Evolution is a slow process; it can take millions of years but my question is, how long does political evolution take? I would suggest it does not take more than a few decades so I wonder how much has our political mindset and thinking changed over the the last 69 years in Pakistan? Between evolution and revolution, there are a hundred shades of change - some perceptible and some not so perceptible. To me, there are three components of political change; rulers, the public and the system. When you want to do something new and daring, it is wise to turn back the pages of history to see if something similar has been done before. It turns out, there is nothing unique about political evolution; some good, some bad and some atrocious.
There are many people I admire from Pakistan's pre-independence history; Jinnah and Iqbal make it to my top ten list with flying colours; my reason for doing so has something to do with how their thinking evolved over a fraction of their lifetime and the result was quite revolutionary; Pakistan - an independent country described by Jinnah as a place where;
“You are free; you are free to go to your temples. You are free to go to your mosques or to any other places of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion, caste or creed—that has nothing to do with the business of the state.”
Pakistan was created, at least in Jinnah's mind, when his political thinking had evolved sufficiently and his ideas about what was possible and not possible had changed. In his own words;
"Any idea of a United India could never have worked and in my judgement it would have led us to terrific disaster."
The question whether the creation of India and Pakistan has turned out to be a 'terrific disaster' or not is a different discussion but the point I am trying to make is about the evolution of his thinking processes and the thoughts that consequently resulted from it. It would be fair to say Jinnah was in pursuit of peace and well-being for all who were to one day call themselves Pakistanis, irrespective of religion, caste or creed. British rulers of India vacillated between hostility and ambivalence in their dealings Jinnah and his ideas but a large number Muslims living in India got on board with his mission because they saw him as trustworthy, intelligent and extremely hardworking.
Iqbal's journey began with Shikwa (complaint) and Jawab-Sikhwa (response to complaint) and over the years his thinking evolved after going through Asrar-e-Khudi (secrets of self or secrets of self realisation) and through various trials and tribulations, through battles with self, with politicians, with thinkers and with mullahs - to eventually arrive at the pinnacle of actionable clarity in 1930 when he made his famous Allahabad address in which he said much but I quote a brief sentence from it;
"A community which is inspired by feelings of ill-will towards other communities is low and ignoble. I entertain the highest respect for the customs, laws, religious and social institutions of other communities."
Once again, like Jinnah, we see Iqbal - a highly educated, writer, poet, thinker and dissenter - learning political and social lessons over decades and then coming to logical conclusions about the way forward for Indian Muslims. People loved Iqbal, hated Iqbal and many did not understand Iqbal but one thing is clear, they respected his sincerity, integrity and his wisdom as a scholar. In 1930, British India had sufficient systemic viscosity to make progress towards a 'two nation' solution very difficult indeed but over time such resistance diluted as Britain diverted its attention towards what was going on in Germany.
Jinnah and Iqbal both came to realise they wanted a country where everyone had the freedom to pursue their dreams and prosper. They envisaged a country where people will not be shackled by their religion or social class. They wanted a place where hard work, honesty, education and merit mattered for all. To achieve this we, the post 1947 generations had to learn lessons, evolve and become better leaders and followers.
So I return to the Pakistan of today and to my original question; how much has our mindset and thinking changed over the last 69 years? Jinnah and Iqbal were no corrupt factories-owning businessmen 'leaders' motivated by the lure of money, power and fame; they were in it for service to people who wanted change. Ruling Pakistan over the last few decades has been a families' game of musical throne interspersed with periods of military takeovers. At the risk of making my compatriots sick; today the likes of Nawaz Sharif, Yousuf Raza Gillani, Raja Ashraf and Asif Ali Zardari have blighted our lives as so-called democratic rulers of Pakistan! As if extremely serious allegations of corruption, tax evasion and conflict of interest against them were not enough, Sharif and Zardari are now on the verge of passing Pakistan's throne to their incompetent and undeserving offsprings through shameless acts of nepotism and cronyism. Today our system has made it possible for Maryam Safdar, Hamza Shahbaz and Bilawal Zardari to delude themselves into thinking they are leadership material. The likes of Achakzai, Fazl ul Haq, Khursheed Shah and Asfand Yar Wali are constantly declaring their undying love and support for a system that mainstreams throne-inheritance as a democratic process.
What about the people who are ruled by such 'leaders' with the help of such a system? Had our thinking evolved and had we learnt lessons from history, I would not be writing this article today. Yes, the system and methods of governance in Pakistan are corrupt and ineffective but what are the people waiting for? Are we any closer to the kind of Pakistan envisaged by Jinnah and Iqbal? I would suggest no, we are nowhere near it. My contention is our political thinking and mindset is stunted at best and putrefied at worst. What kind of people are we to fall victim to the same lies over and over again? Pakistan's laws and Constitution are stuff of fairy tales that we like telling our children in schools - at least to those who manage to go to school. According to one estimate 25 million Pakistani children are deprived of their Constitutional right to primary and secondary education and yet Nawaz and Zardari want us to save 'Democracy!' Nawaz Sharif and his courtiers can only sell us lies we are prepared to tolerate - and therein lies our true dilemma; do we continue to live off sugary dreams or wake up to the harsh trinity of our woes; corrupt rulers, a compromised system and us.
It is not in the interest of Sharif and Zardari to change the system that serves their families so well; the Royal courtiers that sit in our National Assembly will not rock the boat that brings them such privileges, money and power. This leaves us with - us, I guess! We can either wait for a slow biological change in our thinking or we can take the bull by the horns and say enough is enough. The bad news is there is no messiah on his or her way to rescue us, the good news is we can change both the system and our rulers if we stop being part of this circus of political exploitation and social injustice. How do we do that? Well, I guess we will have to go through some revolutionary evolution in our political thinking and mindset. This means we will need to take responsibility for our past, present and future and stop leaving it to God. So good luck to all - God knows we will need it.