What ails Pakistan?
Mir Jamilur Rahman
Every country has problems, ranging from small to very serious ones. But I think Pakistan is troubled with more than its due share of problems, the foremost being Kashmir. The rest of our problems stems from this one source.
We firmly believe that the region will remain unstable unless the Kashmir problem is resolved. We have often called Kashmir a flash point which can erupt into a conflagration at any time. In our eagerness to get the Kashmir issue resolved, we have offered to dump the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination. To be sure, this right was admitted by the United Nations Security Council, India and Pakistan, and as such Pakistan has no legal authority to deprive Kashmiris of this right. The confidence-building measures which have been introduced to lower tensions and normalise relations between the two neighbours are a welcome sign and may eventually lead to mutual trust. However, it was not called for to offer to change our stand on the right of self-determination of the Kashmiris. The CBMs would have worked as effectively if we had continued to adhere to our historic and legal stand.
As an alternative to this intrinsic right, we have floated nearly a dozen formulas but India is not amused. India has repeatedly stated publicly that it will not redraw the boundaries in Kashmir. This proposition is not acceptable to us and we insist that we will not accept the Line of Control as a border. Where do we go from here? War used to be the final arbiter of disputes between the countries. We have tried war directly and through proxy but fell way short of achieving our objectives. Luckily, war is no longer an option because it could turn nuclear and annihilate the disputants and the disputed object as well. Therefore, we need to talk, talk and talk some more till kingdom come.
The fallout of the Kashmir dispute has skewed our intellectual, economic, social and political growth. Our major concern since independence, which was immediately followed by the first Kashmir war, has been our security and we saw to it that our guard was never lowered. We always had the fear, and some of us still have it, that India would gobble us up. Therefore, we continually kept raising our guard which eventually culminated in the successful development of our nuclear capability.
We paid a heavy price — much more than we could afford — to guard ourselves against our enemies, real or perceived. We developed and encouraged phobias. Every other country was perceived to be against us because we were Muslims. The major part of our meagre resources was diverted to a military build-up. Despite our huge investment in weaponry and personnel, we still lack the potency to force a resolution of the Kashmir dispute.
We take pride in our half-a-million-plus soldiers and their sophisticated equipment. We adore their smartness and discipline. However, the cost of maintaining such a high-profile army laced with modern arms and nuclear capability has been colossal. It has been instrumental in retarding our socio-economic and political development. We have lost democracy because it was considered an impediment in gaining our cherished goal: Kashmir. We have deprived our children of education and denied health care to the people because building military prowess came first. Almost 40 per cent of the population is living below the poverty line with no signs of any misery alleviation in the near future.
The literacy rate is scraping rock bottom. Most of our primary schools are bereft of basic facilities like electricity and water. More than half the schools do not have lavatories. The boys can relieve themselves in the fields but girls have to rush home if it is nearby or find a sheltered place among the crops. This is one major reason for the very low percentage of girls enrolling in primary schools. A school teacher’s salary is far less than that of a domestic cook. Consequently, the teaching staff in our schools is never at full strength.
Public hospitals also tell a dismal story. The building is there, the doctors may also be attending to patients but there are no medicines. Patients have to arrange for the prescribed medicine themselves. Public health care in Pakistan is a farce. It only caters to government servants — civil and military — and public representatives and their families. The vast majority remains outside of its ambit. To be certain, the money spent on the health care of public servants and MPs and their families is contributed in its entirety by the people who only get aspirin in return.
The people alone should not be required to make sacrifices for the defence of the country. The privileged classes should also share this sacred duty. The level of health care for the people and public servants and MPs should be at par. Either raise the standard of health care for everybody or bring the privileges of the chosen ones down to the level of the unprivileged.
The other monster of a problem which raises its head at regular intervals is the insurgency in Balochistan, spearheaded by the sardars. This time round it is just Sardar Bugti who is waging a personal war with his 2,500 private soldiers. The other sardars are keeping themselves at a safe distance from him. Bugti is past 80 and has reached the stage where he needs help in standing on his feet. But his mind is agile and working overtime. He considers the oil and gas of Balochistan as his personal property and that is the crux of the problem. When a Gulf sheikh can own the oil discovered on his territory then why shouldn’t he be entitled to the same?
President General Pervez Musharraf is not lashing out in the dark when he says that Baloch ‘miscreants’ are being helped and financed by a foreign hand. Rockets and rocket launchers do not come cheap and they cannot be bought from a general store. This level of insurgency cannot be sustained without foreign help. Most probably the route being used by the Bugtis to get weapons and ammunition starts at the Afghan border and ends in the Bugti area. In addition to getting into skirmishes with tribesmen, the government should also endeavour to cut off the supply line. That will bring a swift end to the insurgency.
Thanks to the intervention of Altaf bhai the construction of Kalabagh Dam has been postponed. If President Musharraf has indeed taken this decision, the provinces may revert to harmonious relations with each other. Remember, ‘harmonious inter-provincial relations’ was on President Musharraf’s agenda when he took over the government in a counter-coup, as he is fond to say.
The writer is a freelance columnist
Email: mirjrahman@yahoo.com