tarek

Vision... 2055?

VISIONARY
The majority of people were sceptical and cynical when I posed this question: Where do you see Pakistan in 2055? Most felt they won't be around, so why bother? Others felt that the way things are going, Pakistan won't be around, so stop wasting your time on dreams and enjoy what you can of the moment. "Toon apni nabhair, tenoon horan naal ki, toon gathrhi sambhaal tenoon choraan naal ki." When I ask them what will happen to the future generations of this country, they say "Allah Maalik hai." God will look after them, true, but don't we, His Vicegerents on earth, have a responsibility?

On receiving such positive and encouraging answers I decided to break bread with the Tangaywala. the Maali, The Maasi, the Cook, the Mazdoor, the Kissan and their children, I asked them, "What if India or China or America or Iran takes over the country tomorrow. How would you feel?" Initially their response was emotional. No. No way. Our elders sacrificed their lives to get us this freedom we will not allow it to happen.

When asked what they would do they all started looking at each other. Then I asked them if they truly felt they were free. This question broke open the floodgates of complaints of the oppression and injustice meted out to them at the hands of the various Governments. They felt completely alienated and lost with no hope in sight. Finally I asked them if it would make a difference to them if tomorrow Sonia Gandhi took over Pakistan but ensured that their children were provided free quality education up to matric and on merit were inducted into colleges and research institutes at par with the world, ensured an environment to pursue a livelihood commensurate to their merit with free will and dignity, also provided clean drinking water, hygienic living conditions and non harassment at the hands of police or other government agencies? With one voice they all replied, "No it won't make a difference if she takes over!"

That in essence, my educated well-off elitist and least bothered Generals, Bureaucrats, Politicians, etc etc, is the VISION 2055 for the masses of this country They are not asking you for skyscrapers, monorails, speed trains, space travel, or opulent and debauched living, but the basics, the very very very basics!!!

Because of the narrow and myopic way in which previous governments have applied it, we have turned religion and the ideology of Pakistan into yokes rather than liberating ideals. The various monuments constructed to highlight our Unity Faith and Discipline mock at our hypocrisy. As a Nation we seem to be without an aim. Can you imagine waking up in the morning and not knowing where to go, or worse, not having anywhere to go? While preserving our greater ideology we need to focus on a mid-term objective immediately. For the next 50 years we should incorporate 'Justice, Liberty and Progress' as our National aim.

Many factors are responsible for the present state of confusion, separatism and overall lack of national direction, and much has been written. The three main factors in my opinion have been: First, declaring Urdu the national language. This alienated 54 percent of Pakistan's population in then East Pakistan and the ripple affected the remaining provinces in one degree or another. Second, centralisation : this aggravated the remaining smaller provinces, specially when provincial autonomy was seen to be usurped. Third, superficial emphases on Islam, alienated the 10 percent minority population and also resulted in creating an extremist and blocked mindset.

I sometimes wish Malaysia was located where Pakistan is, because then geo-politically it would be Truly Asia. This location combined with the vibrant economy would have enhanced the magnetic attraction for ECO, SAARC and other regional states as far away as Egypt. To reach where it is today, Malaysia planted the seeds 15-20 years ago and than constantly nurtured and pruned them to enjoy the fruits today. We would need to add compost to our present soil, choose the best seeds and train the maalis to ensure that in 2055 our orchards are the best in bearing fruit of the times. For this, the following steps have to be taken forthwith:

Political stability: I have already stated earlier that democracy is an animal alien to this part of the world. We need consistency in administration to enable this seed to take root. An administration which is decisive, visionary, possesses ability and is not-corrupt. A presidential form of government with thirty provinces with max devolution of powers to the provinces. Why should the Centre hold 65-70 percent of the funds/revenue? This needs to be inverted immediately. The right checks and balances are the need of the time. Further, ensure selection of clean and upright judges with complete independence of judiciary. An independent judiciary will automatically help achieve efficient and judicious departments of police, income tax, revenue, etc.

Education: Formulate an education policy and a curriculum focused to achieve a particular aim. We should shed medieval teaching methods and adapt tools whereby the student who enrolls in pre-school on 1 January 2005 should come out well equipped by 2018 to take on further studies in metallurgy, hydrology, nanotechnology, microtechnology, biotechnology, genetic engineering, space technology and to adopt new methods of generating energy by focusing on fuel cell technology, wind power, solar power and salt gradient solar ponds. We must take the long view today!

Industrialisation: A beggar's family cannot have self respect and dignity. The children out begging are prey to humiliation, torture and rape. Self-sufficiency ensures respect and well being. As a nation we have to industrialise and take out the full potential of our resources. We seem to be grinning wide by achieving $12 billion in exports. With our resources that was never a problem. The real challenge is to cross $100 billion. This can be done! We have to move out of the 'cotton-centric' mindset. Let APTMA look after itself and expand with market realities. Government departments should focus on harnessing SMEs towards value addittion in other agricultural commodities. Over 40 percent of our fruit and vegetable is wasted. We should immediately encourage dehydration plants or value added downstream products. We should also be encouraging the local chemical industry to set up an industrial zone in the Salt Range foothills to encourage SMEs to set up unlimited industry for the local as well as export markets. Here the Mines department should encourage the small and medium entrepreneur instead of sticking to the corrupt practice of discouraging industrialisation by allowing leases only for projects worth over Rs 300 million. Similar zones be set up in Balauchistan, Sind and NWFP near the resources.

The government should use the $11 billion forex reserve as equity for creating infrastructure worth $40 billion instead of depositing the amount with some foreign bank and earning a measly 4-5 percent. Creating infrastructure at that huge level would change the very landscape for our future generations. At the same time we should stop privatisation of profitable corporations like NBP and PTCL.

Foreign Policy/Trade: Would have to primarily be focused around India, China and Iran. A second circle should include USA and ASEAN, with Europe, the Mideast, etc in the outer circle.

Religion: The way we are spreading an odd version of our religion through madrassas and most illiterate mullahs is giving us a siege mentality about our own religion, which is the most enlightened in the world. Hinda used to throw dirt and stones in the Holy Prophet's (PBUH) way. One day he passed and there was no filth. On enquiry he was told she was unwell. He went and asked after her health. This in essence is part of our religion: being magnanimous and enlightened. Let's read and understand the Quran ourselves, and accept its teachings with free will instead of from fear of the mullah.

There is so much more to say, but paucity of space forces me to wrap up. The General can give a New Year's Gift to the nation by being brave and announcing his retirement, letting the decent and professional VCOAS take over the reins. He should announce a presidential form of government and let all who are not criminals take part in fair and transparent elections. Hopefully when he gets legally elected he can create a team which will sow the seed, nurture it, prune it, create a just society, with law and order and the three guiding principles of 'Justice, Liberty and Progress' to guide him in implementing some of the above points, which if done will give the masses their very very very basic needs and then let them dream about skyscrapers, bullet trains, space travel and world peace. May 2005 be the year of planting the seed.
Email: visionary_gndl@yahoo. com

__________________
_____________________

when they make no laws but what they themselves and their posterity must be subject to; when they can give no money, but what they must pay their share of; when they can do no mischief, but what must fall upon their own heads in common with their countrymen; their principals may expect then good laws, little mischief, and much frugality

Karthik

That's as blunt as anyone can get.

__________________
"There is no excellence in all this world that can be separated from right living." - David Star Jordan My Blog

Ray

Tarek,

A few comments on the article, Vision 2055.

Most sub continental people are fatalists and so they don’t care what will happen in the future. Indeed, the mindset is that if we have weathered so many hassles, what’s a few more. Hence, when comments are asked about the situation in 2055, most will comment that ‘what your problem, just look after yourself’. It is universal in our part of the world including India.

The common man who wonders how he will make ends meet, will complain how the govt is messing up. Yet, they will of course show jingoism in an Indo – Pakistan question. Quite natural; having faced the hype throughout from 1947. Same in India. They couldn’t care less what happens in 2055, since they don’t know how they will manage tomorrow or what will happen tomorrow. To them, 2055 is too far a date to worry about.

The elite or those who are well off and feed off the fat of the land are a different kettle of fish. They are satisfied with life, pandering to their desires since they have no dearth of money. They would also have the time for intellectual hyperventilation. The highbrow commentaries in the newspapers bear witness. An example – all the newspapers in India have commenced on the blame game of how short-sighted the successive govts of India have been that they did not install a tsunami warning system before. Good point. However, to them, my question is if they can grouse now, why the dickens did they not do so earlier? Of course all govts of India since 1947 are to blame, but aren’t these intellectual professional gripers also to blame?

True, the common man is asking for the basics, but given our political structure, the darbari culture, bureaucratic bungling and red tapism and also the corruption, all our govts have been trying to as best they can. That is why we could not buy numbers of tsunami-meters each costing a king’s ransom. India has some satellites and so maybe they are better off, but the price of those satellites could have been put to better use in the cause of the common man. Couldn’t it? The flip side is who would look after the defence if the satellites weren’t there? It is a conundrum. A Catch 22.

In so far as Pakistan specific and not common issues with India in this article, let’s take it one by one.

Yes, making the Urdu language the national language may have alienated the Bengalis of erstwhile East Pakistan. But that is not the only reason. It was the imposition of the West Pakistan (read Punjabi) desire to dominate the Bengalis of East Pakistan. What broke the camel’s back was not allowing Mujib to be the Prime Minister when he fairly and squarely won the elections.

Let us not blame Islam taking it as the cardinal issue for all woes in Pakistan. Jinnah wanted a secular Pakistan if one goes by his Independence address to the nascent Pakistani nation. Why was secularism abandoned, why has democracy floundered and why the military has become paramount?

To understand this one has to go back to the Independence time.

In areas which is today’s Pakistan, they were ruled by feudal satraps and I presume still are. The Punjabis were the dominant class in British Indian Army and had been given largess by the British as jagirs and things like that. To this lot, came in the Mohajir (who were obviously rootless having been displaced by history). Then also there came the Bengalis who had lived in more democratic climes and were move politically aware, but were displaced from West Pakistan and so not directly influenced by the power play in West Pakistan.

Thus there was a clash of interests. The feudal satraps of all regions did not want to give up their prime position as arbiters of all matters of governance.. The Punjabis (they are very macho) did not want to abdicate their authority and power being from the Army. The Mohajirs wanted to be known as true Pakistanis for after all, of them all, they had sacrificed their hearth and home for their cherished dream of a Moslem land called Pakistan and the Bengali Moslems too wanted to exert their Moslem identity over everything but were uncomfortable since their culture was alien to the rest.

In the land which became Pakistan, there were the landed and rich classes and there were the poor. There was no middle class as such.

Crank in another factor. The Baloch, Pashtuns, Punjabis etc as a class were not politically enlightened as the Mohajirs and Bengalis. The majority were sons of the soil and uneducated.

So, when the Independence came, most of the bureaucrats (who control the affairs of the country), the judiciary, the middle class, the business class, the petty traders (i.e. professionals and trade, on which the wheels of a nation runs) were Mohajirs and so to some extent Bengalis (doctors, educationists and other professionals).

While the Bengalis were not so much in the reckoning, the Mohajirs felt that the only way to be acceptable in the new country was to exert their intellect and authority as also to ensure that they were not marginalised by sub nationalism. They did so through the bureaucracy and judiciary and other forms of govt infrastructure.

This Mohajir desire clashed with the Punjabi dominance that was there before the Partition. And it should be remembered they (Punjabis) formed the bulk of the Army.

The problem of Kashmir surfaced near simultaneously. It was God given. It helped both the Mohajirs and the Punjabis. Mohajirs gave Islam and anti India sentiments pre-eminence since it would ensure sub nationalism did not take effect and none could deny the prime position of Islam. This ploy worked and thereby they didn’t get marginalised. And for the Punjabis, it made the Army the centre point of the fate of Pakistan thus (Kashmir and anti India). Thus, these two planks became the bedrock of policy.

Therefore, one cannot blame Islam today for the woes of Pakistan. It has been caused by history and is man made.

Beyond that the author’s solutions have merits.

platinum786

An excellent analysis by Ray.

I'd like to add, this article shows exactly what i have been ******ing about for the last few days, what some mistook for "cheerleading".

SEE! People couldn't give if a damn even of Sonia Ghandi took over, they want life to be better for them and thier children, they want life to be easier, they don't want F-16's or state sponsored hajj programs.....or breaks at namaz times....like the jamaati's want to propose......they want a better life.

See, does it not make sense when i say that the country will not get up in arms and hack each other to pieces any minute now. IF in the anti-India centred society that elitists have tried to create in Pakistan, people still watch Bollywood movies, people still cheer thier cricket team, people don't mind Sonia Ghandi as a leader.......do you really think we're all about to give a sh!t what some apes in beards and turbans want?!

This also refelcts the absolute lack of confidence any of our people have in the country and it's leadership. Most think Mushy is probably on the take too, and most think that if he dropped dead tommorow, PML-Q would drop with him and Benazir would take over. We have no confidence in our leaders, our representatives, why? Because often they are not our choice, they are a generals choice and when they are our choice, it's not like we matter in between elections.

See what i mean aobut people wanting responsibility and power to themselves, letting us make our own mistakes please?!


I am not cheerleading boss, i'm reflecting the street.

tarek

Ray

"Let us not blame Islam taking it as the cardinal issue for all woes in Pakistan. Jinnah wanted a secular Pakistan if one goes by his Independence address to the nascent Pakistani nation. Why was secularism abandoned, why has democracy floundered and why the military has become paramount?"

I'm not sure I understand this para - why ask why secularism was abandoned and you at the same time want anyone who may seek an answer to this question, to not blame Islam and it's mongers for this? Have I misunderstood?

"one cannot blame Islam today for the woes of Pakistan. It has been caused by history and is man made."

Would you Also say that communism is not to blame for the suffering imposedon the peoples of the former Soviet union an China? You say history is to blame, as if Islam stood apart from history. Religion is what adherents practice - when some assert that there is a "idealized" Islam, whatthey are saying is that ordinary humans cannot practice it and that therefore Islam has no real adherents. These are the consequences of "not blame islam" and if sentiment is our guide on this exploration, perhaps we are better served by abandoning our exploration.

"having faced the hype throughout from 1947. Same in India. They couldn’t care less what happens in 2055, since they don’t know how they will manage tomorrow or what will happen tomorrow. To them, 2055 is too far a date to worry about."

Yes, I suppose it's the same for everyone, you suggest we are the sterotype "fatalists", yet the author asks, "God will look after them, true, but don't we, His Vicegerents on earth, have a responsibility?"

Plat
U pleads we grant permission to "make our own mistakes please" and suggests that this sentiment is a reflection of the street - but ofcourse the respondents the author cites seek no permission to make their own mistakes, they do not anymore mistakes at all, after all they want "...that their children were provided free quality education up to matric and on merit were inducted into colleges and research institutes at par with the world, ensured an environment to pursue a livelihood commensurate to their merit with free will and dignity, also provided clean drinking water, hygienic living conditions and non harassment at the hands of police or other government agencies?" --- Seems to me they just want to be treated fairly and perhaps they have had their fill of "mistakes" over the last 60 years?
How might you respond? Is there sufficient reason here to reevaluate?

About Urdu - How should this be resolved? Which Alphabet should we use?
About the federation and federalism - Should Pakistan continue to have 4 provinces? or seek the creation of new administrative entities from the 4? Shoudl provinces be the breeding ground of "sub-nationalisms"??

tarek

Guys

I have invited the author "Visionary" on your behalf, to come here and discuss his piece - I hope he will take us up on our invite.

Ray

[quote=tarek]Ray

If you read carefully my earlier post, it was abandoned because of vested interests that came into play for power. Islam was the ideal 'instrument' that would ensure no dissensions or opposition.

The fundamentalist Islam (again used to prevent any divergent views or opposition) that has surfaced is not as a wake up call for religion. It is being used again as an 'instrument' in the jockeying for polical supremacy.

The political and administrative machinery may have collapsed in Pakistan, but what has that to do with Islam if people who wish to use Islam to create further havoc so that they find a place in the sun to further their own interests?

I don't blame Communism for the suffering of the prople of USSR or China. Its basic concept is excellent. In short equality of opportunties for all. Equitable distribution of wealth etc etc. However, it is too ideal. It is an utopia and cannot be put into practice. Therefore, those who ran the govt merely used it to befool the people and to ensure progress, they converted their masses into a coordinated labour force which operated robot like. They did achieve progress, but the rigidity that the system infused, had to crack in a world of flexibility. It has no resilence to change.
Compare India and China. China is ahead. Why? They are a labour force which must bend to the govt's wishes without question. They have now embraced 'controlled' captialism. Their system will obviously break since the Communist rigidity is not compatible to a free market. Or maybe they won't since the Chinese mind and philosophy with poetical homilies can justify even a sin and lull the mind. Notice how they are taking the West for a ride.

In so far as subnationalism is concerned, one cannot remove its vestige. Ethnic nationalism is based on a 'people' with more or less homogenous ethnic composition deeply embedded. Ethnicity makes one believe that 'some belonged to it and some don't' A very good example of this is the Ottoman Empire that broke up into 'nation states'. The Ottoman Empire was inherently tolerant and drew few distinctions between Moslems, Jews, Kurds or Chirstians. But the moment it came to an end, and the Turkish nation state was born, it adopted the policy of assimilate or eliminate. It eliminated the Armenians. It also arranged for the en masse expulsion of the Greeks in a population exchange of Greeks for Turks living in what became Greece in 1922. Nation State formulation necessarily implied the concept of ethnic cleansing. In its most extreme form, it legitimised genocide. What is happening in Iraq is us vs them (Sunnis vs Shias). Sunnis who held power will lose to Shias and so they cannot accept that. Notice how Shias want the election, but the Sunnis are bent on sabotaging it. India and Pakistan too are some sort of desire for ethnic identity, though it was through the devious means of religion as is happening in Iraq. Bangaldesh too separated because of ethnic and sub nationalism desires. Oh, you can take so many examples. Whats up in Darfur? Black Moslems vs Arabs i.e. Africans vs Arabs - 'some belong and some don't' ethos.

Therefore, sub nationalism or ethnicity cannot be wished away.

tarek

Ray

You state the obvious when you highlight that Islam is being used - but look it, no one is forcing Muslims into obscuritanism, they, especially Pakistanis, are not "victims" but rather are "perpetrators".

And when you say that you don't blame communism but then suggest that it is utopian - which judgemnent are you making, exactly - please be very precise and clear - Are Utopian ideologies responsible for the suffer brought about when they are followed, or to use the language of tghe Islamist, "Implemented"?? And if you opt to answer that it is not the ideology but those whose who "implement" the ideology, please explain how it is that adherent and ideology can have no connection, and how ideology and "implementation" can have no relationship??

I want you to explain these because I am open to persuasion and I hope this exchange may be of some benefit to those who are uneasy exploring these ideas. At a later I will present you a piece I call "5 propositions" - I think you may enjoy it.

Ray

Tarek,

Isn't it simple?

What I have stated is that neither the Quaran nor Prophet Mohammed told Pakistan to abandon secularism. Man used Islam to fool the public for their own interest.

So why blame them (Quaran and Prophet Mohammed)?

Or have I misunderstood you?

Likewise Communism did not instruct the 'hardships'. Or did it?

Just for discusssion's sake (remember, I am in a Communist State and I detest them since they allow hooligans to run rampant and apply their silly law of the proletariat being supreme, even though they cannot offficially do so since the Federal Law is there), are you sure Communism was bad for a backward country like Russia or China? If so, how come they became so powerful as to challenge established democracies that have existed and came to their supreme state over such a long time? That requires analysis. This is what the Communists here state.

Likewise, for argument's sake (since I enjoy discussion with you), let me mention another what the Communists here say. They say that the US 'demonised' USSR so as to isolate it from the rest of the world and deprive it of all the resorurces of the other countries and hence ensure the supremacy of the US.

What is your opinion?

Looking forward to the '5 Propositions'.

tarek

Why blame Islam for Pakistan leaving secularism?

The arguments highlighting the ill that is secularism are all presented within the so called "Islamic" rationale - Men certainly share the blame but so does the ideology which men use to rationalize their actions.

Did communism instruct "Hardship" ?- It most certainly made the infliction of hardship justifiable in order to create the "perfect society.

Communism good for a developing nation?? Heck no!! Working people want a chance to work, to make something for themselves, not an opportunity to blame others for their lot in life. They want a chance to control their own lives and not to give themselves up to the state as the new feudal master.

If utopianism has had even a single success, I and I suspect the rest of us, remain ignorant of it.

FCOr the Communists in your state who point to CHina and Russia, we would not be impertinent if we were to ask whether we will be required to offer the same human sacrifices - will your compatriots be willing to give 35 millions lives for a failed experiement? Have your compatriots been to CHina to see for themselves how "communist" they are?? And if RUssia and CHina were successful as communists, why did USSR disappear and why is it that Dung Xio Ping is revered and not Mao hate??

Ray

That is exactly what I am saying.

How Islamic are the fundamentalists? If Chinese are not Commies, then if some apply the same logic and claim that fundamentalists , how Islamic are the fundamentalists?

Also, the Chinese need not be die in the wool communists any more becasue a whole lot of blokes before them sacrificed to bring them to the stage where they could abandon to some extent the Communist ideology.

What about the other staement of the Commies - that the West demonised USSR to isolate it and that things were perfect otherwise.

Officer of Engineers

Sir,

Today's China cannot be called communist but the Chinese did went through some very insane times under the Maoist cult. The Great Leap Forward and the Great Proliterate Cultural Revolution matches in feriocity and insanity anything the Islamic Militants could come up with. Mao's fanatic teenage army, the Red Guards, nearly started WWIII with the USSR. It was they, and not the People's Liberation Army, who tortured Soviet guards on the Sino-Soviet border, prompting a massive Soviet response which ended in a little war instead of a big one.

__________________
Chimo

tarek

how Islamic are fundamentalists? As Islamic as the other, in fact even more so - I again bring to your attention that fundamentalists also use Islamic sources - that fact that the likes of me question these "sources" does not mean that these are not accepted by the majorites of Muslims.

Ray, The position I have offered is essentially a theoretical one, we have no need to get in to specifics (because it is a trap) - If I claim to be a Muslim, I cannot then assert that I do so because I am motivated by Jewish or Christian or Martian Texts -- in the same way, Islamists are considered by a majority of Muslims to be more "pure" because they almost exclusively give justification from Islamic sources.

Your suggestion that about Chinese and communism is not accurate - at one time Chinese were communist, but today they are not, in fact ever since Dung Xio Ping, they have not been "Glorious to be rich" if it were to become a "communist" idea, then perhaps the political leadership of your home state might have a point.

Jay

The best thing that happened to China was Deng Xioaping, else China wud have a tough time with Russia/USSR!!

__________________
A grain of wheat eclipsed the sun of Adam !!

Ray

If the Chinese are not Communists, what are they?