell their souls in the Cold War mecenary market to validate their rule over the masses. But my contention is not to glorify the Moghals or blame the British. The point is to know the path that has led us to where we are today, so that we can get our bearings right.

Optimum,

A two thousand word article cannot be a full scale study which is a feature of books, so there will always be some ends which will be left loose, as you like to put it. That’s why I think the editors of Chowk have put this forum in place.

For detailed answers to your questions, you will have to read three books, The Soul Spokesman by Aisha Jalal; Partition of India: Legend & Reality by MD Seervai.

In one sentence however, I would like to say that we are the exposed internal side of the exterior that we know as India. India has a beautiful facade but the internal problems are not entirely different from Pakistan. Don’t be too impressed with the prospects of double-digit growth figures and the predictions being made about it to reach the volume of the US economy in 25 years. India, as their society stands today, cannot achieve what is being predicted about it. Sooner or later they will also need to answer some tough questions. Can they hope to maintain the current levels of growth by restricting the fruits of economic development to the ``acceptable castes and religions`` only? Is India only Delhi, Bombay and Bangalore? Optimum levels of growth also warrants an exhaustion of total available resources and these resources are not limited to these great metropolises only; they are in Lalu Parsad’s Bihar also?

Leaving you on another loose end ...

Farrukh M Khan

farrukh:

``Now as for re-establishing the organic link between the rulers and the ruled in Pakistan, what is the point of asking me this question while you have rejected the premise on which I have built the argument?``

I asked you that because I know you are far more intelligent than I ever will be and so regardless of how I currenly view your premise, I am sure to gain something from your logical flow of thought processes.

In your last response to me, you gave a one line answer which I hope you would elaborate on:

``The link will be established the moment the rulers will start relying on the locals for the generation of their wealth.``

A barber in Lahore was an ardent communist. He`s turned to sufism now and is soon to have his first collection of poems published. I admire him greatly. Your line above reminded me of his leftist assertion that labor rather than capital is where one should place value and policies should be drawn to reflect that. My capitalist indoctrinated brainwashed mind fails to grasp the validity of this statement. Sure I can see that because capital is mobile and labor is not so, this causes disadvantages in institutional-deficient economices. But that`s about all I get. Nevertheless, what are the current rulers relying on to generate wealth?

# 14 Thanks FMK for your reply...while i totally with your view as why the editors has placed this forum, however my idication towards loose-ends was with reference to coherence and quantity,,,,,well, anyways, getting back to more important points, as you pointed out in your post the problems india is facing and will be facing....First of all, i am not veryy impressed by their progress but i do definitely rank them a bit better than Pakisttan in certain respects and areas.
Secondly the kinda of questions you think idia will be facing seems quite different in nature than the problems pakistan has been facing and will continue to face. In your own words the crisis of leadership and a class of ppl. who turned out to be a failure and thus resulted in.........................................``They soon began to look for new masters. And the global geopolitical scenario after World War II was ideal for them to once again become toadies of a foreign master who could ensure their economic, political and geographical security.......``

My contention is that Indian Political leadership proved to be faar better than that of Pakistan, particularly during the first 25 years. For whatever reasons (as you suggest Aisha Jalal has explored them better), the mainstream indian political leadership was more populistic both in their outlook as well as in their philosophy of politics, which can be examplified by the changes introduced by both the counrties in the ``India Act of 1945`` while making that act as interim constitution. On our side, Office of the Governor General was empowered with excessive powers and prime minister`s office was given very little of the powers, as against Indian side where ``governor general`s office`` was more like a titler head of the government and the PM`s office being public office held real powers. This kind of actions manifest the mentality of ppl. who were gathered to constitute a ``seperate homeland``.

Another factor which contributed to the prevelance of such mentality among muslim elites is Aligarh movement and Sir Syed Ahmed Khan`s contribution. While one cannot commend him enough to motivate muslims to achieve modern education, it often goes un-noticed that at the same time, the his movement instilled, intentionally or unintentionally the germs of ``pro-establishment`` and ``pro-status-quo``. If not for himself, then at least for most of those who rallied with him, the sole idea of and purpose of modern education was to secure a ``beurocratic position`` or to become a member of a particular class. Conversely, when we look at the Hindu members of beurocracy, who were equally competent as their muslim colleagues were, we find them more nationlists than ``pro-imperialists``.

I have yet to read Aisha Jalal`s book and i will look for it now and see what she has to say about all this....Thanks for suggesting the book.

regards