Pakistan appeared on the map of the world in August 1947 and the debate about its ideological moorings continues unabated even 76 years after independence. This debate has yet to reach a final conclusion, with two sides claiming victory. Ironically, all the top leadership of the Pakistan movement were British-educated, secular Muslims and none of them believed in the idea of a theocratic state to be ruled by clerics with a divine mission.
There is not a shadow of doubt that the Quaid-i-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah and all his close aides were all completely secular politically and ideologically and the references to religion during the freedom movement do not prove that the founding fathers wanted Pakistan to be based on Islamic Sharia. The hallmark famous speech of the Father of the Nation on 11 August 1947 to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan spelled out the vision of the Quaid-i-Azam that Pakistan should be a modern democratic and secular country and not a nation founded on theology.
Nevertheless, during the past 76 years, all the civilian and military governments have contributed their share of efforts to make Pakistan a theocratic state and bury the edifice of a secular country forever and the efforts continue to this date.
The land we call Pakistan can trace its historical roots to at least 2,500 years before Christ, when a highly developed civilization flourished in the Indus Valley. Excavations at Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro and Kot Diji have brought to light evidence of an advanced civilization flourishing here even in the most ancient times. Unfortunately, hardly any research has been done to trace the ancient roots of the country. Many years ago the eminent barrister Aitzaz Ahsan wrote his book The Indus Saga And The Making Of Pakistan, and tried to trace the roots of our country. He did a yeoman’s service to the cause of establishing the cultural and political roots of Pakistan. He proved by his historical research that Pakistan is in fact the rebirth of the Indus Valley Civilization that flourished on banks of the Indus River and can be counted among one of the oldest civilizations in human history. Ironically a powerful lobby still believes that our ancient roots do not matter and the history of the nation starts with the Arab Invasion of Sindh led by Mohammed Bin Qasim in 712 AD.
76 years after independence, the debate about the ideological character of the nation has resulted in a bruised and battered nation
The theory of the Islamic state of Pakistan based on the rule of the Sharia was drowned in the Bay of Bengal in 1971 when East Pakistan became the independent country of Bangladesh. The common religious ideology could not keep the two wings of the country together. Social and cultural differences split the country into two. People of the two wings fought a horrible civil war in which terrible atrocities were committed from both sides. The people of East Pakistan just refused to accept the attacks on their culture, language and social norms and took up arms to protect their economic interests and refused to be exploited by the economic interests of West Pakistan. The common religious identity proved a total failure and the West Pakistani politicians and military leaders failed miserably to pacify the people of the Eastern Wing just on the lollypop of a common religious identity. It was proved once again that people have a religion and states do not have a religion – and, moreover, that culture and language are much stronger bonds than any religion.
Even today the relentless struggles of the religious lobby to identify the country as an Islamic state have not proved successful, but in fact have resulted in sectarian conflict and chaos with the net result that thousands of lives have been lost. Religious intolerance and bigotry have caused people to be burned alive. Obscurantism and fanatical religious zeal has become a danger to the very existence of the country.
We live in an age of nation states and today it can be clearly seen that the most modern, progressive prosperous and affluent countries are those who have managed a complete separation of state and religion. The best example before us is that of Singapore, a small nation that was a sleepy little impoverished hovel just 50 years ago, but today it has a standard of living better than many European countries.
According to Rupert Murdoch in his From Empire to Nation Pakistan was not a nation in being but in hope. Today after 76 years Pakistan is still in the same category. So far it has not succeeded in creating a sense of nationhood. Just a peep into the past to see how this country came into being and how are founding fathers especially Mohammed Ali Jinnah thought about nationhood. All of Jinnah’s speeches at different forums tell us that he was greatly influenced by liberal and secular politicians such as Dadabhai Nauroji, Pheroze Shah Mehta, and GK Gokhale in India and William Gladstone and John Morley in Britain, who believed that it was only possible to build a nation by secular democracy and suitable Federal arrangements.
When Mohammed Ai Jinnah demanded the state of Pakistan, he was very clear that Pakistan would not be a theocracy. Theocracy is the very opposite of secularism so when Jinnah said that Pakistan will not be a theocracy he was actually making it clear that Pakistan would be a secular democracy. Very soon after the demise of the Quaid-i-Azam, the ideological character of the nation was defined by adopting the Objectives Resolution in 1949 and the country became the Islamic Republic of Pakistan from the Republic of Pakistan. The non-Muslim members of the Constituent Assembly registered their protest and the handpicked law minister of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Jogendra Nath Mandal, himself left Pakistan for India. Efforts to turn Pakistan into a theocracy were accelerated.
76 years after independence, the debate about the ideological character of the nation has resulted in a bruised and battered nation. If this country has to survive and prosper, it will only be possible with a system of governance based on genuine secular democracy and nothing else.