shiv wrote:What angers me is that this country is given respect and recognition as a nation state supported by the international geopolitical structure and is held equal equal with India.
Shiv, doesn't that go back to pre-Independence days when Muslims as a community were treated, and demanded to be treated, separately ? Jinnah & Co demanded a Muslim nation, gave promises to radical fundamentalists that
Shariah would be implemented and yet pretended to the British, the rest of the world and Pakistan's own minorities that Pakistan would be a secular country. That carefully constructed
secular myth was very soon busted when the Objectives Resolution (‘Qarardad-e-Maqasid’) was passed. This happened during the life time of the first-generation leaders of Pakistan itself. Thus, only more downhill slide could have been expected from that point and that came true in double quick time. I feel that India did not recognize what was unfolding in those early days.
It was Allama Iqbal and Jinnah who awakened Islam from a private sphere into public, political life. Jinnah, who realized the destructive capabilities of the Islamist genie and thus warned Gandhiji as early as 1918-19, succumbed to the allure it offered. One should therefore completely ignore Jinnah's August 14, 1947 speech because that was simple and pure
taqiyyah because at every other time, both before and after that speech, he has unequivocally favoured a
shariah-based Islamic state. For the Muslims of the Yamuna-Ganges belt, who had been influenced by Sirhindi, Waliullah Dehelvi, Sayid Ahmed Berelvi and Mawdudi from 17th century onwards, Iqbal & Jinnah came as much needed fire for the fuel. These Yamuna-Ganga people were the ones in power and in bureaucracy in the newly created Pakistan and they needed to display their Islamic fervour to the native Punjabis and Sindhis as well as the
ulema to convince them of their committment to Pakistan. The Objectives Resolution thus had to be fleshed out so that the doubting Thoamses could be won over and therefore it was passed within 18 months of Independence. I am pretty sure that discussions on this Resolution had begun during the life time of Jinnah and with his concurrence. Thus, Pakistan was not to be content with giving the Muslims a place where they could
freely practice their religion without being under the Hindu yoke, but also where the State would play a role in shaping the country as a
true Islamic nation.
Therefore, the 1956 constitution introduced the 'Repugnancy Clause' which said that all laws must be
shariah-compliant. I have posted on a few occasions here how Z.A. Bhutto laid the practical foundation for an Islamist state by converting some of these notions into actual practice. In Zia's time, the Objectives Resolution was made a predominant part of the Constitution rather than merely remaining as a Preamble. Jinnah gave promises to the
ulema and the
pirs, Liaquat Ali Khan converted those promises by allowing them entry into politics, ZA Bhutto laid the groundwork for the practice of Islamism through his orders and actions, Zia made the State a complete Islamist State, Benazir created the Taliban and other monsters, Nawaz Sharif attempted to create a Caliphate constitutionally, and Musharraf played a complete
taqiyyah to support these elements. From there, it has been a rapid descent into the present day nightmare. One can clearly see the evolution of a struggle by a few Aligarh elites from having more representation within the administration and political setup, to autonomous Muslim-majority states within an Indian federation, to an Independent Muslim state, to an Islamist state, to the 'Fortress of Islam' to the present day 'international migraine' and den of Islamist terrorism radiating worldwide from within its borders. This complete nightmare situation happened in less than a century from that fateful meeting with Lord Minto in October, 1906 by a Muslim delegation.
