Adil Najam
Its time to take stock of the year 2006. Its also time for another ATP Poll.
We did think of doing something around a ‘Person of the Year’ theme and I even thought of a few possible candidates (here, here and here). But that seemed too obvious, and more likely to turn into a popularity contest rather than a thought-provoking discussion.
Instead, we want to focus on the following question:
WHICH EVENTS AND TRENDS FROM 2006 ARE MOST LIKELY TO LEAVE A LASTING IMPACT ON PAKISTAN POLITICS AND SOCIETY?
Our desire is to have the focus not just on what has happened in 2006, but in the implication of what happened in 2006 on the FUTURE of Pakistan. The emphasis is clearly on the future, and we hope to have a good discussion on why, which trend will impact the future of Pakistan, how.
(An explanation of what we mean by each choice is given below; because of a cache plug-in your vote may not appear in the results immediately.)
Unlike previous ATP Polls (on women rights, Gen. Musharraf’s future, past leaders, and Gen. Musharraf’s performance), the challenge here is not in phrasing the question but in figuring out possible options for the answer. Since we do not have the technological ability to allow readers to add their own options, we have narrowed down the list to the following ten key events and event-related trends. We are sure other things that could have been added to this, but without wanting to make this too long, too unwieldy or too broad, we have decided upon the following possible events and trends as answer choices. (Some of are very directly related to a specific event but signifying broader underlying trends; others are broader trends that relate to a collectivity of multiple smaller events.)
Movement on Pakistan-India relations (also here and here), especially including recent moves by Pakistan on Kashmir and related improvements in Pakistan-India relations.
Hiccups in Pakistan-USA relations (also here), including Pres. Bush’s visit to India and Pakistan and Gen. Musharraf’s visit to USA.
Frictions in Pakistan-Afghanistan relations, including the re-rise of Taliban.
The killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti (also here) and the continuing unrest and volatility in Balochistan.
Signs of an impending break-up of the Mutihadda Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), including over the resignation issue.
Positive economic trends, including rise of foreign investments in Pakistan (including for high visibility projects like the Centaurus), strength in some service sectors like telecommunication and banking, etc.
Negative economic trends, including rise in cost of living, inflationary pressures, stock-market controversies, etc.
Continuation of sectarianism and sectarian violence, including various attacks during first part of the year.
The passage of the Womens’ Rights Bill (also, here and here) and related events signifying a change in role of women in society (here, here and here).
Changes being brought into education curriculum and other educational reform, including how other communities and religions are portrayed within historical and other texts.
If you do want to influence the results, please, by all means ask your friends to also vote. Feel welcome to use the ‘Email’ button at the very top to send to your friends.
Voting is anonymous; as it should be. This is, of course, not be a very scientific poll, but it will at least give us a sense of what this community � the ATP cohort � thinks. Do vote, but please vote only once (even if you are smart enough to beat the system somehow).
Adnan,
I appreciate your advice. Yes, I completely agree with you that curriculum has had little to no impact, and I do firmly believe that. I myself can hardly remember things from Islamiat except couple of historical anecdotes. But, the reason I wrote about curriculum change was not because its actual effects but because of what it means symbolically. The curriculum has been drastically changed and you’ve heard merely a peep about it. I’m afraid what else will be done. I stated earlier that it’s just a beginning but the lack of worry from people on the underlying principle (not the actual change) is what is troublesome. Exactly as you said, Pakistan is on its way to become another Turkey, if Musharraf has his way. So, I’m looking at curriculum change symbolically–what it means rather than what effects it will have!
[quote post=”484″]vote for curriculum change. Both are just the beginning of erasing the Islamic identity of this country. They are the two most damaging things that will impact Pakistan significantly[/quote]
I have said enough about Hudood law here therefore I would rather answer your syllabus part. No, I completely disagree with you. The syllabus never played a major part in Pakistani society where education system is very scattered, that is, you learn at home via your parents,daddi dada etc who are part of a joint family system,y0u learn things in your mohalla, you learn things at offices, even shopkeepers in Pakistan often give you awesome moral tips which is very alien concept in West. Due to such scattered or parallel learning sources, official syllabus in Pakistan never made any significant impact and the best example of my case is Zia era where most of syllabus got Islamic and National TV got islamized but the fact is that it didn’t leave any influence and today most of members here who are 25 of age got education in that *Islamic* era of Zia and they preach about secularism and other stuff and most of them got educaton in institutes like Karachi University,PUnjab University, NED,DOW, UET etc.
Obviously their secularist belief were not orginiated due to syllabus of 80s and they learnt it by other means.
Similarly, dictator Musharraf who is a big fan & follower of Kemal Ataturk who is willing to make this country a clone of turkey is walking on similar path like Zia;thoughts are different but strategy is same,maybe it’s because great dictators think alike? anyway, whatever is the reason I don’t see much influence of syllabus[even if secular syllabus last for next 10-20 years]. Those who wants to follow the true Islam, not the one given by Zia or Mush, will follow it anyway and would give similar teachings to their kids already mentioned scattered education system in Pakistan/South east asia so even if kids are taught something wicked at schools, they would be corrected by their elders.
The other reason I think that syllabus change will not make difference is 1)Internet Era 2)current situation about ‘war on terror’. Now if you ask a kid of age 5-7 years old about things like Bush,Iraq or war on terror, he does answer sensibily. The kids do know who is Hasan Nasurullah and how he defeated Israel. This is something which I couldnt imagine in my childhood. So I think it’s a “Too late” decision by Mush regime.
Ibrahim, Most prolly you are worried that you might not be able to hear such cases but again I would say that I am not worried at all. Islam is like a rain water, no matter whatever steps you take to stop it, it finds its way anyway and current world situation does prove it. Could anyone imagine that a woman and journalist like Yvonne Riddley who was an alcholic and “Aaiyaash” woman would become a Muslim and the most amazing thing is that she became muslim after she was captured by Taliban who are cursed even by our people. Read her book “In the hands of Taliban”, its like a big slap on the faces of those who keep cursing Taliban without knowing any reality.
So I would rather suggest you to tht instead of “getting worried”, do something to implement your thoughts. I myself is in field of I.T and I have already taken first step and I got a very positive response by muslims AND non-muslims and many muslims got motivated and they re willing to contribute, now I with another Pakistani forming a team to go to next step to educate ignorant muslims about the religion via IT and Technology medium as it would help me as well to getrid of my born ignorance about Islam. Just keeps your hopes hight, that’s it.
I am happy that people are voting for curriculum changes as an important event. I did not vote for it but am having second thoughts now. If they do turn out to be real then their impact will ve truly meaningful and long-term.
[quote comment=”19797″]Salamalikum,
Eidee Man: I agree that Ishratul Ibad is a thug now, and he was an APMSO thug at DOW then. I know MQM quite well, better than most. Although my immediate family was never very supportive of MQM, many relatives were quite involved. So, I know a lot of bad and good about MQM. I also am from the largest unit sector (188) in Karachi and have seen a lot of thug activities. But, I’ve to say that this thing you’re talking about MQM going door-to-door and registering people sounds like a false rumor. MQM doesn’t need to force anyone in Karachi. It can carry Karachi in elections any day. The only place this rumor can be true is Landhi, Faisal Colony/Malir area because of MQM Haqiqi but even then I think this is completely false news because Haqiqi is almost finished. When did you last hear about Afhaq Ahmed and Aamir Khan in the news?
[/quote]
Ibrahim, thanks for your post; it’s great to see that we agree in principle. I don’t doubt that MQM can win a number of seats in Karachi without any problems; but all of the stories I hear compel me to think that they (or a specific group within their party) have not changed their fundamental approach of fear and intimidation. For instance, I personally know of at least 5 good, honest (you can tell from their lifestyle that they dont have much) government servants who were intimidated into transferring to other departments. One of them was told by his “superior” that his position had a specific price; i.e., they would hire whoever would pay their price. Pressures like this caused him to basically run for his life and sure enough, within a month, someone “purchased” that position. What’s more, that position has seen around 6 different people in a short span of 18 months…my acquaintance was there for around 8-9 years through various governments.
Among the many examples, there was the case with Karachi Nazim Naimatullah Khan. I’m not a fan of the MMA, but this guy was genuinely doing good work and had support from many, many people. Before the (s)election, he actually went on TV and said to everyone that he would lose miserably because the MQM had launched a mafia-style campaign against him….sure enough, our only nominee of “World Mayor of the Year” lost his position.
All of us who voted here are optimists, including myself. Poor souls who actually, in our weak moments, think that something meaningful in Pakistan can really change in 1 year.
It would be fantastic to look back at this poll at the end of 2007.