Points to Ponder on the first earthquake anniversary

Earthquake Anniversary and Where We are Today
Husain Haqqani
Gulf News , Oman Tribune, The Nation ( Pakistan ) October 11, 2006

One year ago, Pakistanis responded in an unprecedented manner to the tragic earthquake that killed tens of thousands of their countrymen and made over 2.5 million homeless. Thousands of civilians mobilized to lend a helping hand in relief efforts, digging victims out of the rubble with bare hands. Hundreds of doctors, both inside the country and abroad, left their lucrative practices to volunteer medical care in makeshift hospitals. Contributions worth millions of dollars flowed from better off Pakistanis around the world.

Children handed in their small savings to help their less fortunate counterparts in the earthquake affected areas. Human chains moved goods and people across mountains. Islamist and secular NGOs, as well as individuals with divergent religious, political and ethnic set aside their differences in extending humanitarian assistance. In terms of national unity and caring for fellow citizens, the aftermath of the earthquake brought out the best among Pakistanis and was described as Pakistan ’s finest hour.

But one year later, the optimism generated by the people’s response to the earthquake appears to have dissipated. The anniversary of the earthquake was marked by a demonstration by victims against the corruption of relief officials. It is not difficult to believe that officials have started pocketing relief funds, now that the spotlight of the media is gone and the sense if urgency created by the earthquake has subsided. After all, Transparency International’s 2006 National Corruption Perception Survey for Pakistan indicates that 67.3 percent of business people in Pakistan view the present government, with General Musharraf as President and with the parliament elected in 2002, as the most corrupt government to hold power since 1988.

While observing the anniversary of the earthquake, official Pakistan kept its audacious face, taking credit for the contributions of ordinary citizens, but the painful reality is there for all to see. The squabbling of religious leaders and politicians is back where it was before the earthquake. Retired generals are rushing to prove the current ruling general wrong. The ruling general is keen to rewrite history to create justification for his rule, without seeking forgiveness for sidestepping the constitution. The political stalemate continues, with the wielders of power lacking legitimacy and those claiming legitimacy lacking any power.

Violence in Balochistan and the resurgence of the Taliban along the Afghan border have once again highlighted Pakistan predilection for internal warfare. On the international front, the shenanigans of Pakistan ’s invisible government, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) are being widely discussed with little belief in Islamabad ’s denials. Relations with the United States and India are both following a familiar pattern of surface improvements, coupled with sub-surface tensions.

Why has the opportunity of unifying the nation and moving forward in a new direction that followed last year’s earthquake been squandered? Pakistanis have repeatedly demonstrated national unity in the face of adversity. At the time of the nation’s caesarian birth in 1947 and again at the time of the 1965 war with India , Pakistan ’s civil society rose to show its potential for dealing with misfortunes. But Pakistan ’s lack of institutional government and the inflexible preoccupations of the permanent State (which is not the same thing as the Pakistani nation) have repeatedly let Pakistan down following moments of unprecedented national unity and unselfishness.

In the final analysis, the functionality or otherwise of a State is a political question. The sacrifices and kindness of ordinary citizens needs to be matched by institutional arrangements that allow Pakistanis to manifest their best on a sustained basis. The failure over the last year is not the failure of Pakistanis. It is the result of the Pakistani elite’s refusal to allow the development of functioning political institutions. Recently, a group of young Pakistanis in North America launched a new website called www.new-pakistan.com . While defining their mission, they summarized Pakistan ’s crisis in the following words: “On August 14, Pakistan celebrated the 59th anniversary of its independence. On this day in 1947, Pakistan had emerged as a new nation created as the homeland of South Asian Muslims. The people of the new country were full of promise and energy. There was a willingness to pay any price and bear any burden to make the idea of Pakistan a success.

Pakistanis can rightfully be proud of several accomplishments and achievements. But overall the world does not see the Pakistan experiment a successful one. Pakistan was not meant to be a military dictatorship or, for that matter, the breeding ground for religious extremism. It has become both. In 59 years, Pakistan has undergone a second partition in the form of the separation of Bangladesh and has been plagued with ethnic or sectarian disharmony. For more than half the period of Pakistan ’s existence, the country has had either no constitution or a suspension of the constitutional order. Transfers of power have almost always been the result of military or palace coups. Pakistan is a nuclear weapons power but is unable to provide clean drinking water to a majority of its citizens. The wealth of a few has increased but so has the misery of the many.

Educated Pakistanis sometimes get tired of what they see as constant criticism of Pakistan in the international media. Some respond by blaming Pakistan ’s enemies for painting a stark picture of the Pakistani situation. Others try to point towards the softer side of Pakistan , arguing that Pakistan ’s reality includes the hard work of its people and the creativity of its citizens. But the success or failure of a nation or state, both of which are political concepts, cannot be measured by recounting the poems of poets, the songs of musicians, the mystical dances of Sufis and the score of sportsmen. In the final analysis, the value of a political ideal can only be assessed by political criteria.”

The editors of New Pakistan acknowledged that Pakistanis represent a complex reality. But they pointed out that “ Pakistan ’s political evolution (or lack of it) is the real reason Pakistan is seen by the world as the sick man of South Asia .” Thoughtful Pakistanis must dedicate themselves to political issues, and not be content with doing good at an individual or non-governmental level, but because politics is where Pakistan needs to make a new beginning.

What is the way forward for Pakistan ? The New Pakistan team argues that instead of war and conflict with neighbors, Pakistan ’s energies need to be focused on building a just and inclusive political order. Instead of militarism and militancy, Pakistan needs to embrace moderation, tolerance and democracy. Instead of rejecting the country’s internal and external critics as “negative people” or “enemies of Pakistan ,” their concerns need to be addressed.

The well meaning Pakistanis who mobilized in the aftermath of the earthquake need also to support the restoration of constitutional democracy in Pakistan and to support all the oppressed peoples of Pakistan , notwithstanding disagreements with Pakistan ’s democratic political leaders and parties. A political struggle, by definition, can not be perfect. Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah embraced many flawed figures to lead South Asia’s Muslims in the creation of Pakistan . The perfect should not be interpreted as the enemy of the attainable good. Nor should good ends (stability and economic development) be the justification for bad means (military intervention in politics).

While observing the anniversary of a tragedy that united the nation, it is time for Pakistanis to launch a struggle for a Pakistan that reflects the will, aspirations and interests of its people rather than the ambitions of an oligarchy wedded to a vague ideology.

Husain Haqqani is Director of Boston University's Center for International Relations, Visiting Scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Co-Chair of the Islam and Democracy Project at Hudson Institute, Washington D.C. He is author of the book ' Pakistan between Mosque and Military'.