On August 14, 1947, the new state of Pakistan came into existence as an independent nation for Muslims from the regions in the east and west of the Subcontinent where there was a Muslim majority. Religious freedom for the Muslims and other minorities was the main idea behind the foundation of Pakistan. The Quaid did not subscribe to secularism in any of his speeches or any of his writings. He never said that Pakistan shall be a secular state or that Pakistan’s constitution shall be secular. But, unfortunately, right after the foundation, some factors turned against the main idea of the foundation of Pakistan, imitated the culture and way of life that is prevalent in the west, and adopted secular ideologies and systems of government to administer their collective affairs. They very slowly penetrated like a parasite into the system, which was in its developing stages. They forgot to protect what they had rightfully earned.
“Whoever breaks the covenant of Allah after contracting it and sever that which Allah has ordered to be joined and cause corruption on earth. It is those who are the losers.” (Holy Qur’an, 2: 27)
Post-Independence History of Pakistan
As a result, the post-independence history of Pakistan has been characterized by periods of military rule and political instability. On October 7, 1958, Iskander Mirza enforced the first Martial Law in Pakistan with the help of Ayub Khan. Ayub Khan was designated as the Chief Martial Law Administrator. Ayub Khan snatched away Mirza’s powers and assumed charge as the President of Pakistan, in addition to his role as Chief Martial Law Administrator. Later on he gave himself the rank of Field Marshal.
After defeating Fatima Jinnah in the controversial presidential elections of 1965, Ayub’s standing began to slide amid allegations of widespread vote rigging. The turning point in his rule was the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. Many Pakistanis considered the signing of a peace agreement with India to end the war an embarrassing compromise and demonstrations across the country over rising prices, including those led by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, increased dramatically from 1967 onwards. Bhutto founded the PPP in 1967. In 1969, Ayub resigned and handed over power to General Yahya Khan, who declared martial law for the second time.
The general elections were held on Dec.7, 1970. However, Sheikh Mujib’s Awami League won an absolute majority in the legislature, receiving more than twice as many votes as Bhutto’s PPP. The leftist and Bhutto’s party won a large number of seats from constituencies in West-Pakistan. Bhutto refused to accept an Awami League government and famously promised to “break the legs” of any elected PPP member who dared to attend the inaugural session of the National Assembly. In fact, Bhutto suggested that Sheikh Mujib can be the leader of East Pakistan while Bhutto should govern West Pakistan – such an idea was definitely against Pakistani unity. Ultimately, the two-nation theory led to the secession of East Pakistan and the birth of Bangladesh. Yahya resigned on December 20, 1971, and transferred power to Bhutto who became president, commander-in-chief and the first civilian chief martial law administrator.
Democracy resumed from 1972 to 1977 under leftist PPP led by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as prime minister. Corruption and several social problems in the country grew, turning the masses against PPP. Bhutto was vanquished by General Zia-ul-Haq, who became the country’s third military president. With the death of President Zia-ul-Haq in 1988, the new general elections announced the victory of PPP led by Benazir Bhutto who was elevated as the country's first female Prime Minister of Pakistan. Yet, on August 6,1990, Benazir Bhutto's government was dismissed on charges of incompetence and corruption.
In the 1990s, Pakistan saw a shaky succession of governments, and the country’s political and economic situation became worse. Benazir Bhutto was prime minister twice and deposed twice and Nawaz Sharif three times, until he was deposed in a coup on Oct. 12, 1999, by Gen. Pervez Musharraf; thus military came to power again. In April, 2002, Gen. Musharraf won another five years in office in a referendum criticized as unconstitutional and fraught with irregularities. The unpopular war in Afghanistan, suspension of chief justice, and state emergency had weakened Musharraf.
The left oriented PPP and conservative PML won majority of seats together in the election 2008 and formed a coalition government. A massive left-wing alliance led by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani ousted Pervez Musharraf. Asif Zardari, the husband of Benazir Bhutto, succeeded Musharraf after his resignation on August 18, 2008 as President. No doubt, Zardari was elected based on the fact that Benazir Bhutto had been assassinated on Dec. 27, 2007.
The general elections held on May 11, 2013, were noted for the usual rigging and bogus voting. Many citizens witnessed the corruption and reported it widely on social media, some with video evidence. Nonetheless, this election marked the return of PML(N) Nawaz Sharif as Prime Minister.
“A cursory review of the first 17 months of the PML-N government only throws up stories of back-breaking inflation, unprecedented increase in electricity and gas prices, and shrinking employment opportunities,” said an official summarizing the performance of his party’s government. On the popularity side, the party has already hit rock bottom.
The massacre of a number people by the Punjab police in June, 2014, caused a furor, leading to the civil disobedience protests (“dharnas”) of Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri. Despite the revolution they promised, little happened in terms of actual change.
A Ship in Danger
At this point in time, the physical and moral existence of Pakistan looks to be in great danger. On the internal front, Baloch, Sindhi and Pashtun nationalisms are at their peak.
Since creation of Pakistan, it is like a ship in which the people on the lower level start making a hole when they want water, just to fulfill their desire without even thinking that this can cause the entire boat to sink. Selfish leaders, politicians, their workers, establishment and those people who only think about their own benefit are damaging the country, instead of struggling to achieve their real destination. They are following the wrong direction as influenced by world powers. As a result, they are diverted to love of this world to an extreme and are ready to do anything for material gain, whether wrong or right. No one is thinking about life after death – the abode of a permanently happy life. Our ship is being shaken by a storm. Alas, the nation is going towards destruction.
Our work should be to awaken our people, inspire our hearts and motivate the various communities living in Pakistan, and undo the damage by returning to the basics: iman (belief) and love of Allah (swt). Only Allah (swt) is our Anchor who can save the ship from sinking. First iman (belief) must be installed in the people, and then their morals should be purified. So that good deeds grow and bad deeds diminish.
Many people might, at this point, argue that the vast majority of Pakistanis already have iman – however, when we talk of iman, we should not talk of only lip service. Iman has so much to do with action: our behavior, our policies should be informed by our iman. When properly established, our iman will automatically enable us to protect the minority populations in Pakistan, just as our Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) enjoined us to do. It will empower us to give due rights to every province, so that unity and brotherhood will grow. It will ensure that we will work to end injustice and corruption and create a more just and humane society, as per the guidelines of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).
This, indeed, is true iman, one that is based not just on words but action as well.
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