Credit: ET
The writer is professor of political science at LUMS
Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the father of our nation, must be turning in his grave if angels were to carry the news and pictures of today’s Pakistan to him — targeted killings of Shias, persecution of Christians and public conversion of Hindus on live media. This is not the Pakistan he or other founders powered by a dream of an independent country envisioned. Were they around today, they would have launched another independent movement — this time, to liberate the country from three powerful influences that have taken the form of institutions and have, in many ways, established their control over the soul of the country. They are the mullahs, the military and the feudal elites.
The capacity they have acquired and the impact of their power over the state and society, run counter to the founding vision of Pakistan. This vision was about a real democracy, placing faith and power in people and working towards the common good of all citizens, regardless of one’s religion, sect or place of residence. The early founders believed in rule of law, supremacy of the constitution, pluralism and equality. Two themes that define the founders’ ideology or the ideology of Pakistan are constitutionalism and pluralism — nothing else. All other definitions of Pakistan or its ideology are only self-serving political tools that have subverted Pakistan’s true identity beyond recognition.
Jinnah’s vision remains unfulfilled. For Mullahs, Pakistan was “pleadastan” and Jinnah was a “Kafir”. Freedom and democracy in Pakistan is still a dream which shall be fulfilled when all these culprits mullahs are exported to North Pole to cool down!