Insecurity and injustice stem from corruption and failed political leadership. India opted for institutional development to avoid military interventions; Pakistanis, on the other hand, got derailed in the name of change and national development by continuous military coups and foreign alliances to survive. British colonialism – lasting a few decades – divided and ruled the Indian subcontinent, and history keeps on repeating itself for continued insecurity, internal political intrigues and foolish sectarian actions to discard reason for unreasoning. The British abdicated the Subcontinent in a hurry, fearing the Nazi Germany onslaught during WWII, which caused ethnic divides and killings in the name of freedom and sociopolitical identities. While India claims secularism in its constitutional intent but flourishes as a Hindu-dominated democracy as its nationalistic basis, Pakistan lost its ideological point of reference, having several coups and conspiratorial regime changes; thus, it never ushered in a fair system of political governance to ensure its integrity and survival. Some 15 years earlier, when I wrote “Pakistan at a Crossroads”, I sounded the alarm to thinking people as to how people with wrong thinking were doing the wrong things across Pakistan. Sadistic leaders are a problem. Perpetuated animosity serves domestic political agendas and ballot boxes.
To learn from history, newly independent Indian and Pakistani states and their respective leaders needed objectively grounded reasons to reconstruct their societies for political change, freedom and friendship. Its dynamics should have envisaged proactive vision and creative leadership pursuing emancipation of peace and harmony over animosity. The State of Jammu and Kashmir is at the heart of all political and strategic problems which characterize the nature of relationships between the two nuclear rivals. Under PM Narendra Modi, India is tainted by Hindu nationalism and its ideological and normative connotations and supremacy of thoughts. But its unilateral claim on the people of Kashmir negates the British constitutional act of freedom for both states and does not have the characteristics of truth, wisdom and honesty to assert moral and intellectual justification.
Pakistan Needs Political Change and Institutionalized Political Governance
Ignorant, irresponsible and egoistic politicians blame others for their own faults, and never dare see the mirror. Societies and nations overtaken by greed and insane leaders would find excuses to claim fair is foul and foul is fair. Pakistan lost several decades of precious time and opportunities for nation-building, unity in socio-economic-political diversity and a peaceful system of transfer of power to elected people. Critical problems of national harmony, peace and unity surge in Balochistan and Khyber Pakthunwa provinces. Bombing and killing of innocent people would not bring political change; only intelligent leaders of vision and integrity could restore Islamic values of unity and societal harmonization.
The contemporary trajectory of politics spells out inherent mismanagement, abuse of power and amassed internal insecurity. The emerging trends of conflict with Afghanistan and recent attacks by terrorist outfits in Balochistan and Islamabad signal critical issues more than simple sectarian divides. Sharif brothers and a few military generals are part of the problem, not the solution. The prolonged problems deserve comprehensive thoughts of security apparatus and national unity. Truth-telling is maligned and persecuted by the ruling elite. Sharifs, Bhuttos and Zaradari or a few generals, do not represent the nation. It is an irresistible necessity of time and truth that those in power must listen to the voices of reason and political necessity for change and truth, for restraint and civilized behavior.
The February 2024 elections were indubitably rigged and they demonstrated a fraudulent scheme of internal intrigues to stop peaceful change and transfer of power to Imran Khan, the leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. The military Generals do not build the nation but are a source of conflicts and sectarian divides. They do not develop the economy or moral and intellectual fabrics of a nation, but people of knowledge, intellectuals, visionaries, thinkers and poets and philosophers do. They do not prepare present and future generations of educated people for national responsibility and share no sense of law and social justice to enhance nation-building.
Rationally looking, India and Pakistan failed miserably to understand the meaning and truth of national freedom from British colonialism.
Foes and Friends Co-exist in Global Politics
Nation-building for peace and good neighborly relations is a critical issue for the present and future generations within the Subcontinent. Strangely enough, new, educated and proactive generations are denied time and opportunities in neocolonial-dominated cultures of political power and elite domination. Post-colonialism, India built some of its public institutions to enhance democracy, free elections and transfer of power, but Pakistan fell victim to conspiracies, dismemberment and military coups and, hence, lost the strategic path of institutional development and nation-building. The current egoistic politicians who were not elected for governance must face the mirror to immediately free Imran Khan from captivity and unfair treatment. Individualistically motivated animosities implied to charge Imran Khan with 200+ bogus cases. Domestic harmony in Pakistan wants coherent rethinking to free Khan and his party members.
Time and opportunities call for new ideas and new efforts on both sides to talk about peaceful means to settle the Kashmir dispute. Effective leaders are always people-oriented, open to listening and learning and know their strengths and weaknesses. The leaders of India and Pakistan must do soul-searching and think critically – how to make a navigational change to ensure a sustainable political change in relationships, national freedom and a progressive future. Both nations have friendly ties with the USA, China, Russia and West European nations, and leaders of these countries must take initiatives to make India and Pakistan understand the strategy of peacemaking and good neighborly relationships as a preventive measure to stop a dreadful futuristic war. Any substantial rethinking for political change would require habitual practice of honesty, rational candor, frankness and sincerity of purpose to avoid dreadful tragedies. Recall that truth, glory and honor live in righteousness, not in wickedness.
Dr. Khawaja specializes in international
affairs – global security, peace and conflict-resolution. He has spent several academic years across the Russian-Ukrainian and Central
Asian regions.
