Pakistan is not a nascent nation now. It has survived 76 years as an independent country by August 14th, 2023. Unfortunately, maturity is missing in all echelons of power. Every tier of the state is trying to surpass its constitutional domain in order to secure its vested interest. Either its politicians, establishment, bureaucracy, media or political parties, no one is trying to figure out problems the country has been facing. If we look in the past when this country was carved out of British ruled subcontinent and take a look at the current situation we may find the similar problems that we have faced 76 Years ago.
It is a matter of a grave concern for people of the country who bear the brunt of those enigmas. No matter which government is in power, every succeeding regime face similar conundrum of economic recession, rupee devaluation, skyrocketing debt, spiralling inflation, severing unemployment, harsh IMF conditions on the pretext of restructuring economy so on and so forth.
At the front of foreign policy, there is no such good news we have heard from last 76 years. There always remain vagueness either we are moving with independent foreign policy or dictated by forces unknown. Either we are with United States of America or China. Either Kashmir enigma is priority or not. Every passing government has moved with its own vested interest in terms of foreign affairs. Inconsistency, irregularity and incoherence have remained in prolonging the foreign affairs. This has caused dual damage to a country; we have failed to win the trust of the major powers and accelerated our woes in terms of geopolitical and geo economic fronts. The story of despair is not over yet. We as nation are facing those issues till today without any effort to change in it.
It is a moment of grave concern for the people of country to think about it. General elections are due in the month of October. Caretaker setup is about to take the seat of government. Constitutionally it is bound to hold election within 90 days of its coming into power. Soon, we will be playing our constitutional role of casting vote to elect our representative for next five years. While casting vote this must be kept in mind the woes of last 76 years; where country have faced economic default, high inflation, dictatorship, retreat in democratic norms, political instability, polarization, terrorism, unemployment, etc.
Surely, Independence Day has a gigantic significance as the Muslims of subcontinent for the time become a nation in the form of Pakistan. They turned the pages of history and wrote in it a separate nation of people of Pakistan. Struggle leading to desperation of subcontinent was full of chaos, polarization and humanitarian crisis from subcontinent point of view. There were killings in areas where both Hindus and Muslims were in majority. That’s why partition of the subcontinent was termed as the most horrendous as far as humanitarian loss is concerned.
It has multitudes of lessons for both Pakistan and India as a sovereign country. Both are duty bound to keep intact its sovereign integrity. Realistically, if we see both India and Pakistan haven’t learnt the lesson from historical experience of the partition. In Pakistan, smaller provinces as well as minority community is under the threat from people in power at the center and extremist groups. We can take an example of People of Balochistan who are ignored and sidelined when there come to provide to them and protect their rights.
Likewise, in India Sikhs, Muslims and low caste people are denied from their due rights. They are taken with heavy hand. Suppression and exploitation of these communities is the norm of the day from Hindu extremist and followers of RSS goons. This has a huge implication for both countries. Particularly, Pakistan studies needs to recall the lessons of the history in order to safeguard the sovereignty of the state. National integration lies in accommodation of the all factions of the society in mainstream policies of the state. It will boost up the confidence in smaller provinces as well as in minority community that is really essential to strengthen the state writ.
Thus, Pakistan can flourish as well as default it depends on political leadership. Time has reached to cast one’s ballot taking last 76 years despair and failure in notice.