Khalid Taimur Akram
“By union the smallest states thrive, by discord the greatest destroyed.”-Sallust
To understand the crisis of nation-building in an explicit way, first we need to have a clarity about what exactly a nation means. Nation is defined as: ‘A human group conscious of forming a community sharing a common culture, language, and tradition in a marked territory’. This definition provides grounds for nation-building but it is quite rare to find a nation with all the qualities and possibilities according to the given definition in the current scenario. This is the era of globalization and the world is interconnected. A state or a nation can put its survival at risk, if it is an adherent of isolationism at a global or domestic level. In the midst of a crisis, the most important thing is the reshaping and rebuilding of the national narrative, so they can become healthy and prosperous yet again.
The crisis of nation building exists in Pakistan since its inception. The movement for separate homeland by the Muslims of the subcontinent under the influence of All India Muslim League and fascinating and charismatic leadership of Mr. Jinnah thrived in the shape of Pakistan appearing on the world map on August 14, 1947. The Two-Nation Theory proposed by Mr. Jinnah is central to the concept of this formation which says, Muslims and Hindus are two different nations and the concept of their coexistence is not amicable. This suggests that Muslims are one nation that incorporates different ethnic, lingual, cultural and racial groups. Each one of them had the same sense of nationalism back then in 1947.
The concept of nationalism has changed in these seventy one years. Muhammad Ali Jinnah addressing to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan said, you may belong to any race, culture, caste, creed or religion and you can practice them openly. That is not the business of the state. Unfortunately, the state we live in today, is totally different from the one formed many decades ago. Pakistan is in the midst of crisis, but the internal crisis are the ones that want more attention and should be the top priority. Pakistani nation is divided on almost everything. The biggest challenge to Pakistan is to maintain a balance between diversity and unity. There are so many grounds on which we can find division and now these differences have begun to grow to a greater extent. This diversity has divided ‘The One Nation’ into many other small nations. Every other group feels detached from the other one. There is a lack of unity and cohesiveness. One needs to understand that any nation that lacks unity, falls.
Challenges:
Having discussed briefly about what nation and nation-building is, now ground is set for the core subject which is the challenges in nation building.
Socio-Cultural Dimensions:
The socio-cultural dimensions will highlight three major aspects:
a) Language:
Language serves as a tool to unify the nation by bringing them close. The incident of East Pakistan has its origin in the language riots which later led to the war against West Pakistan. After so many years, language is still a fault line that can trigger riots in Pakistan. Every group considers its language and culture to be superior to the other one. Instead of being called as one nation they refer to each other as Sindhi, Balochi, Punjabi, Pashtun etc. and the language of each has overshadowed Urdu, which means their inclination towards provincial languages is more than the national language. This fault line of language is dividing people and is strengthening the gap between them.
b) Culture:
Culture depicts the way of life of a group of people. Pakistan has a huge cultural diversity and it is important to minimize the socio-cultural differences among multi-cultural societies for development, unity and prosperity.
c) Identity:
Every individual has its own identity on the basis of his belonging to a particular area or province. These regional identities instead of giving sense of one nation are more inclined to divide it on the basis of different regions. Instead of suppressing, if every group cherishes each other’s identity, Pakistani identity would get strengthened.
d) Religion:
Apart from the ethno-lingual and socio-cultural differences, the one which proved itself to be the most destructive one is Religion. Muhammad Ali Jinnah thought of making a separate homeland for Muslims of the subcontinent where Muslims can practice their religion and culture on their own terms, freely. The minorities were assured that they can practice their religion freely and can go to temples or mosques or any place where you want to worship and they are free. The question here is not about the minorities but about the Muslims themselves. They were one nation which is now divided into different sects and can trigger violence and chaos in state within a second. The number of killings in the recent years on the basis of religion is the evidence. These sects instead of fighting with each other should have a nationalistic approach.
e) Economic Development:
Economic development creates a lot of opportunities of prosperity for a nation. When there is lack of equal opportunities for people in different sectors, it creates social deficit and hinders development and prosperity. Pakistan’s economy is in a spiral form going downwards and there are many reasons for that. For instance, unemployment, terrorism, food and energy crisis, over-population, soaring oil prices, water crisis and many others contribute to the economic crisis. It’s the socio-cultural norms and behavior of the people that act as a hindrance in the way of development. If Pakistan wants to get developed, a better economic future plan is the need of the hour.
f) Role of Media:
Media has a key role to perform in the society and is the major actor in shaping the public opinion. Pakistani media these days is getting quite imprudent which has made things complicated for the audience. Media these days bombards the audience with a lot of information whether important or not which has a psychological affect. There are so many negative aspects which Pakistani media possess including exaggeration, manifestation of interests, false values and making every other news sensational. It is important for Pakistan to sort out that how this significant factor will help in achieving its national interest.
Recommendations:
– There is no contradiction that Pakistan was created on the basis of Islam and the constitution of Pakistan gives religious freedom to all the communities. There is a need to make a bond among all the ethnic groups to form a strong Pakistani identity. For this, there should be policy making and providing equal opportunities to all.
– The spirit of Islam should be redefined by the religious scholars and they should give a strong and comprehensive narrative about sectarianism and violence. There should be talks among the religious scholars of all the sects about harmony, homogenization and tolerance.
– Urdu is the national language of Pakistan but there are so many other regional languages as well. It’s not the language that matters but the warmth. There is one famous saying that ‘How you say a thing is more important than what you say’. Instead of getting divided on lingual lines, there should acceptance for each other which would ultimately strengthen the national interest of Pakistan.
– There has been an out flux of announcements and a lot of words by the previous rulers but there was no effective economic plan on the ground. The solution to every problem couldn’t just be dancing around the fire but to have the idea what the basic issue is. Every time going to the donors wouldn’t work out. Pakistan needs to reshape its economic strategy and should work on the weaker zones and the most important thing is the implementation of that strategy.
– Media today is just left for ratings and revenue. Instead of looking at media as a money making tool, but the owners should know that they have a strong tool in their hand which has a better function to perform and that is nation-building. Over flooding the audience with information with exaggeration and to sensationalize the news lead to instability and chaos within a state, it is better if media acts as a medicine.
– The present day Pakistan is going through a lot of phenomenon which is widening the already existing gaps. To deal with these issues and to achieve the goal 3P’s i.e. peace, prosperity and progress, Pakistan needs to accept pluralism.
Conclusion:
There are some significant challenges to nation building in Pakistan like religious divide and lack of governance which lead to economic crises. These issues need instant attention and a number of essential steps should be taken to move in the right direction. Nation-building is a long and slow process and this goal cannot be achieved overnight or fortnight. Efforts towards development and prosperity and homogenization are required to unify this nation. As, ‘United we stand, divided we fall.’
– The author is a Retired Lieutenant Colonel from Pakistan Army and presently working as Executive Director of the Center for Global & Strategic Studies (CGSS), Islamabad.
