East and west has been at
loggerheads with each other for decades. British colonial rule in sub-continent
brought some amalgamation between the two diverse cultures but on the other
hand, it also gave spark to the ‘Nationalism’ in Indians. Muslims were the first
who took lead in boycotting British culture and language. Young generation in
sub-continent remained suspended between the two extremes whether they should
join hands with liberal or to go with the religious fanatics. With the emergence
of America as a super power in present world order, same ideology was inducted
into the youth, which we inherited from the master-slave relationship during
colonial era. Pakistani young generation is confused between three ideologies:
The are not able to figure out which one is the right way to go. This helps to
bring a clash between the liberals and extremists. Those people who opposed the
adoption of western culture, joined hands of promote extremism among the young
generation.
Comparative analysis of the beliefs and values of Islamic and non-Islamic
publics in 75 societies around the globe, confirms the first claim in
Huntington’s thesis: culture does matter, and indeed matters a lot, so that
religious legacies leave a distinct imprint on contemporary values. But
Huntington is mistaken in assuming that the core clash between the West and
Islamic worlds concerns democracy. The evidence suggests striking similarities
in the political values held in these societies. It is true that Islamic publics
differ from Western publics concerning the role of religious leadership in
society, but this is not a simple dichotomous clash-- many non-Islamic societies
side with the Islamic ones on this issue. Moreover the Huntington thesis fails
to identify the most basic cultural fault line between the West and Islam, which
concerns the issues of gender equality and sexual liberalization. The cultural
gulf separating Islam from the West involves Eros far more than Demos.
There is a traditional hatred in our society against America as many surveys
conducted by different organizations suggest that most of the Pakistan people
consider America as their worst enemy. While in America, Pakistan is considered
one the dangerous places in the world to live in. well, that is how the two
societies of Pakistan and America think about each other which happen to be
allies in the war on terror. During 1980s, jihadist movements were encouraged in
Pakistan to defeat soviets with the help of America. Extremism took its roots in
this country in that period which promoted hatred against America, which was the
next enemy of Islam after the Soviet Union collapsed. So, religious fanaticism
began to thrive on the hatred of America.
As we all know, America is the biggest aid given to Pakistan. Paradoxically, it
appears contradictory that America gives us aid and we hate him as well. This is
where the young generation found itself confused. The answer which we get from
fundamentalists is that America is the enemy of Islam because it her invaded
Islamic countries like Afghanistan and Iraq.
The simplest answer is that America is the sole super power in this unipolar
world and it will pursue its interest wherever it wants. We do not have the
capacity to confront with it, we should seek our benefits and interest through
peaceful and friendly means. This was the same advice, which Sir Syed Ahmad Khan
gave to Muslims after the failure of 1859 Meeting.
As far the role of Pakistan in war on terrorism is concerned, this country has
suffered a lot in this alien engagement and made more foes than friends.
Pakistan needs to review its relations with America to have an independent
economic policy. Due to the imposition of Washington Model of Capitalism, the
people of Pakistan are suffering. American economic model is based on
consumption, low interests, no savings and small and medium businesses. Pakistan
by law is a welfare state in which savings are used to fund public spending. Due
to the use of American economic model, cost of living has gone up in Pakistan as
34 percent of its population is left without healthcare and 70 percent is unable
to continue education. Pakistan’s savings are at 13 percent against 26 percent
in the region. As a result, government is forced to take loans, which in turn
fuels inflation and resultant poverty. Islamabad will have to downgrade its
relations with America to end poverty and adopt savings based economic model to
provide relief at grassroots. The majority can only benefit if capitalism is
replaced with the welfare model.
The answer, in my opinion, is that if we take aid we should not hate America. We
should drag the veil of our duel partnership with it because now, terrorism and
extremism threatens us more than any other country in the world. Our religion
promotes inter faith harmony and love. It rejects the discrimination on the
basis of color, cost or race we should establish a nation to nation relationship
with it rather a more disguised one. This the only way we can engage our young
generation with the other generations of the world at societal level which will
help to eradicate that confused attitude of our young generation which diverts
it towards extremism.