PAKISTAN: Founders' Aspirations and Today's Realities

Edited by Hafeez Malik Published by Oxford University Press, Karachi, 2001. 469 pages,
Price Rs 595.00. by Dr Maqbool Ahmad Bhatty
 

he latest book edited by Dr Hafeez Malik, who holds a prominent place among Pakistani scholars settled in the US, is based on the deliberations of a Seminar in 1997 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the emergence of Pakistan. Its sub‑title, "Founders' Aspirations and Today's Realities", sums up the approach that is reflected in fairly comprehensive analyses of the country's constitutional, political and economic evolution since independence by a galaxy of specialists.

In the Introductory chapter, Dr Hafeez Malik highlights the aspirations of the two personalities who are recognized as the founders of Pakistan. Though Allama Mohammad lqbal did not live to see the realization of his concept of a separate homeland for the Muslims of the subcontinent, his poetry and writings provided the spiritual foundation for the independent Islamic state to be established to safeguard the values and interests of the Muslims. The other founder, who actually led the struggle for Pakistan was Quaid‑e‑Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. According to Dr Malik's view, today's Pakistan would be disappointing for both of them.

According to lqbal's writings, the Islamic State of his vision would be based on religious tolerance, a democratic polity and a prosperous economy. It was to be a "beacon of enlightenment and progress in the Muslim world". The actual state of Pakistan suffers from the effects of a mushrooming population, and of inept leadership drawn from the feudal and industrial classes  which, has enriched itself without regard for long‑term national goals. Iqbal, who had applauded the Turkish reforms enforced by Kamal Ataturk, had conceived of a new order that combined "spirituality and material development of societies".

Jinnah also had a "liberal and humane political philosophy". He also articulated the notion of Pakistani nationalism based on religious freedom, political equality, and the state's detachment from religious and sectarian squabbles. He had to engage in long and arduous negotiations with the Congress and the British. The Muslim League leadership also had to cope with the opposition of religious organizations. Mistakes were made in handling the accession of states that led to the Kashmir problem becoming a bone of contention, and pitting Pakistan and India in seemingly endless confrontation. By the time Pakistan came into being, Jinnah's health was precarious. He hardly lived for thirteen months after independence, and could not leave his imprint on the constitutional evolution of Pakistan.  

The book brings together papers by a group of Pakistani and American scholars, and public figures, who have attempted an evaluation of the performance of Pakistan in its first fifty years. These papers cover three broad areas: constitutional and political development, internal evolution in some key areas, such as nuclear capability, economy and sectarianism, and lastly, foreign policy.

The constitutional and political development is covered in four chapters, three of them written by well‑known Pakistani personalities: former Law Minister S.M.Zafar, retired Justice Javid Iqbal, and retired Army Chief, Gen. K.M.Arif. Craig Baxter, American diplomat and scholar specializing in South Asia, has written the fourth.

Constitutional developments, and the role of the judiciary, are covered somewhat differently in two chapters, one by Mr. S. M. Zafar, a leading lawyer and Dr. Javid Iqbal who apart from being a distinguished judge, also happens to be the son of Allama Iqbal. Mr. Zafar focuses on the history of constitutional development, and traces the events leading up to the 1973 Constitution that established a parliamentary form of government. This constitution evolved through a consensus of all political parties by Bhutto, which has endured. He concludes his paper by stating that Pakistani society appears to be learning from its failures, and he therefore looks to the future with hope.

Justice 1qbal's paper concentrates on the role of the judiciary in the recurrent constitutional crises of Pakistan. He is defensive of the role of the judiciary and maintains that the judges of the superior courts performed their functions to the best of their abilities, in order to uphold the rule of law. He advocates a consensus among the superior judiciary. If the supremacy of the constitution can be upheld in a manner that the three organs of the state perform their functions independently, democracy can flourish and the people can savour the fruits of independence, concludes Dr Javid Iqbal.

General K. M. Arif’s chapter on the role of the military in politics makes fascinating reading. The history of Pakistan is riddled with instability, with the army taking power three times over a period of fifty years. Out of Pakistan's eleven heads of state,, six were soldiers or bureaucrats, whose cumulative tenure totaled thirty‑six years, during which they dismissed eight out of fifteen prime ministers, dissolved seven out of ten national assemblies. Pakistan experimented with four different types of political systems, parliamentary, presidential, military and a cross between the first two. General Arif enumerates the factors behind this instability, including the influx of several million refugees, the early death of Mr. Jinnah, constant hostility of India, and the inexperienced and inefficient politicians who made a mockery of democracy.

Gen. Arif draws attention not only to the positive contribution of military rule, but also to its adverse fall‑out. Among the harmful effects were poor discipline owing to rapid promotions in the armed forces, sucking of the military into the "political quagmire", and downgrading of the role of the judiciary. He admits that "martial law retarded the growth of democracy, weakened the political system, caused constitutional crises, and hindered the development of institutions".

Craig Baxter, US diplomat turned scholar, examines Pakistan from the criteria of a failed state. Though it inherited a functioning government from British India, its leaders failed to deliver in respect of the five factors goals that are the goals of every state, namely 1) state building, 2) nation building, 3) economy building, 4) participation and 5) distribution. The editor considers this rather harsh, as the infrastructure of a federal government did not exist in 1947, and the leadership, headed by Jinnah, who migrated from India, was not familiar with the local cultural milieu.

The next three chapters take up the matters of nuclear capability, its international fallout, and economic development, Munir Ahmad Khan, who was Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission for almost two decades, provides a comprehensive history of nuclear developments in India and Pakistan. Forced to respond to a possible nuclear threat from India, Pakistan made many proposals to promote non‑proliferation in the subcontinent. However, as India turned down all of them, Pakistan felt obliged to acquire a nuclear deterrent. This led to troubled relations with the US, which imposed sanctions on Pakistan that, were multiplied after Pakistan's nuclear tests of May 1998. Walid lqbal, an attorney in the US, analyses the political and economic realities in the subcontinent after India and Pakistan went overtly nuclear. He concentrates on US efforts to enforce nuclear restraint in the two countries.

A reputable US economist, Robert E. Looney, presents a rather optimistic picture of Pakistan's economic development, highlighting the progress achieved in its first fifty years. However, he also identifies shortcomings, such as large budgetary and balance of payment deficits, increasing inflationary pressures, the population explosion, and inadequacy of human resource and infrastructure development. His analysis of prospects of sustainable development, which is needed if democracy is to flourish, is not pessimistic.

The two chapters on Sectarian Issues have been authored by two Pakistani Americans, with Anwar H. Syed dealing with Shia‑Sunni conflict in Pakistan, while Afaq Haydar has covered the Sunni militant outfit, Sipahe‑Sahaba. Both writers agree on the main causes behind the sectarian conflict, among them Gen. Ziaul Haq's Islamization policies, the proactive stance of Iran and Saudi Arabia in this sphere, and the emergence of extremist tendencies among Shias and Sunnis, which the ulema on both sides seek to exploit for political ends.

American and Pakistani scholars share the coverage of foreign policy in the final four chapters. Ambassador Dennis Kux, retired US diplomat who has served in both India and Pakistan follows the roller‑coaster course of Pakistan‑US relations, with several highs and lows, arising out of Washington's perceptions. The highs during the half‑century included the alliance of the 1950s, the Nixon‑Ford years in the early seventies and the Afghan war partnership during the 1980s. There were also three periods of friction ‑ during the Kennedy‑Johnson years in the 1960s, the period of the Carter administration, and again after the elder Bush enforced the Pressler amendment.

Ambassador Kux also identifies two middling periods of superficially friendly relations that lacked content, covering the Truman years and the later 1990s. He recognizes the need to restructure friendly and normal relations between the two countries, notably after the nuclear tests. 

Hafeez Malik, who specializes in Soviet/Russia‑Pakistan relations, maintains that the graph of these relations shows hardly any highs but consists of a series of lows. These arose out of the rivalries of the Cold War, and reflected a calculated disregard for the geo-strategic imperatives of Eurasia. The most notable lows related to 1) the early options for some strategic decisions, 2) the crisis of Bangladesh, 3) attempts at bilateralism, and 4) the Soviet debacle over Afghanistan. The post Cold War period also comes in for analysis.

Malik holds the view that opportunities came after 1990 to cement new relations with Russia, and to unlock India's claim to an exclusive relationship with Moscow. In the changed situation after the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia could have become an alternative source of military hardware for Pakistan, specially following the imposition of sanctions by the US. Pakistan squandered those opportunities, at a time it needed Russian confidence, if not support, to develop constructive relations with the newly independent states of Central Asia.

Former Ambassador Abdul Sattar, who is presently the Foreign Minister, has written the chapter on Pakistan's relations with the West, China and the Middle East. He takes special note of the British role, and maintains that the last British Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, pursued London's preference for India in the belief that the value of the support of independent India in "terms of world prestige and strategy would be enormous".

Pakistan did much better in its relations with China, which ignored its anti‑Communist rhetoric, and came to develop an all‑weather relationship with Pakistan, as there was no real conflict of interest between the two countries. A commonality of national interests and perceptions has provided the foundation on which the two countries have developed a comprehensive and collaborative relationship since 1963. China has extended economic and technical aid, as well as nuclear cooperation.

Despite its commitment to seeking close relations with the Muslim world, Pakistan has had a troubled relationship with the Arab states. Among reasons for this situation are Pakistan's alliance with the United States, its stance on the Suez crisis of 1956, and Pakistan's partnership with Iran and Turkey. Sattar devotes considerable attention to Pakistan's role in Afghanistan after the Soviet occupation in 1979. His conclusion, after considering Pakistan's foreign policy over the 50‑year period, is that the policy of alliance followed by its leaders was "not flawed conceptually, though it suffered at time from errors of judgment'.

The last chapter, by Prof. Robert G. Wirsing of the US covers India Pakistan relations and the problem of Kashmir. The abnormal and confrontational relationship between India and Pakistan arises largely out of the Kashmir problem. Prof. Wirsing, who has been a member of the Kashmir Study Group, has had the opportunity to interview hundreds of citizens and scholars in both countries. His finding is that in Pakistan, "there is a surprising willingness to rethink Pakistan's long standing official position on Jammu and Kashmir" and to recraft its unproductive aspects. On the other hand, there is a generally held view within the Indian elite that India is strong enough to ward off any challenge by Pakistan to its control of Kashmir, specially as Pakistan is viewed as a "nation in social, economic and political tatters" which has "lost the strategic advantages granted it by the Cold War". India envisages a settlement on the basis of the existing Line of Control. However, the accession of both countries to nuclear capability promises to prolong the stalemate.

This is a book that provides an illuminating survey of Pakistan's progress and problems in various fields during its first fifty years in a comprehensive and authoritative manner. Though it stops short of major developments after 1997, including the nuclear tests of 1998 and the military takeover of 1999, it is a valuable work of reference for all those interested in understanding Pakistan, and South Asia. The Oxford University Press and the editor, Prof. Hafeez Malik, merit appreciation for the publication of this volume which deserves to be in all libraries in Pakistan as a valuable work of reference. It should also be distributed through our diplomatic missions to scholars and journalists abroad who want to be enlightened on Pakistan.