Pakistan at 75: A legacy of terror

Pakistan completes its 75th year of existence on 14 August as it celebrates its Independence Day. It formally became a reality on this day in 1947 after the British colonial enterprise left British India axed into two and triggered one of the biggest calamities of the 20th century in the form of one of the largest cross-border displacement of people that the world has ever seen. The leaders of the Pakistan Movement had played hardball in convincing Indian Muslims about the necessity of a separate Muslim state, which could safeguard their interests. Therefore, the newly created Pakistan was portrayed as a panacea for all the ills that have befallen the Muslims under a democratic polity in India with its Hindu majority. The founders of this state made tall promises over the systemic checks and balances to advance the causes of this community while also promising to safeguard the interests of the minorities in the country.

Against these promises of securing the Muslim interests, Pakistan has failed to live up to the promises made by its founding fathers as a republic operating according to the principles of democracy and constitutionalism, nor become a truly Islamic state in terms of upholding the intrinsic values that Islam connotes. Today, at 75 years of age, the country remains as volatile and unpredictable as it was at its creation and typifies what Jaun Eliya, the famed poet from the subcontinent, had once remarked as "the mischief of boys from Aligarh (Aligarh ke laundon ki shararat)." Interestingly, the very section of Pakistan’s society, which played the most prominent role and paid the highest costs in the establishment of the state continue to be treated as outcasts, to the effect that the very honourable designation like Muhajiroun (immigrant for the sake of religion following the pattern of Prophet's migration from Mecca to Madina in the 7th century) has been recast as something evil and derogatory. It seems that the Punjabi feudal elite, which got the state on a platter, would do anything to usurp every institution of power.

Over the last seven decades of its existence, the state has failed to provide its citizens with socioeconomic security, quality education, industrial establishments or any other significant developmental programmes. This can be gauged by the fact that Pakistan remains on the verge of imminent economic collapse with billions of dollars of unpaid loans from countries like China or institutions like IMF. If it were not for states like Saudi Arabia, which often provide crude energy on deferred credit facilities that are eventually written off as aid, Pakistan’s economic collapse would have been a thing of the past. At the same time, the only legacy that Pakistan has stamped its authority is its sponsorship of terrorism. It has emerged as a safe sanctuary for the extremists of all hues, from Deobandi fundamentalists to the Al Qaeda franchise to Lashkar-e-Toiba to Daesh. Starting with Ziaul Haq’s regime during the 1980s, the state convincingly integrated terrorism as an instrument of its foreign policy when it involved itself in leading the anti-Soviet campaign in Afghanistan. During this period, it patronized dozens of extremist groups, pushed them on the Afghan front to fight the communists, and reoriented them to other theatres with time. From Iran in the West to Afghanistan in the North and, most prominently, India, particularly in Kashmir, in the East, Pakistan has exploited these groups on every front to fulfil its interests.

In the case of India, it is an open secret how it has acted as the primary sponsor of insurgency in Kashmir since its inception in the late 1980s and involved every institution, from Army, and ISI, to religious affairs, among others, in aiding and abetting the extremism ecosystem. It has unsuccessfully attempted to nurture unfound grievances amongst a section of Kashmiris, who remain integrated and loyal to the democratic ideals of India, which has seen Islamabad pushing hundreds of terrorists across the Line of Control (LoC) to disrupt the peace in the region. Pakistan has not only sabotaged its economic progress by making itself vulnerable to the designs of the very groups it has nurtured over the years, like Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), who seek to overrun the state and install their style of

Talibani Islamic State in Pakistan, it has ensured that Jammu and Kashmir remains volatile and continues harming its economic development of the state as peace is indispensable to any progress. Despite the high costs of its flawed policies of fostering terrorism in the country at the expense of peace and progress and international pressure with its continued presence on the FATF grey list, for example, it has continued sustaining the terrorism infrastructure alongside the Durand Line and prominently in its occupied territory of Jammu and Kashmir for political and strategic reasons. However, if the international community perceives that the country will take any credible measures against this terrorism, it is highly unlikely, given the very state apparatus which are supposed to take action are the ones harbouring this menace. Moreover, the so-called anti-terrorism campaigns by the Pakistani Army in recent years are only at countering those terror groups over which they have lost their sway and cannot exploit them for external relations. This double-faced approach is evident as it continues pushing groups like Lashkar e Toiba (LeT) and Hizbul Mujahidin (HM) to undertake terror activities against India in Kashmir.

At its diamond jubilee, Pakistanis will have to decide whether they want to progress ahead and reinstate the legacy of its founding statesman, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, or continue with Zia’s terrorism legacy, which has hallowed the soul of Pakistan and Pakistanis. The time has come to break free from the shackles of the military nexus that has transformed the country into a garrison and heaven for extremism whose consequences are borne by the people. In the 1990s, there used to be frequent references to Iraq under Saddam Hussein as a Dawlat ul Mukhabarat (the intel state), but the way the Pakistani establishment (read Army) has conducted itself embarrasses the authoritarian dictators by distance, with people, civil society, and journalists always under pressure to not question or seek any accountability from it. There were reports that Pakistan Army COAS bargained with the United States to help alleviate the tranche of IMFs relief package worth USD 1.3 billion, which goes on to substantiate how the Army controls everything and anything in the country. Therefore, it is up to the people to rise to the occasion and strengthen the democratic institutions in the country and reclaim their state from the establishment, which is supposed to be in the barracks and not in the governmental offices.

Manan Bhatt is a Veteran of the Indian Navy, specializing in Strategic Affairs.