By Shahzad Cheema
Why and how we have eliminated these three words from our individual and collective life? Great leaders always inspire their people with some policy statements to succeed in individual and collective life. They intentionally do it because they know their people regarding religious, political, and sociocultural orders. This is attributed to a vision of a leader for the nation to embrace the coding principles of the pros and cons of the vision. These fundamental statements are the cardinal principles of the nations to be preserved and executed by the latter generations.
Our leader Mr.Mohammad Ali Jinnah had a deep idea of the cultural and political orientation of the Muslims of India. India was partioned in 1947 out of convergent and divergent socio-cultural assimilation of hundreds and thousands of years. He knew the foundation of the society that it was merely a transition of master-subject relationship from the British to the native local masters described as feudal, khans, Nawabs, peers, mullahs, businessmen, and colonial institutions of bureaucracy, judiciary, and military. He knew the majority will remain as subjects to these few and that’s why he gave an idea of unity, faith, and discipline.
For more than seven decades, we have successfully proved that nothing is united, faith is distorted and we are one of the most undisciplined people on this planet. Where unity is concerned, it was compromised in 1971 when we lost half of the country and, different units are still at daggers drawn over several issues marking disunity and polarization.
As far as faith is concerned, we liberated a separate homeland to live as per Islamic/Muslim values and laws. It is quite surprising that even today Islam is yet to be practiced in this land of the pure in a true spirit. How can Islamic cannons be implemented through the administrative and social regimes whereas sectarian elements have not been able to conclude the type of sect which is universal for all the sects in Pakistan? Every government had been giving new ideas and policies to implement Islamic values into our lives. It seems a far-fetched idea when we shall implement the true teachings of the Quran and the Prophet Muhammad PBUH.
Against the backdrop of the post-separation scenario, every leader used religion as a tool to extend his/her authority on the religious sensitivity of the people. Leaders and voters have not set standards of governance, service delivery, and rule of law rather they are always exploiting the socio-religious sensitivities of the people. It is so unfortunate that state institutions started patronizing various religious groups. They used modern-day technology, dissemination tools, tv channels, and social media to preach common man about the concepts and dogmas which gave birth to an extremely intolerant and fundamentalist society. An indoctrinated mindset has been infiltrated among the people so that multiple local and international agendas may be strengthened for many reasons.
Islam teaches tolerance, acceptance, and love but political and religious leadership have been preaching concepts otherwise. This orchestrated hatred and intolerance resulted in the elimination of Non-Muslims and other minorities who were, once 23 percent of the population. Presently, they hover around a sparse 3 percent of the population of Pakistan.
Many religious institutions have emerged out of the funding of foreign elements and due to certain regional and international developments, the large majority of the people have succumbed to the blind faith being perpetuated by the religious clergy. Hence, people have started living with these distorted faiths and have lost their sense of logic and reasoning. uneducated and deprived populations have fallen prey to this political and religious leadership. it establishes that the faith of the nation is polarized and divided. Now, it is the responsibility of the state to re-organize all social and public institutions to streamline religious practices and institutions. Madrassa and mosque reforms are required. The institutions like those of the Council of Islamic Ideology and other consensuses based institutions must come forward and lead consensus and mutual co-existence.
Indiscipline is now our second nature as a society, it is manifested now in every walk of life, and it hovers around human relationships, jobs, businesses, and also in public and private sectors. The best subjects during British rule are even more submissive, vulnerable, and depressing now. They have inherited the legacy of subjugation. The brown Raj is the biggest beneficiary of the failure of the words of the great and visionary leader. Lack of discipline has ruined the institutions and the state. Non-state elements which have taken the shape of mafias are now at the power corridors of the country. Talent is suppressed, merits compromised and economic disparity is heading toward a more dangerous disaster. It is an elite cartel-state and society now.
75 long years have passed and the country is still without capable political institutions meant to provide consistent leadership who can take this country out of the continuous suppression, inequality, intolerance, and indiscipline. This controlled and corrupted democracy doesn’t relate to the ground realities of this country. The masses of any country are the most important, it’s they who form societies, it’s they form the state, and it’s they who should be the beneficiary of the state institutions. Unfortunately, the people of Pakistan don’t even know their legal and constitutional rights and this is the primary reason that they are being exploited unabatedly.
Now, It’s time to change the ruler-subject relationship and make the state institutions subservient to the people. The intelligentsia, writers, professionals, poets, lawyers, judiciary, journalists, and media have to educate people to ask questions, discuss issues and help the state to formulate policies because Pakistan cannot survive with the systems of archaic orders. Change is consistent only and Pakistan should adopt new socio-political orders with prioritizing education, health, and skills of the human resource. The youth of Pakistan comprises the majority of the population and they are the real custodian of Pakistan. Our generations failed to bring about the change and now, all our hopes are pinned upon the youth to transform the state and society for the goals of democracy, participation, justice, and rule of law.
Once again, we need unity, faith, and discipline.
The writer is a former Federal civil servant and a businessman.
