Can Pakistan Work?

Since 1947 there has flowed a lot of water under the bridge.

The utility of recounting all that has gone wrong, all the distortions that were consciously, and with malice aforethought, wrought into Pakistani society, is to learn from history, to gain the ability to avoid pitfalls, to acquire the propensity to beware, to be on guard always.

Most of the Pakistanis around today represent post-Pakistan, post-partition generations. Those among the pre-partition generation, whatever their political and social moorings, are now in the minority, and their numbers, are going to keep on dwindling.

The challenges that history poses, the onus of providing the appropriate answers, now lies squarely with the post-Pakistan generations, and in my humble opinion, even more so with the urban educated.

The most remarkable thing about Dr. Mubarak Ali is that outsiders can find VERY LITTLE information on him and his 50 books. He may be writing exclusively in Urdu. I gather he has had periods of unemployment.

Ref HisExcellency #78

[Pakistani Army has just one mandate: defense. It is not expected to invade India, run jails in Sri Lanka or conduct elections in Afghanistan. A small, well trained, well equipped and nuclearized military is all that Pakistan needs to neutralize the offensive capability of India`s larger military.]

How about the Fauji Cornflakes, the Fauji sugar, the Fauji bank, and of course WAPDA, the Railways, etc.?

If it is not expected to invade India, is it expected to invade the Pak PM`s house periodically?

“All countries have armies, but here an army has a country”.
What a tragedy for my generation for whom the word Pakistan did not mean a mere geographical entity, but an ideal for revival of nationhood of Muslim India and a rallying point for all the downtrodden communities of India. It was a unique experiment in history – the creation of a new nation state with no pre-existing country or nation of the name. It could be likened to some extent to the communist revolution in Russia in 1917 and establishment of Soviet Socialist Republic as a result thereof. But that revolution though more momentous one in some respects had the facility of a pre-existing country, nation and a state to work upon while Pakistan had nothing of the sort. As one detractor, Moulana Moudoodi, described it aptly as a ‘birth of a Monster’. A ’monster’ did it become actually when afterwards the Islamic ideology mongers hijacked it to convert it into a pervert theocracy where even the Muslims lost their identity as such and are being hounded and butchered as ‘kafirs’. Can it be called Pakistan as dreamed by my generation as inspired by the Quaide Azam and Allama Iqbal?

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I guess the least the indian gujjurnaught(army) can do is to kill actual Pakistani troops...atleast try to shoot with your ww2 relics...please pretty please..

http://in.news.yahoo.com/040507/137/2cyn5.html

pakistan is already a semi-failed state.
it will disintegrate within this decade.

long live jehadis!!!!

Naqsh (#62) ...

... I think you should stick with the first option ... and go on a vacation till imam mahdi finally appears. You will be duly notified by Urstruly ... as it would also save the honor of chief Maudoodi ... who kept waiting for the imam to appear till his last day ...

... of course, if the power surge from Issa`s descent kills the satellite links ... it may not be possible to reach you via e-mail ... in which case, pick up the al-jazeera newspaper for daily updates ...

#79 by nikki7777

Why would Pakistan cower in fear of Indian Army in 2004, when Pakistan didn`t cower during 2002 when the Indian Army had mobilized along the border?? Remember what Musharraf said back then: If India wants talks, we are ready for talks. If India wants want, we are ready for war..

This was the ground reality 2 years ago. And this is exactly the situation today. Neither side is in a position to dictate military terms to the other. Perhaps that`s why they are talking to each other. My diagnosis is that in less than six months, you will also outgrow your fixation with the so-called Indian military dominance.

But then again, we live in a world full of strange people :))

mumbaikar, mohar11,


Dr. Mubarak Ali is a former commie. He was a professor at a university I went to in Pakistan.
Even though in this instance he is right on money but often his historical analyses are based on Marxist interpretation of history.
He regularly challenges the Jammat Islami version of the Pakistani history and society. Recently, he challenged the Jamaat version of Jinnah which kind of suggests that Jinnah was actually in favor of Islamic system in Pakistan!!!
For years nobody in the media would give him time of the day but for the last couple of years he has been getting some media time. I am told that he is supporting Mushman’s drive against the terrorists and that has elevated him to sort of approved list of historians. Hence, we see the pro-army papers like the dailytimes running his press conferences and articles.
I doubt that this honeymoon would last long!

#77
You forget the most basic thing: Manmohan Singh is a neutered Sikh...whaaaaaa??!?!?!?! Is Sonia Ji behind this?

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74
Excerpt from the daily times article
//...Instead of inculcating in our children and youth a sense of inter-religious harmony, tolerance and respect, our textbooks teach contempt for others and preach holy war...//

Inter-religious harmony? Tauba, Tauba - what is the author smoking? This is blasphemy, utterly disgusting!!

What is this world coming to - where muslims have to tolerate Kafirs. That`s against koranic teachings anyway - kafirs were supposed to be ambushed and killed, isnt it? At least that`s what the mullhas tell us. I mean - I am confused, how can you respect a kafir - they are like hateful hindus ... and conniving jews.

Man - I am telling you, Allah(pbuh) is angry with us - otherwise this sort of things would never happen.

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#75 by nikki7777

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Remember, last year Iraq could have been obliterated with one nuclear weapon dropped by the US and all would have been well.Right??.Wrong
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I don`t disagree with this statement. American goal was to control Iraq, not destroy it. You can`t change the Iraqi regime, take control of Iraqi oil industry, deweaponize Iraq, democratize Iraqi society at gunpoint, run jails, etc. without troops on the ground.

+++
I end with half a quote from a defense analyst on CNN who said, ``the sheer force of their(India`s) numbers will do it for them``.``Nuclear`` has to be backed up with ``conventional``.Otherwise no dice, baby
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The two militaries (India, Pakistan) have different mandates.
Indian Army has an offensive mandate that includes invading another country, and administering it. Without a large army, India could never invade East Pakistan in 1971 or send troops to Sri Lanka in the 1980s.

Pakistani Army has just one mandate: defense. It is not expected to invade India, run jails in Sri Lanka or conduct elections in Afghanistan. A small, well trained, well equipped and nuclearized military is all that Pakistan needs to neutralize the offensive capability of India`s larger military.

When it comes to defense, size does not matter. Size matters only when you are trying to conquer territory and occupy.

BTW, that ``lock and key`` statement about Pakistani nukes is just a bad joke. If America had access to Pakistani nukes, the Americans wouldn`t waste a day in shipping these out of Pakistan, just like they shipped out the nuclear materials from Libya. You don`t control anything, until it is actually in your possession.