Adil Najam
Mohammed Hanif, the brilliant author of the engrossing book “The Case of Exploding Mangoes†(I have been planning to write about it ever since I first read it many months ago; and I will) – known to many for his stint at Herald before he joined BBC’s Urdu Service – has just written a most cogent and readable op-ed in The Times of India which is wroth reading; whether you agree with it or not. It is a good argument as well as a good read. And I say that even thought there are more than one points here that I might quibble with. But before we quibble, lets give Mohammed Hanif the floor – and a full and proper hearing. Here is the op-ed he wrote in The Times of India, in full:
Ten Myths About Pakistan
Living in Pakistan and reading about it in the Indian press can sometimes be quite a disorienting experience: one wonders what place on earth they’re talking about? I wouldn’t be surprised if an Indian reader going through Pakistani papers has asked the same question in recent days. Here are some common assumptions about Pakistan and its citizens that I have come across in the Indian media.
1. Pakistan controls the jihadis: Or Pakistan’s government controls the jihadis. Or Pakistan Army controls the jihadis. Or ISI controls the jihadis. Or some rogue elements from the ISI control the Jihadis. Nobody knows the whole truth but increasingly it’s the tail that wags the dog. We must remember that the ISI-Jihadi alliance was a marriage of convenience, which has broken down irrevocably. Pakistan army has lost more soldiers at the hands of these jihadis than it ever did fighting India.
2. Musharraf was in control, Zardari is not: Let’s not forget that General Musharraf seized power after he was fired from his job as the army chief by an elected prime minister. Musharraf first appeased jihadis, then bombed them, and then appeased them again. The country he left behind has become a very dangerous place, above all for its own citizens. There is a latent hankering in sections of the Indian middle class for a strongman. Give Manmohan Singh a military uniform, put all the armed forces under his direct command, make his word the law of the land, and he too will go around thumping his chest saying that it’s his destiny to save India from Indians. Zardari will never have the kind of control that Musharraf had. But Pakistanis do not want another Musharraf.
3. Pakistan, which Pakistan? For a small country, Pakistan is very diverse, not only ethnically but politically as well. General Musharraf’s government bombed Pashtuns in the north for being Islamists and close to the Taliban and at the same time it bombed Balochs in the South for NOT being Islamists and for subscribing to some kind of retro-socialist, anti Taliban ethos. You have probably heard the joke about other countries having armies but Pakistan’s army having a country. Nobody in Pakistan finds it funny.
4. Pakistan and its loose nukes: Pakistan’s nuclear programme is under a sophisticated command and control system, no more under threat than India or Israel’s nuclear assets are threatened by Hindu or Jewish extremists. For a long time Pakistan’s security establishment’s other strategic asset was jihadi organisations, which in the last couple of years have become its biggest liability.
5. Pakistan is a failed state: If it is, then Pakistanis have not noticed. Or they have lived in it for such a long time that they have become used to its dysfunctional aspects. Trains are late but they turn up, there are more VJs, DJs, theatre festivals, melas, and fashion models than a failed state can accommodate. To borrow a phrase from President Zardari, there are lots of non-state actors like Abdul Sattar Edhi who provide emergency health services, orphanages and shelters for sick animals.
6. It is a deeply religious country: Every half-decent election in this country has proved otherwise. Religious parties have never won more than a fraction of popular vote. Last year Pakistan witnessed the largest civil rights movements in the history of this region. It was spontaneous, secular and entirely peaceful. But since people weren’t raising anti-India or anti-America slogans, nobody outside Pakistan took much notice.
7. All Pakistanis hate India: Three out of four provinces in Pakistan – Sindh, Baluchistan, NWFP – have never had any popular anti-India sentiment ever. Punjabis who did impose India as enemy-in-chief on Pakistan are now more interested in selling potatoes to India than destroying it. There is a new breed of al-Qaida inspired jihadis who hate a woman walking on the streets of Karachi as much as they hate a woman driving a car on the streets of Delhi. In fact there is not much that they do not hate: they hate America, Denmark, China CDs, barbers, DVDs , television, even football. Imran Khan recently said that these jihadis will never attack a cricket match but nobody takes him seriously.
8. Training camps: There are militant sanctuaries in the tribal areas of Pakistan but definitely not in Muzaffarabad or Muridke, two favourite targets for Indian journalists, probably because those are the cities they have ever been allowed to visit. After all how much training do you need if you are going to shoot at random civilians or blow yourself up in a crowded bazaar? So if anyone thinks a few missiles targeted at Muzaffarabad will teach anyone a lesson, they should switch off their TV and try to locate it on the map.
9. RAW would never do what ISI does: Both the agencies have had a brilliant record of creating mayhem in the neighbouring countries. Both have a dismal record when it comes to protecting their own people. There is a simple reason that ISI is a bigger, more notorious brand name: It was CIA’s franchise during the jihad against the Soviets. And now it’s busy doing jihad against those very jihadis.
10. Pakistan is poor, India is rich: Pakistanis visiting India till the mid-eighties came back very smug. They told us about India’s slums, and that there was nothing to buy except handicrafts and saris. Then Pakistanis could say with justifiable pride that nobody slept hungry in their country. But now, not only do people sleep hungry in both the countries, they also commit suicide because they see nothing but a lifetime of hunger ahead. A debt-ridden farmer contemplating suicide in Maharashtra and a mother who abandons her children in Karachi because she can’t feed them: this is what we have achieved in our mutual desire to teach each other a lesson.
So, quibble if you will. But do tell us what you think about the argument that Hanif is making.
I was 10 when Dr Abdus Salam won the Nobel prize. I kept waiting. year after year. for a chapter to appear in my urdu, english, physics or (the infamous) Pakistan Studies text book about the great Pakistani physicist. For a road, in one if not several major towns, a library, a laboratory, a research centre or a university to be named after him. But I was forced, by the state, to practically forget about this great man.
Some years ago, I saw thousands going to Aimal Ka ns i’s funeral. Pakistani parliaments offering fatiha for the condemned murderer (without ever raising any doubts they might have had about the judicial system that condemned him, or any belief that he was innocent of the murders). I couldn’t but make the comparison with my thirst from that young age for the Pakistani nation to revere Dr Sahib and put him forward as the great role model for my generation and those to follow, and the ‘role models’ that were being presented to the youth in the shape of so-called ‘shaheed’ condemned murderers. My father-in-law told me that somebody had suggested offering fatiha in parliament at the time of Dr Sahib’s death (when I was studying abroad and didn’t get to follow this particular piece of news), but the request was refused and shunned. Even a request to observe a minute
As an Indian I ma very impressed by this website. I have seen Hanif’s article and it is good. But even better is the fact that you would have a fair and open website that can have serious intellectual discussion on tough questions without it disgenerating into name calling and attacks. I am extremely impressed by the Pakistani comments here. Thank you.
A Correction, In case anyone was interested.
In my last post I wrote “at the brink of the dark pit of poverty condemed to live miserable lives”. I meant to write “at the brink of the dark pit THAT IS A PERPETUAL MASS GRAVE, condemed to live miserable lives.” Since millions are born and live in poverty any way, only waiting to slip or be pushed in to the mass grave.
@Bloody Civilian
It’s CD70 as in the “ek litre main 70km” Honda CD70 beloved of mine that has served me faithfully through regular and ongoing use of 24 years!
bonobashi: the meeting of minds is freakily wonderful! except (a tiny irrelevant one), somewhat in the same spirit as Aqil Mushtaque’s thoughts on what is a judicious display of religion, I’m more comfrotable with being slightly embarrassed of flag waving and displays of patriotism for the sake of displaying only. as an analogy, i am happier carrying the love of my wife every where with me as a big beaming, slightly stupid but constant, smile on my face than a picture in my wallet that i pull out and show around at every opportunity. i would rather use the warmth i feel from having the privilege of her love to bring some warmth, happiness, laughter and a smile to others if and when i can (at least that’s the hope), rather than keep telling them why i’m so happy and how wonderful my wife is and how great our love.
those who are not quite sure what is the indian equivalent of pakistaniat are likely to be india’s best hope rather than (i suspect) those who are a bit too sure they know exactly what it is. i hope that all pakistanis will wish for ‘pakistaniant’ to mean nothing more or less than ‘insaaniat’. now i’m much happier seeking the menaing for ‘insaaniat’ since it seems a much safer and more worthwhile pursuit, let alone that it makes for a much better start with many already knowing lots about ‘insaaniat’.
gorki: if we could just read in to the mind of bhagat singh the teenager, and understand his hopes and make them our own, and resolve to not let any Dyers, Hafiz Saeeds, Sudharshans and many like them to change hope in to despair, we shall have nothing to worry about when it comes to the future of India and Pakistan. If we can familiarise ourselves with and reclaim as our own, in Pakistan, Jinnah’s vision of august 11 ’47, peace within and therefore most likely without will be our destiny as per the inspiration behind the “tryst” made with destiny herself by Nehru that India must never forget to live by and honour, no matter how big the hurdles (and you, yourself proved that and were saved by it, in 1984).
As your teacher(?) said at passing out, go out and make India a better place, it implicitly includes the neighbourhood and indeed the world. (bonobashi too), you don’t have to worry about interfering in your neighbours’ business, you don’t ever have to. just become a better person, society, democracy and nation yourself and your neighbours can but only gain and benefit from that. other than not making things more dificult for each other than they need to be, we can inspire, even encourage each other. i think all that we can do for another in this life, the best is to encourage them.
having been to good schools or having had good opportunities in a land where most lives are totally blighted with the absence of either and much more, we owe the multitudes who served us and wished us well without envy or jealousy or anger (all would have been completely justified) everything that Seedy(??) Seventy’s lament (still hopeful) has quite emotionally drawn our attention to. if we, with the spectacularly good luck we’ve had in the midst of a mass of deprivation, cannot be the hope for our countries and region, then no one can. i agree with his/her ‘what’s in a name’ sentiment.
it is to MH’s credit that every comment on this forum is relevant to his frank, funny and insightful piece. without it, none of the however little benefit would have been possible to however few people reading and contributing to this thread.
@Desi Italiana
Regarding this business of failed states, I think we are making mountains out of molehills, and personally it’s getting under my skin. Aamir Ali has defined it precisely and economically, and there isn’t any need to go beyond that. Pakistan doesn’t qualify, not now, not for the present state of affairs.
In that case, we ask ourselves, why is it being used?
When this term occurs in Indian discourses, it usually signifies one of two things: an exaggeration and a bombastic expansion of the situation in some areas of a large country, made for effect, usually out of anger that nothing is being done by the country in question, in this case, Pakistan, in a completely different context; secondly, a pessimistic prediction of a bleak future UNLESS CORRECTIVE ACTION IS TAKEN BY THE CITIZENS THEMSELVES, through democratic means, with minimal bloodshed.
No neighbour should stand by and watch the house next door catch fire and do nothing.
If they’re asked to lay off and let the owners handle it, that’s fine, but the owners shouldn’t complain if the fire grows and threatens other houses, and the neighbours inform the Fire Brigade; if the neighbours start screaming and yelling and shouting out alarms and telling everybody who’s listening that the house is done for, that’s understandable but not helpful, and may lead to panic, and is probably dealt with best by a bucket of ice-cold water judiciously used, and that’s what MH is doing here, if only we’d let him; if they pour inflammables into the blaze, that’s criminal, and the police should deal with it, unless the police want to turn a blind eye and let the owners correct that situation forcefully, on their own.
It’d be nice if both owners and neighbours could get together to put out the fire together, and would constitute, I imagine, normal behaviour for a normal community, but that needs an atmosphere of trust and mutual confidence. Trust and mutual confidence? Well, just ignore the last sentence about normal behaviour then. I’m beginning to wonder if that description applies to Indians and Pakistanis.
And, yes, for the neighbour that sets fire to other people’s houses (such things have been known to happen), I would suspend my personal opposition to corporal punishment. But we needn’t dismember him; that would be unnatural and savage punishment.
Please also consider that MH was after all writing to grab the attention of readers. Consider that he were to have written, “(Indians think that) Pakistan is a country, like many others, with significant difficulties with dissident elements in some specific regions”. Not exactly attention-grabbing, is it? Not worth a bucket of ice-cold water either. The same thing applies to Indians using the phrase when talking about these matters; it’s used for shock value.
Please, good people, this is a term used to draw attention. It will be a reality, at some future date, suddenly and without warning, without a slow decline, if and only if EVERYBODY in Pakistan gives up, throws in the towel and allows it to happen. Going by the democratic struggle by enlightened elements to restore the independence of the judiciary, that’s not happening soon. Judging by the sentiments expressed by Pakistanis here, that’s not likely at all.